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Tag: Being As An Ocean
NEWS: Novelists feel like… "Somebody Else" (Again)?!
Shot on the first half of their current tour run with Being As An Ocean and edited on the tour bus by Alexis Fontaine, Parisian DJentlemen Novelists are streaming a video for the previously heard "Somebody Else". The track will appear alongside the debut single "Head Rush" upon the bands 24th January third album "C'est
NEWS: "Head Rush" with Novelists!
French DJentlemen Novelists seem to have rebranded "Novelists FR" as they disappeared and re-appeared on a number of streaming platforms over the past few weeks. SharpTone Records has shared a brand new single from them entitled "Head Rush", just in time for the run with Being As An Ocean, Afterlife and Dream State. We're expecting
Bootleg: Being As An Ocean at Summerblast Festival!
Filmed at Europahalle Trier Germany on 22nd April, here's footage of Being As An Ocean at Summerblast Festival. The band will be trekking across Europe in November with Novelists, Afterlife and Dreamstate keeping them on their toes. New album "Proxy" is just a couple of weeks old so keep your eyes peeled for that one.
NEWS: Dream State to walk the "Primrose Path"!
Welsh Alternative Rockers Dream State will see their debut full length album for UNFD appear on 18th October! They have shared "Open Windows" from the interestingly titled "Primrose Path" with Pre-orders available here. All this after the news they will be opening for Being As An Ocean on the Proxy Tour later this year!
NEWS: Being As An Ocean Proxy Tour!
Independent Metallers Being As An Ocean have announced a European Tour that will see French DJentlemen Novelists, Dream State and Afterlife on the bill! Starting in Antwerp Belgium and finishing in Madrid Spain, the UK dates will be in November! The shows come immediately after their 13th September releasing new album "Proxy: An A.N.I.M.O story"
Interview: Varials in Chicago!
Digital Tour Bus caught up with Philadelphia PA Nu-Metalcore quintet Varials at the Bottom Lounge in Chicago Illinois back in May to talk crazy tour stories in this newly released clip. The band will head out in November across the US with Counterparts, Being As An Ocean and Have Mercy in support of current release
The Black Map #29: Polar from Guildford!
It's about time we said something more about Polar. Hailing from Guildford in leafy Surrey and signed to Prosthetic Records, their fusion of Hardcore and Heavy Metal alongside what they stand for has got them noticed. They are a regular on the European tour circuit having played the Impericon Never Say Die Tour in 2016 and
NEWS: Impericon Never Say Die Tour Line-up and dates!
The 2018 UK leg of the Impericon Never Say Die Tour has been announced alongside this year's line-up. As ever, the one day festival styled club tour will see 7 bands take the stage throughout November; Northlane Being As An Ocean Alazka Casey Polar Currents Thousand Below The shows will take place as follows; 4th
NEWS: Stick To Your Guns stream entire new album "True View"!
We've had the music videos, the singles and the teases, now here's the real deal. The full album stream of Stick To Your Guns new album "True View" out tomorrow, October 13th via End Hit Records. 0:06 3 Feet from Peace 2:16 The Moon, The Truth: "Penance of Self" 5:35 Married to the Noise 8:43
Weekly Wrap-Up: Last Weeks Metal News in One Liner Highlights!
A day late and a buck short! Polish death metal band Decapitated arrested for suspected kidnapping… Crazy Town to finish another new album this winter and announce a UK and Ireland tour… Stray From The Path release their brilliant new album "Only Death Is Real"… Between The Buried And Me confirm they've finished recording a |
77: A 6-year-old reviews his new favorite coloring book - Five Minutes With Dad - Kids Podcast and Parenting Podcast Starring Two Toddlers and featured in Parents Magazine, Fatherly, Geico More, Chicago Now, Cocoro, Mom Junction, Savvy Mom.ca, Big Life Journal, HiMama, SmartParents.org, and More!
Pavlos reviews a coloring book your kids (and you) will love!
In this episode, Pavlos teaches Dad a bit about Minion language and reviews his new favorite coloring book!
The resource of the week is a coloring book that a friend of ours put together called Color the Cats. Its about forty real cats from around the world and their stories.
This is a great book for kids and adults! Pick it up today! |
CG/EA made something worse when they set out to "fix" something?
Also, another "st up i d" question. Do you test your own mechanics before you apply them to the live game?
Don't bother answering, we all know the answer. Do you realize that after 2 revives of NS allies, once zombie gets to -2 stacks, that's it. She is completely useless. She'll just sit there at 100% TM and do absolutely nothing. What sort of ridiculous joke is that?
What's that you say? After successfully reviving two other characters on the team, automatically, and then soaking up enough damage to die twice (or more depending on the order of all these deaths) while taunting the character is then useless?
Almost as if most other characters in the game become useless after one death because they don't revive at all.
I'm very interested to know, if you play HSR, if you ever played p3/p4 of it with NS and if you ever scored above 10m in p3 and above 8m in p4? If the answer is NO to any of those questions, you shouldn't really try and argue with me. I couldn't care less about PVP with NS.
No, I've never played in the HSTR. But everybody in the Nightsister Discord I found seems to be doing fine in those phases with the changes. Maybe get connected with one of those groups if you are having trouble scoring well after the changes. Best of luck!
Yeah they were the same people who said the change to acoylte wasn't a nerf. (Of course that was after most of them abused the hell out of her to get Traya.) So take anything the say with a bottle of salt.
Well, I just played arena, and few pve battles with my NS team. I can say rework is not working like you described. Zombie is just getting speed debuf from deaths. There was no sign of any speed up when she survives attack. NS team is useless now. 6 months of work on them has gone thru window.
Just to clarify, it's not speed up from an attack, it's speed up each turn she survives while taking a hit. My initial reading was also "per attack" and was up for a rude awakening in sith raid. Per attack seems to make a lot more sense if this was supposed to be about paper zombie.
U are right. I apologise. That is even worst i gues.
That's cuz the people that invested in the strictly for pve are disappointed and the people that didn't invest in them or had a decent pvp team prior now face the risk of two revives and getting times out. All strategies that applied to the ns were turned upside down.
I've had it with these reworks and nerfs. Capital Games keep reworking characters nobody wanted before, because they were crap. And they nerf good characters such as Acolyte and Zombie. I've had it. And, no I do NOT want a clones and separatist rework. I want a game with mechanics that are less RNG based, period.
Thankfully I haven't invested too much into nightsisters, so I'm not as affected by this change.
However, this is an extreme nerf that effects the ENTIRE nightsister faction, it does reduce the effectiveness of said faction.
It seems like the Devs don't know what they are doing with the night sisters so Those who invested in the faction should get a full refund, not just a measly zeta on Daka.
There's a handful of people who are speculating that they will be better in pvp but that is not even the case they just made them better only vs extremely dumb vs ai in pvp that's a very small window of improvement for the elimination of p3 team and nerfing of a p4 team. In pvp just kill zombie then don't attack the zombie until zombie taunts, kill it again and its at -100 speed then you can pick apart the nightsisters because they don't have a taunt. You can successfully eliminate a g12 zombie in arena by turn 2 the arena team is no where near META despite what tophat claims.
Phase 4 damage has been crippled for a g1-6 zombie, but that was the point so OK. However, People are mad because there was no reason to change anything with the P3 team or remove zombie's ability to taunt or resurrect there many many other methods that can stop paper zombie from being better than fat zombie. I'd argue fat zombie was better because it was great in P3 and you can score more than using a paper p4. PLUS the P3 team didn't use paper zombie or a loop. The characters kits all had excellent synergy as released almost a year ago when people started investing in the NS faction.
Another thing is people saying the p3 team works are claiming it works on T5 which is meaningless considering it was a functional heroic strategy since forever, its actually a old HAAT team people were using in the Sith Raid.
Oh By the way semi Paper zombie still works in P4, G7-8 seems ideal and you can get some MASSIVE scores way better than any other team is capable of doing so CG's intended goal of fixing paper zombie turns out to still allow paper zombie strategy, The only thing they fixed was killing the previous FAT Zombie strategy being used in HAAT and P3. That strategy worked exactly as described, no bugs, no loops, just good synergy.
For investing in that synergy, those players were PUNISHED while paper zombie users still can score several millions in P3. I know I use a paper zombie and it still works fine p4.
Just ran my first P3 sith raid with nightsisters and I have to say the results were terrible. I was already running a gear 11 zombie (never ran the paper zombie) and was only able to score less than half of my typical damage. I wasnt cheating, I was playing the game as it was designed using toons as they were set up. Why am I being punished by this Nerf? Can you please stop insulting your player base and just come out and say that any time someone uses a viable function that gains players an advantage in this god awful raid you devs will immediately squash it.
Awful, simply awful. Completely wrecks both P3 and P4 HSTR. Another example of how your precious raid is like a giant wet blanket on this game.
this helps P4 guys...the extra heal is big. PVP they can beat Traya leads now. This change makes NS a very strong team all around. P3 seems to be where they took a hit a bit.
Can we nerf EA for ruining the spirit of the game?
Sorry for my english it's a french keyboard.
I really don't appreciate the NS changes.
I invested on this team bécasse I found it was funny.
I play since 3 years, I don't play siths because I don't like them.
I think you could limit the zombie action in Sith raid without changing it.
I don't like where the rules changes. It was my best team, my arena team. It taked a Long Time to have it. Now this team is awful with acolyte changes.
It was not impossible to beat NS in arena everybody plats Sith team and not NS.
Sorry but I think I don't understand and accepte the changes and acteur 3 years of play of this game I think I will chancel it.
The -100% speed for zombie was just a terrible way to nerf the nightsisters for the sith raid. No one uses them in arena. If ea really wanted people to gear zombie all they had to do was put zombies respawn behind the g10 wall. No need for the speed up speed down nonsense, unless the goal was a sith raid nerf. Which we all know it was.
The change is great. Thanks. I'm not certain why assaj leads arent happy. Ive had z lead Talzin and I think new zombie is much more useful under assaj. I wonder if the two revive mechanic provided by zombie could be tweaked or controlled somehow. I run NS in P2 Haat under Talzin lead with a mediocre initiate, let initiate die and ramp up assaj. With new zombie that mechanic doesn't work anymore. Maybe a tweak could be once two toons die they both revive and then zombie revives are over.
I haven't tried HSR since the nerf, but if I can no longer get good scores in P4 then there's no point to the other zetas I put on them (Asajj and Talzin) since that's the only reason I put zetas on them to begin with. Period. If it wasn't for them getting 5m+ damage in raid I would have never even considered using such resources on them.
A full refund is in order. All night sister zetas.
@Jenari_DwInZz_ That's because they let the top guilds take advantage of that, then they fix it before the average guilds can get to use it to unlock Traya and 7* her!
I ran heroic last night pulled 5.5mil with a g10 zombie no daka zeta I used it on bossk to 7* chewy . My issue was zombie got 2 stacks super quick but never cleared them after surviving an attack I thought she was supposed to lose and gain she never lost a stack once after taking a hit.
I'll go out on a limb here and say the decision to rework Zombie was fairly independent of the raid. We'd been thinking about how we would tackle Paper Zombie for awhile prior. Critolyte expedited that thinking some, but we had already been thinking about it for a bit.
I understand, why it was necessary to rework the zombie and on paper it may look alright, but why doesn't the zombie get his turn when at -100% speed even though he's at 100% turn meter? In my eyes that just doesn't make any sense! |
Super cute Birthday sausage dog card with C6 kraft brown envelope. All of our cards are printed on thick 300gsm cardstock with a state of the art printer.
We can alter the text on the front and the colour of the sausage dog's jumper to anything you want. If you are customizing your cards please select 'Yes Please (+70p each)' from the dropdown menu above. |
Dorridge U3A was formed in 1990 and met regularly at the Methodist Church.
For about 10 years the membership remained fairly small, too low to form Activity Groups. Members met twice a month and enjoyed a varied programme of in-house presentations and trips. The trips were normally linked into a recent talk and retained an educational link.
Then by 2001 the membership had grown to 60 members who were able to form some Activity Groups.
In 2002, after further expansion, Dorridge U3A had outgrown its meeting place and moved to Dorridge Village Hall, where meetings continue to be held on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of each month. Members agreed to raise the membership ceiling to 150 and membership continued to grow until that limit was reached.
A membership waiting list was then started and by October 2006 this stood at 41, and it was agreed to review the way ahead.
In early 2007 the executive of Dorridge U3A called a meeting of the members, at which it was decided to form a second Branch, to be known as the Wednesday Branch and steps were taken to call a meeting of all interested persons. Some 50 new members of U3A were recruited and an enthusiastic new Branch of Dorridge U3A was formed.
Membership of the new branch continued to grow and was over 100 by December 2007. Both Branches continue to thrive, with combined membership quickly reaching 300.
In 2009 members agreed to remove the branch separation and combine them once more, with a gradual increase in the membership limit. But to spread and accommodate the increasing numbers it was agreed that members were entitled to attend only two out of the four monthly general meetings, in addition to participating in any of the various Activity Groups.
Since then there was a period when the membership ceiling was restricted to 400. However, because of the popularity of the branch and the increasing waiting list it was agreed to proceed without a membership ceiling. |
The Wonderful Ones have written and published fiction and non fiction books. They created a bookstore where they are using money manipulatives to buy and sell their books and cafe items.
We LOVED Aussie X! Despite our challenges with the weather we all had a go at Net ball or Cricket or Footy. Good On Ya Mate was heard throughout the halls!
Our Junior Basketball teams had a fantastic time at their tournaments. They played their hearts out and showed great sportsmanship. We are very proud of them. Don't our new Maverick Jerseys look great?!?
Earth Day! All of our grades 1-3 students received a sunflower starter kit to help grow sunflowers. They are great plants to have around and they will also help our bee population. Thank you to Clintar. |
Living a creative life. Following the passion. Making the pretty things. Sharing them with you.
Expressive minimalist jewelry. Essential pieces for every day. Handcrafted in Oklahoma City, OK.
I was so sad to miss the opening reception, but finally got to go see my work hanging in the Artster Oklahoma @artsteroklahoma exhibit at the Gaylord-Pickens Museum @oklahomahof ...It's truly an honor to be selected to participate in such a special collaboration. Several friends are in this show and the beautiful hard-back book as well. There is so much diverse and stunning craftsmanship here. It's up and all available for sale through May 18th. Thank you to Espanta Steppe @sissykin and Michelle LaVasque @michellelavasque for interviewing, photographing, publishing and producing such a lovely project and including little ol' me!
Hello my pretties! I've only made two pair of these 14k gold-fill hammered earrings so far. These are @dnagalleries and there might still be some at @betsykingshoes. . I have no idea what to call them; they're such an unusual shape. Any ideas?
What a blast..Miss Sydney @plumwildco had me on her podcast @whatchamakinokc in the @thespyfm studios. We could have chatted at least another 2 hours about jewelry, minimalism, meditation, capsule wardrobes....all the things. I can't wait to hear our episode!
Happy BIRTHDAY to me and happy GIVEAWAY to you! May is my birthday month and 1 year anniversary of this sweet little jewelry business.
Help me celebrate and you could be the lucky winner of a rad pair of rose gold hand-hammered triangle earrings.
Sign up for my newsletter (at the bottom of my website) where you'll also receive 10% off your online order.
* Deadline is 11:59 pm, Thursday, May 4, 2017.
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE...All the love wrapped up in a custom made-to-order special gift. Hearts fill the season, but there are also hoops, hooks and drops to choose from too.
Order online by February 8 and it will get to you for a Valentine's Day delivery.
New stockist in Nichols Hills, Rose Gold!
I'm excited to announce a new gorgeous local boutique carrying Erin Merryweather Jewelry, Rose Gold! Located in Nichols Hills, nestled between Salon W and All About Cha on Western Ave., Rose Gold has the most current clothing styles, great brands and fabrics! I want all of the things! It's totally my style! Go shop and see my latest designs!
Find a full list of my current stockists now on my site! |
Shifting export hotspots and new market routes will reshape industries
Mineral prices and deposit grades are often touted as the factors that decide whether a new mining project will make it into development.
New mine to market routes for industrial minerals will alter trade patterns
and reshape markets (source: Energizer Resources).
But according to Andy Miller, analyst for IM Data's specialist graphite and fluorspar information service, deposit location and associated logistics costs are also key determinants of a mineral project's viability.
"While the natural properties of a project define the markets it can serve, and prices often signify conditions within these markets, it is costs that dictate whether it is actually feasible to supply these minerals to the market," Miller says.
He notes that a gradual shift in primary export locations towards developing economies, and the emergence of new graphite and fluorspar projects in countries with relatively immature infrastructure, has meant that logistical arrangements have come to feature more prominently in capex and opex estimates.
"Logistics considerations, particularly in less developed regions such as parts of Africa and Asia, can form a large proportion of a project's total cost and are therefore fundamental in identifying the potential returns on a project," Miller explains.
Making margins
Miller says that while logistical options are considered from the outset of a project, they continue to be evaluated throughout the development of a deposit.
"There is no point spending money on even preliminary studies if the costs involved in transporting the material will be too high," he says.
"That said, the finer details will only be refined as the nature of the property is explored. Once companies have a solid idea of the type of material and quantities they will be dealing with then logistical plans can truly be cemented," he adds.
Because the margins on industrial minerals are usually much tighter than in other raw material markets, logistics can contribute significantly to the final price paid by buyers.
As Miller outlines, the exact proportion depends on factors including the mode of transport, volume, distance to market and the region of the world, but for graphite and fluorspar, this share is much less than some other minerals such as frac sand, where logistics account for around 70% of the delivered price.
"On average, logistics can account for between 20-30% of the delivered cost of a mined product, but market-specific supply chain factors will impact this," he says.
Transporting graphite and fluorspar
As Miller outlines, natural graphite is generally transported by sea freight. Over 70% of global production comes from China, more than half of which is exported to Europe, the US and other areas of Asia. From port, it is generally then distributed by road.
Graphite is generally moved as concentrate in 25kg sacks or bags, so closed transportation vehicles are necessary.
Fluorspar is slightly more diverse, Miller explains. Mexico's Mexichem is the largest sole producer and supplies its neighbour, the US, by rail and road, as well as other parts of the world by sea freight. In Asia, Mongolia supplies into both Russia and China via the trans-mongolian rail network, while China again supplies much of the rest of the world by sea freight.
Acid-grade fluorspar (acidspar) can be moved either as dry or wet filtercake which means there are slightly different transportation requirements, depending on the way the material has been processed.
Occasionally, metallurgical-grade fluorspar (metspar) can be moved as rock, which has its own transportation issues, but generally some sort of processing takes place on site.
Chinese logistics
China is the leading producer of both graphite and fluorspar. The government has pushed to consolidate some of the country's graphite market in recent years, which has led to the emergence of larger, more powerful companies that have established more efficient logistical infrastructure.
China's fluorspar production is more spread out, however, with many smaller producers meaning that the quality of transport links is more varied.
For both minerals, the rest of global production takes place among a few, long established mining operations, meaning logistical infrastructure is relatively advanced.
Infrastructure investment at new projects
While the locations of many new projects often pose the challenge of rudimentary transport links, Miller says that growing investment in both minerals and other commodities in these regions means that infrastructure is growing quickly.
"Mozambique, for instance has had a wave of investment from the LNG sector which is reducing the costs for companies trying to develop mines in the area," he says.
"It will take big extractive projects like oil and gas, coal and iron ore to open the door for more niche mineral projects."
"I think there are areas which will be subject to greater logistical challenges but few of these are particularly unique," he adds.
"The major players in the graphite and fluorspar markets over the coming decade are likely to be projects in areas such as Vietnam, Mongolia and Mozambique, where accessibility may be an issue."
"However, some new projects are located in more economically advanced regions which eases logistical difficulties, such as in Canada, or the new projects which are coming on stream in the UK and Germany. Canada-based projects certainly use this as a selling point."
New trade routes
As new projects and export hubs for graphite, fluorspar and other industrial minerals begin to mature, Miller believes that markets will start so see new patterns of trade materialise.
"I think we're entering a new generation of trade routes for a number of mineral markets. China, which dominates supply of many minerals, is developing its downstream markets and looking to export less," he explains.
The slump in global markets for raw materials has allowed China to divert investment into downstream industries, enhancing the country's potential as a manufacturing centre and simultaneously increasing domestic consumption.
"As China steps back from its place as the world's top raw material supplier, there will be a gap in the market for new low cost supply. Which countries step into this void will define new trade routes," Miller says. |
A federal judge has dismissed all charges against the five Blackwater operatives accused of gunning down 14 innocent Iraqis in Baghdad's Nisour Square in September 2007.
A federal judge in Washington, DC, has given Erik Prince's Blackwater mercenaries a huge New Year's gift. Judge Ricardo Urbina dismissed all charges against the five Blackwater operatives accused of gunning down fourteen innocent Iraqis in Baghdad's Nisour Square in September 2007. Judge Urbina's order, issued late in the afternoon on New Year's Eve, is a stunning blow for the Iraqi victims' families and sends a clear message that US-funded mercenaries are above all systems of law–US and international.
Urbina concluded: the government has utterly failed to prove that it made no impermissible use of the defendants' statements or that such use was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Accordingly, the court must dismiss the indictment against all of the defendants.
The Nisour Square massacre was the single deadliest incident involving private US forces in Iraq. Seventeen Iraqis were killed and more than twenty wounded.
For those interested, here are the judge's order and the ninety-page memo defending the order. |
The $4 per gallon average would be the first time the state hit that rate since July 27, 2014.
You might want to start thinking of becoming a chiropractor.
Under Senate Bill 608, landlords are only allowed to raise rent a limited amount once per year.
Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal expects her bill requiring free feminine hygiene products in schools to be included in the state's budget.
The biggest impact of higher Chinese duties would fall on American soybean farmers.
At the close, the Dow Jones industrial average trimmed an earlier loss of more than 750 points and finished down nearly 459 points, or 1.9%, to 23,644.19.
The company on Tuesday was drafting the paperwork necessary to file for Chapter 11 liquidation, said people familiar with the matter but not authorized to speak publicly.
The money aims to prepare 20,000 people to become construction workers over the next decade.
The fresh milestone comes just 13 calendar days after the 30-stock index topped 25,000, marking the fastest 1,000-point climb in its history, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.
The Dow set a new record Thursday, closing at a record 24,327.82 points.
That's more than double the revised 1.2 percent pace in the first quarter.
The flavors are Original and Hot & Spicy, based on the brand's infamous chicken. |
Agnes Deyn and Jean Paul Gaultier for Madame. Advertisement.
The Dallas Museum of Art is bringing fashion to the Big D in a major way in the form of their latest Special Exhibit: The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk. This is a very exciting exhibit for me for many reasons, but the most important one is because I know that he could have chosen any museum in the country (Los Angeles, Chicago, NEW YORK!) and for the Dallas Museum of Art to be chosen is quite a coup.
If I am honest, I still don't know very much about fashion. I know that I love clothes and SHOES and handbags and SHOES, but I could not tell you who is who in fashion. That said, there are certain moments of my life that I recall being acutely aware of certain fashion statements. Jennifer Lopez in THE Versace dress seen around the world; Sharon Stone in a Gap shirt and Vera Wang skirt at the Oscars; Julia Roberts in vintage Valentino with the gorgeous man.
Before all of these moments, the very first time I was cognizant of a fashion designer was Jean Paul Gaultier when Madonna wore the cone bras for her "Express Yourself" video and subsequent Blond Ambition world tour. Was there ANYONE on the planet who didn't know who Jean Paul Gaultier was? I lived in South Texas, where we didn't even have the Fox channel until I was in high school and MTV was a luxury most of our families couldn't afford, yet I knew who Jean Paul Gaultier was back then. I remember buying one of my first perfumes, "Classique" because I loved the design of the bottle and feeling so grown up.
For all of these reasons, I am so excited about this exhibit opening next week at the Dallas Museum of Art. The exhibit will run from November 13, 2011 until February 12, 2012. Jean Paul Gaultier himself will be in Dallas November 8-9th for several gala events that I am, sadly, unable to attend. However, I did snag tickets to the lecture next Thursday, Jean Paul Gaultier: Iconoclasms and Influence and I am so excited about heading out and getting a sneak preview of the collection! |
This two-story cottage sits across the street from unit number 153. Upstairs there are three bedrooms – two with one queen bed, one with two queen beds – and a full bathroom. Downstairs there is a sofa sleeper and queen bed in the living area, a kitchen with a dishwasher, a second full bathroom, and a deck with gas grill. |
The population of the regional municipalities and municipal units (cities, towns, parishes, etc.) of Québec according to census results and latest official estimates.
Explanation: Census divisions and municipal units in the boundaries of 2018. |
A beautiful a-line gown in chiffon. The bodice is featured with criss-cross ruching details, while the sweetheart neckline and shoulder straps complete this style. Floor length, full-lined and boned! It will definitely be a good choice for a wedding party, formal events as well as other special occasions. Dress length of this style is around 58"-60". Available in 59 colors from our color chart, or contact me for a Custom Color to match your wedding theme. Lustrous linen unique chiffon bridesmaid dress stylish long party wears pleated dress (bm732). |
Томас Локателли (; родился 9 июня 1976 года) — итальянский футболист, полузащитник, экс-игрок национальной сборной Италии. Сыграл более 200 игр в высшем дивизионе Италии.
Клубная карьера
Локателли начал свою карьеру в клубе серии А, «Аталанте», воспитанником которой также является. Томас дебютировал за клуб 2 апреля 1994 года, в матче с «Удинезе».
После одного сезона в Бергамо, Локателли был продан «Милану» в 1995 году. В столице Локателли сыграл только 10 матчей, тем не менее, выиграв серии А. Также Томас дебютировал в Лиге Чемпионов УЕФА, 30 октября 1996 года, в матче против «Гётеборга» (4:2), где также отличился голом. В 1997 году игрок перешел в «Удинезе», а затем, в 2000 году в «Болонью».
Примечания
Ссылки
Профиль на footballdatabase.eu
Футболисты Италии
Игроки сборной Италии по футболу (до 21 года)
Игроки ФК «Аталанта»
Игроки ФК «Милан»
Игроки ФК «Удинезе»
Игроки ФК «Сиена»
Игроки ФК «Болонья»
Игроки ФК «Мантова»
Игроки ФК СПАЛ
Игроки ФК «Ареццо» |
3. Utah Saints – Solid effort in the Sale Cup when spec'd at odds. On pacer who is suited better back at the 1400m and if Sertorius runs well in race 3 will come in sharply in the market. If you like him I advise to take the early price.
4. Chasse – The other Snowden runner who interestingly McEvoy has chosen to ride. Good record at the track but suspect will need a bit further. If he gets clear room he will be winding up out wide and steaming home.
5. Mr Make Believe – Scratched from Mornington Sunday for this due to the hard track and will most likely get another one here. On pacer who needs it soft to produce his best and not sure the Moody runners are firing this week.
6. Testascana – Ex Moody runner who is going well for new stable. Form around Fawkner speaks volumes although struggling to win. Jockey doesn't win out of turn.
7. Shamardashing –Stayer first up over the 1400m here. Patinack horses going well and wouldn't surprise to see him running on strongly at the end.
8. Tokugawa – Talented gelding and rated highly going by the class of races he's been in of late. Nice little weight drop from WFA last start where he put in a good run. Form is stronger than most of these. Significant jockey engagement.
9. Down Under Boy – Winner this race last year at $81 when swooped hard. Didn't look like losing that race but couldn't crack another win that campaign. Lightening doesn't strike in the same place twice.
10. Snow Cover – Mixes form but has shown ability in the past at this track. Only placed once in four goes at the distance and gate makes it tough for this galloper.
12. Hot Spin – Once group sprinter gone off the boil. Been "spinning" his wheels of late and costly for punters. Showed some return to form last start but step up to 1400m a query.
14. Regalmania – Country class galloper tested here.
Summary: Really like Under the Hat to suit the pattern and swoop home here. Throwing in Togukawa, Instinction, Utah Saints and Chasse as place chances. Good luck! |
Chicago, IL—The Illinois Supreme Court announced that they intend to allow cameras inside courtrooms bringing live trials for television entertainment.
Entertainment is exactly what they are creating. Turning courtrooms into media circus venues began inside The Peoples Court of Nazi Germany. The Show trials of Hitler's courts were played in every neighborhood theater along with the regular films.
The Nazis learned from the Romans who dispensed "justice" at the Coliseum. People have an appetite to see the process of punishment utilized against their fellow man. Make no mistake standing trial for a crime in any forum is punishment.
The man pictured above is the father of televised trials. He's Judge Roland Frisler who sent thousands of German citizens and at least one American woman to their deaths. Their crimes were that they resisted Nazi tyranny.
Another huge problem with televised trials is that it allows witnesses to see and hear each other give testimony. It's the custom to exclude all witnesses from any court proceeding until after they testified.
People engaged in perjury conspiracies are obstructed by the exclusion. When they hear each other's testimony they can keep their story lines in order. This move will corrupt trials.
If instead they broadcast trials after they ended lots problems could be avoided. News providers would be upset because the delay would turn news into history.
Lawyers, witnesses and judges turn into defacto entertainers. They play to the theater and embellish their roles. Many witnesses are reluctant to truthfully testify if doing that would prove embarrassing with the whole world watching.
Too many lawyers love the idea of winning television fame as players in the theater of the courtroom.
TV news providers know this will bring ratings and new revenue so they understandable welcome this change.
The Nazi regime used show trials as an intimidation technique to terrorize the population as a way to shut down any resistance to their tyranny.
Don't allow our courts to become an intimidation tool for government despots. Don't allow our courts to corrupt the practice of excluding witnesses. |
Tag: Jesse Plemons
Antlers Review
As long as you feed The Beast and give it enough of what it wants, that might prevent it from harming others. That's the prevailing message of Scott Cooper's Antlers and it's not a particularly fresh one as the foul stenches and stretches of the storyline play out. It attempts to balance body horror and creature feature elements with an abuse allegory and a tale of moral and environmental decay. With an assist from Guillermo del Toro on the production side, the pic ultimately bites off more than it can chew. This is also an issue for the title character terrorizer who leaves half devoured carcasses lying around.
The setting is the desolate Oregon town of Cispus Falls where lines for store front recovery centers appear to outnumber any other facade. In the opening, Frank Weaver (Scott Haze) has taken his youngest son Aiden (Sawyer Jones) his workplace of an abandoned mine shaft turned meth lab. Frank and his buddy leave the youngster waiting in the truck while they break up their bad deeds below. An attack by an unseen animal force begins the carnage that leaves longstanding marks on the Weaver family.
Flash forwarding above ground and weeks later, Aiden's older brother Lucas (Jeremy T. Thomas) is an outcast who rushes to collect roadkill as his after school activity. Bringing the critters home with him, what lies behind a locked door shows the current condition of dad and Aiden. It's not for the faint of heart or those who just feasted.
Lucas's behavior catches the attention of his teacher Julia (Keri Russell). She's recently moved back from California after two decades and in with her brother Paul (Jesse Plemons), who's the Sheriff around these parts. The two share a caring but sometimes strained bond in their family home. Their mother passed long ago and their father more recently. Brief flashbacks and more expository dialogue reveal an abusive past. Julia recognizes signs of mistreatment in her pupil while not imagining the extent of it.
I did appreciate much about the atmospheric touches and gorgeous cinematography in Antlers – even if it's focused on some grisly occurrences. The Weavers fall prey to an ancient Native American evil spirit known as a Wendigo which causes the cursed subjects to become cannibalistic and ravenous. This is mostly explained by the town's ex-sheriff played by Graham Greene and it's not a tale that the picture seems preoccupied in mining for material. There is a tone of seriousness that prevents this from ever becoming campy. Perhaps a little of that could have helped.
There's no faulting the performances as Russell and Plemons commit and Thomas is believable as the malnourished child who must become an adult before he should. The problem lies with committing to too many ideas and giving the short shrift to all of them. There are worse flaws to be had and Antlers never feels like a regurgitation of previous works (though its themes are familiar). Devotees of highbrow horror might be satiated, but I found myself hungering for Cooper, del Toro, and company to pick a plot line and explore it a little more.
**1/2 (out of four)
Author toddmthatcherPosted on January 4, 2022 Categories Todd's Movie ReviewsTags Amy Madigan, Antlers, Graham Greene, Guillermo del Toro, Jeremy T. Thomas, Jesse Plemons, Keri Russell, movie reviews, movies, Sawyer Jones, Scott Cooper, Scott HazeLeave a comment on Antlers Review
The Power of the Dog Review
Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog is exceedingly gorgeous in its landscapes where New Zealand fills in for Montana circa 1925. It features four superb performances ranging from borderline or full throttle psychopaths to one character trying to keep a semblance of order on the remote cattle ranch setting. The score by Johnny Greenwood is haunting as each chapter ratchets up the tension. A lot of Power is indeed compelling, but I'd be untruthful if I didn't say you have to comb through some laborious sections as well.
Based on a 1967 novel by Thomas Savage (where the themes were far more taboo than in 2021), we open with Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee) declaring a need to protect his fragile mother Rose (Kirsten Dunst) at all costs. Widowed under tragic circumstances, she runs an inn frequented by cowboys and their bosses. When kindly ranch owner George Burbank (Jesse Plemons) comes into town, a rather unromantic bond is formed with Rose and they marry. This does not sit well with George's opposite of kindly brother Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch) who sees his new sister-in-law as an oppotunist. He also takes to mocking Peter, an effeminate aspiring surgeon.
When the dysfunctional new family reaches the cold Burbank estate (in temperature and atmosphere), Phil's tormenting continues for the new houseguests. This leads to Rose's alcoholism while George is a helpless bystander. Yet Phil's own backstory, including a mentorship with a departed male figure known as Bronco Henry, hints that Peter's presence may cut a bit too close to the bone.
An unwashed bully walking a tightrope of repression, Cumberbatch is given a scenery chewing role. And what scenery as we forget that Campion's native New Zealand doesn't really look like Montana. Dunst is a sorrowful figure who can't play piano at a fancy party dinner that the Governor (Keith Carradine) attends. She can't play the happy wife either and her union with George seems born out of convenience. Plemons is saddled with least developed character. All three are first-rate in the portrayals.
Smit-McPhee is the most intriguing of them all. Peter's character is certainly ahead of his time given the era and it turns out he's steps ahead of where we still the plot eventually turn.
I say eventually because the pacing of Power is a bit off. It takes awhile to ramp up. That's made more tolerable by the beauty surrounding the ugly situation this quartet finds themselves in. The source material is over a half century old though it does feature a call for personal protective equipment that feels urgent. The catcalls greeting Peter in the near century old time are tragic but his response reaps narrative rewards. This Dog saves most of the bite for later. Getting there is ultimately worth it.
*** (out of four)
Author toddmthatcherPosted on December 6, 2021 Categories Todd's Movie ReviewsTags Benedict Cumberbatch, Jane Campion, Jesse Plemons, Jonny Greenwood, Keith Carradine, Kirsten Dunst, Kodi Smit-McPhee, movie reviews, movies, Netflix, The Power of the Dog, Thomas Savage, Thomasin McKenzieLeave a comment on The Power of the Dog Review
Starting on the blog today, I'm taking a deeper dive into the four acting derbies at the Oscars as well as Picture and Director. It begins with Supporting Actor.
If I could use a couple words to describe this particular race – "very open" immediately comes to mind. With just two months left in the calendar year, I would go as far to say that not I'm not 100% certain on any performer discussed below making the final five. That's rare.
Before I delve into the many hopefuls, let's take a look at where my projections were at in 2019 and 2020 during the same time frame. Two years ago, I had already correctly pegged four of the five eventual nominees: winner Brad Pitt (Once Upon a Time Hollywood), Tom Hanks (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood), Anthony Hopkins (The Two Popes), and Al Pacino (The Irishman). The other contender was Joe Pesci (also for The Irishman) and I had him listed at #6 in Other Possibilities. In hindsight, Supporting Actor was well on its way to being established with two months remaining in 2019.
Not so much for 2020. Last year was more difficult than perhaps any before it in figuring out who'd make the cut (much of that uncertainty was due to COVID and the constantly shifting release schedule). On November 1, 2020 – my forecasted five contenders yielded just two of the eventual nominees: Sacha Baron Cohen in The Trial of the Chicago 7 and Leslie Odom, Jr. for One Night in Miami. I still had the winner (Daniel Kaluuya in Judas and the Black Messiah) listed for the lead Actor competition. Both Lakeith Stanfield (Judas) and Paul Raci (Sound of Metal) were not yet mentioned in Other Possibilities.
With that context, we arrive in 2021. And I would say this year looks more like the previous one as opposed to 2019. There has been one constant since I began projecting the race back in the summer: Bradley Cooper for Licorice Pizza (known as Soggy Bottom just a couple of months ago). I've had him listed at #1 the whole way and it's a prediction based mostly on gut since no one has seen the picture (that'll change shortly). Cooper is a four-time acting nominee (Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle, American Sniper, A Star is Born). He's yet to take the gold. Pizza looks like it should be a juicy role for him. On the other hand, we do not yet known just how big (or small) his role is. When reviews come out, he could solidify himself as the frontrunner or drop out altogether. There's also the possibility that one of the other supporting players (Sean Penn or Benny Safdie) could rise. For now, I'm still hangin' with Mr. Cooper until the word-of-mouth tells me otherwise.
Shifting gears – here's a fun fact. In three out of the last four years, we've seen two actors from the same movie recognized here. In 2017, it was Sam Rockwell (who won) and Woody Harrelson in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. For 2019 – you had Pacino and Pesci in The Irishman. Last year, it was the victorious Kaluuya and Stanfield for Judas.
Could that happen again? Absolutely and the best chance for that right now appears to be Belfast. A strong contender to win Best Picture, we could also see Jamie Dornan and Ciaran Hinds punch their tickets here. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see it happen. Dornan seems likelier to make it in, but Hinds is getting plenty of laudatory chatter as well.
There are other scenarios to make it four out of five years and some lie with pictures still not screened. Don't Look Up has Jonah Hill, Rob Morgan, and Mark Rylance. Willem Dafoe and David Strathairn are viable for Nightmare Alley. And then there's Jared Leto and Al Pacino in House of Gucci. The latest trailer features the latter more than the former. That disrupts the consensus that Leto has a better shot. I'm still going with Leto above Pacino, but when Gucci screens that dynamic may shift.
The double nominee situations don't end there. Yet they both have actors that I believe have a significantly better chance than the other. For Mass, Jason Isaacs has been in my five while Reed Birney hasn't made the top ten in some time. After The Power of the Dog was unveiled on the festival circuit, the narrative unexpectedly shifted to Kodi Smit-McPhee having a clearer path than Jesse Plemons. The Tragedy of Macbeth buzz solidified Corey Hawkins over Brendan Gleeson (though I'm skeptical either get in).
Now is a good time to point out that it's been ten years since a Supporting Actor winner didn't come from a Best Picture nominee (Christopher Plummer in Beginners). That's why I find it a stretch that Ben Affleck (The Tender Bar), Idris Elba (The Harder They Fall), or Troy Kotsur (CODA) will be making trips to the podium. They could still get in, but their paths are tougher and they will all need heavy critics awards love to make the dance. There's been some mentions for Jeffrey Wright in The French Dispatch, but (somewhat surprisingly) no Wes Anderson directed performance has been Academy nominated and I don't see this being the first.
One actor where an exception could occur is Richard Jenkins in The Humans. I doubt it will land a Pic nod, but Jenkins is drawing raves for his work. Twice nominated before for The Visitor and The Shape of Water, I could see the veteran becoming a threat to win if Cooper falls.
Others worthy of mention include Jon Bernthal in King Richard. The attention could be so focused on Will Smith (who appears to be in the driver's seat to take Actor) that his supporting cast fails to get in (that logic also applies to Supporting Actress hopeful Aunjanue Ellis). It's also totally feasible that Richard is so popular with the Academy that it sweeps them all in. Andrew Garfield picked up solid notices for The Eyes of Tammy Faye. He might stand a better shot in lead for the upcoming and yet to be screened Tick, Tick… Boom! Timothy Spall for Spencer is doable, but Kristen Stewart is just as likely to be the sole nominee (and maybe the winner in Actress). The work of David Alvarez (West Side Story) and Javier Bardem (Being the Ricardos) has yet to be seen and is worth keeping an eye on.
So how does that all shake out? Truth be told, the five predicted performers listed below could look quite different a couple months from now. Here's my best guesstimate for the moment:
1. Bradley Cooper, Licorice Pizza (Previous Ranking: 1)
2. Richard Jenkins, The Humans (PR: 3)
3. Jamie Dornan, Belfast (PR: 2)
4. Jared Leto, House of Gucci (PR: 5)
5. Ciaran Hinds, Belfast (PR: 8)
6. Jason Isaacs, Mass (PR: 4)
7. Jon Bernthal, King Richard (PR: 6)
8. Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog (PR: 7)
9. Al Pacino, House of Gucci (PR: Not Ranked)
10. Troy Kotsur, CODA (PR: 10)
I'll have my analysis on the current state of Supporting Actress up next!
Author toddmthatcherPosted on October 31, 2021 October 31, 2021 Categories Oscar PredictionsTags A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, A Star Is Born, academy awards, Al Pacino, American Hustle, American Sniper, Andrew Garfield, Anthony Hopkins, Aunjanue Ellis, Beginners, Being the Ricardos, Belfast, Ben Affleck, Benny Safdie, brad pitt, bradley cooper, Brendan Gleeson, Christopher Plummer, Ciaran Hinds, Coda, Corey Hawkins, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Daniel Kaluuya, David Alvarez, David Strathairn, Don't Look Up, House of Gucci, Idris Elba, Jamie Dornan, Jared Leto, Jason Isaacs, Javier Bardem, Jeffrey Wright, Jesse Plemons, Joe Pesci, Jon Bernthal, jonah hill, Judas and the Black Messiah, King Richard, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Kristen Stewart, LaKeith Stanfield, Leslie Odom Jr., Licorice Pizza, Mark Rylance, Mass, movies, Nightmare Alley, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, One Night in Miami, Oscar Predictions, oscars, Paul Raci, Reed Birney, Richard Jenkins, Rob Morgan, Sacha Baron Cohen, Sam Rockwell, sean penn, silver linings playbook, Soggy Bottom, Sound of Metal, Spencer, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, The French Dispatch, The Harder They Fall, The Humans, The Irishman, The Last Duel, The Power of the Dog, The Shape of Water, The Tender Bar, The Tragedy of Macbeth, The Trial of the Chicago 7, The Two Popes, The Visitor, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, Tick Tick... Boom!, Timothy Spall, tom hanks, Troy Kotsur, Wes Anderson, West Side Story, Will Smith, Willem Dafoe, Woody HarrelsonLeave a comment on 2021 Oscar Predictions: The State of the Supporting Actor Race
Antlers Box Office Prediction
With a production assist from the king of creature features Guillermo del Toro, the supernatural horror tale Antlers crosses into theaters October 29th. From Black Widow and Hostiles director Scott Cooper, the pic is finally hitting screens a year and a half after its COVID postponement. Keri Russell, Jesse Plemons, Jeremy T. Thomas, Graham Greene, Scott Haze, Rory Cochrane, and Amy Madigan star.
The Searchlight pictures production has scored decent reviews and it stands at 79% on Rotten Tomatoes. Coming out Halloween weekend, Antlers is genre material in a market that's been saturated with it. Last Night in Soho opens against it while Halloween Kills will be in its third frame.
Despite the mostly positive critical reaction, I don't really see this registering with mainstream audiences. The competition won't help and there's no star power to draw crowds in. Furthermore the trailers and TV spots may make it look simply too strange to have widespread appeal. I could see this earning about as much as The Night House, which opened in August to a mere $2.9 million. If so, Antlers won't approach the top five during its scary weekend.
Antlers opening weekend prediction: $3.2 million
For my Last Night in Soho prediction, click here:
Last Night in Soho Box Office Prediction
For my My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission prediction, click here:
My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission Box Office Prediction
For my The French Dispatch prediction, click here:
The French Dispatch Box Office Prediction
For my A Mouthful of Air prediction, click here:
A Mouthful of Air Box Office Prediction
Author toddmthatcherPosted on October 20, 2021 October 25, 2021 Categories Box Office Predictions/ResultsTags Amy Madigan, Antlers, Black Mass, Box Office, box office predictions, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Graham Greene, Guillermo del Toro, Halloween Kills, Horror, Horror Movies, Hostiles, Jeremy T. Thomas, Jesse Plemons, Keri Russell, Last Night in Soho, movies, Rory Cochrane, Scott Cooper, Scott Haze, The Night HouseLeave a comment on Antlers Box Office Prediction
2021 Oscar Predictions: October 3rd Edition
My weekly Oscar predictions enters the month of October with no changes in my forecasted Picture and Director nominees. However, we do have movement in the acting derbies:
The five spot in Best Actor seems to change every Sunday. This time I'm swapping out Bradley Cooper (Nightmare Alley) for Joaquin Phoenix (C'Mon C'Mon) once again.
In Actress, Jennifer Hudson (Respect) falls out in favor of Olivia Colman for The Lost Daughter.
Aunjanue Ellis (King Richard) makes my Supporting Actress five for the first time at the expense of Jayne Houdyshell (The Humans).
My #1's in the biggest competitions stay put with Belfast (Picture), Jane Campion for The Power of the Dog (Director), Kristen Stewart in Spencer (Actress), Will Smith in King Richard (Actor), Caitriona Balfe for Belfast (Supporting Actress), and Bradley Cooper in Licorice Pizza (Supporting Actor).
You can peruse all the activity for all the races below as I now have Belfast and Dune tied for garnering the most nods.
11. Don't Look Up (PR: 11) (E)
13. CODA (PR: 13) (E)
14. Mass (PR: 14) (E)
15. A Hero (PR: Not Ranked)
6. Ridley Scott, House of Gucci (PR: 7) (+1)
9. Pablo Larrain, Spencer (PR: 10) (+1)
5. Frances McDormand, The Tragedy of Macbeth (PR: 4) (-1)
8. Jodie Comer, The Last Duel (PR: 9) (+1)
10. Cate Blanchett, Nightmare Alley (PR: 10) (E)
9. Andrew Garfield, Tick, Tick… Boom! (PR: Not Ranked)
3. Kirsten Dunst, The Power of the Dog (PR: 2) (-1)
6. Jayne Houdyshell, The Humans (PR: 5) (-1)
9. Judi Dench, Belfast (PR: Not Ranked)
10. Kathryn Hunter, The Tragedy of Macbeth (PR: Not Ranked)
3. Richard Jenkins, The Humans (PR: 2) (-1)
7. Andrew Garfield, The Eyes of Tammy Faye (PR: 10) (+3)
9. Corey Hawkins, The Tragedy of Macbeth (PR: 8) (-1)
Jesse Plemons, The Power of the Dog
10. The Worst Person in the World (PR: 10) (E)
10. Passing (PR: 10) (E)
8. Ron's Gone Wrong (PR: 9) (+1)
9. Where Is Anne Frank (PR: 10) (+1)
10. Charlotte (PR: 8) (-2)
5. Petite Maman (PR: 4) (-1)
7. Happening (PR: Not Ranked)
10. 7 Prisoners (PR: 9) (-1)
8. Becoming Cousteau (PR: 10) (+2)
9. Julia (PR: 7) (-2)
10. Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain (PR: Not Ranked)
9. Spencer (PR: 10) (+1)
9. Belfast (PR: Not Ranked)
10. Luca (PR: Not Ranked)
3. "Colombia, Mi Encanto" from Encanto (PR: 4) (+1)
4. "Down to Joy" from Belfast (PR: 3) (-1)
7. "Every Letter" from Cyrano (PR: 7) (E)
9. "Anonymous Ones" from Dear Evan Hansen (PR: Not Ranked)
10. "At the Automat" from The Automat (PR: 10) (E)
"Don't Look Up" from Don't Look Up
9. Eternals (PR: Not Ranked)
10. Jungle Cruise (PR: 10) (E)
And that equates to these pictures gathering these numbers in terms of nominations:
House of Gucci, West Side Story
King Richard, Licorice Pizza, Spencer, The Tragedy of Macbeth
Flee, Mass
C'Mon C'Mon, Cruella, Encanto, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, The French Dispatch, The Humans, The Lost Daughter, No Time to Die
Annette, Attica, Belle, Cyrano, Eternals, Godzilla vs. Kong, The Hand of God, A Hero, The Lost Leonardo, Luca, The Matrix Resurrections, The Mitchells vs. the Machines, Petite Maman, The Rescue, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Summer of Soul, The Worst Person in the World
Author toddmthatcherPosted on October 3, 2021 Categories Oscar PredictionsTags 7 Prisoners, A Hero, A Quiet Place Part II, academy awards, Adam Driver, Andrew Garfield, Ann Dowd, Annette, Ariana DeBose, Attica, Aunjanue Ellis, Becoming Cousteau, Belfast, Belle, Benedict Cumberbatch, bradley cooper, C'Mon C'Mon, Caitriona Balfe, Cate Blanchett, Charlotte, Clifton Collins Jr., Coda, Compartment No. 6, Corey Hawkins, Cruella, Cyrano, Dear Evan Hansen, Denis Villeneuve, Denzel Washington, Don't Look Up, Drive My Car, Dune, Encanto, Eternals, Flee, Frances McDormand, Free Guy, Godzilla vs. Kong, Guillermo del Toro, Happening, House of Gucci, I'm Your Man, Jamie Dornan, Jane Campion, Jared Leto, Jason Isaacs, Jayne Houdyshell, Jennifer Hudson, Jesse Plemons, Jessica Chastain, Joaquin Phoenix, Jockey, Jodie Comer, Joel Coen, Jon Bernthal, Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Judi Dench, Julia, Jungle Cruise, Kathryn Hunter, Kenneth Branagh, King Richard, Kirsten Dunst, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Kristen Stewart, Lady Gaga, leonardo dicaprio, Licorice Pizza, Luca, Marlee Matlin, Mass, Meryl Streep, movies, Nicolas Cage, Nightmare Alley, No Time to Die, Olivia Colman, Oscar Predictions, oscars, Pablo Larrain, Parallel Mothers, Passing, Paul Thomas Anderson, Penelope Cruz, Peter Dinklage, Petite Maman, Pig, President, Rachel Zegler, Raya and the Last Dragon, Respect, Richard Jenkins, Ridley Scott, Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain, Ron's Gone Wrong, Ruth Negga, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Spencer, Spider-Man: No Way Home, steven spielberg, Summer of Soul, The Automat, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, The First Wave, The French Dispatch, The Green Knight, The Humans, The Last Duel, The Lost Daughter, The Lost Leonardo, The Matrix Resurrections, The Mitchells vs. The Machines, The Power of the Dog, The Rescue, The Sparks Brothers, The Suicide Squad, The Tragedy of Macbeth, The Worst Person in the World, Tick Tick... Boom!, Toni Collette, Troy Kotsur, Vivo, West Side Story, Where Is Anne Frank, Will SmithLeave a comment on 2021 Oscar Predictions: October 3rd Edition |
Nick Szabo's Papers and Concise Tutorials
Trusted Third Parties Are Security Holes
Copyright (c) 2001, 2004, 2005 by Nick Szabo
Commercial security is a matter of solving the practical problems of business relationships such as privacy, integrity, protecting property, or detecting breach of contract. A security hole is any weakness that increases the risk of violating these goals. In this real world view of security, a problem does not dissapear because a designer assumes it away. The invocation or assumption in a security protocol design of a "trusted third party" (TTP) or a "trusted computing base" (TCB) controlled by a third party constitutes the introduction of a security hole into that design. The security hole will then need to be plugged by other means.
If the risks and costs of TTP institutional alternatives were not accounted for in the protocol design, the resulting protocol will in most cases be too costly or risky to be practical. If the protocol beats these odds and proves practical, it will only succeed after extensive effort has gone into plugging the TTP security hole(s). TTP assumptions cause most of the costs and risks in a security protocol, and plugging TTP security holes produces the most benefit and profit.
As a result, we propose a security protocol design methodology whereby the most risky and expensive part(s) of a security protocol, the trusted third partie(s), are designed in parallel with security protocol(s) using those parties. The objectives of cost and risk minimization are focused on the TTPs rather than the security protocols themselves, which should be designed to suit the cost and risk minimized TTPs.
We also briefly discuss and reference research and implementation in security mechanisms that radically reduce trusted third party costs and risks by distributing automated TTPs across several parties, only a portion of which need to act in a reliable or trustworthy matter for the protocol to be reliable or trustworthy.
New Trusted Third Parties are Costly and Risky
This author has professional experience implementing a TTP that was assumed by early advocates of public key cryptography. This TTP has come to be called a "certificate authority" (CA). It has been given the responsibility of vouching for the "identity" of participants. (Here I focus on the costs imposed by the TTP; alternatives such as PGP's Web of Trust and SPKI have been discussed amply elsewhere).
The certificate authority has proved to be by far the most expensive component of this centralized public key infrastructure (PKI). This is exacerbated when the necessity for a TTP deemed by protocol designers is translated, in PKI standards such as SSL and S/MIME, into a requirement for a TTP. A TTP that must be trusted by all users of a protocol becomes an arbiter of who may and may not use the protocol. So that, for example, to run a secure SSL web server, or to participate in S/MIME, one must obtain a certifcate from a mutually trusted certificate authority. The earliest and most popular of these has been Verisign. It has been able to charge several hundred dollars for end user certificates -- far outstripping the few dollars charged (implicitly in the cost of end user software) for the security protocol code itself. The bureaucratic process of applying for and renewing certificates takes up far more time than configuring the SSL options, and the CA's identification process is subject to far greater exposure than the SSL protocol itself. Verisign amassed a stock market valuation in the 10's of billions of U.S. dollars (even before it went into another TTP business, the Internet Domain Name System(DNS) by acquiring Network Solutions). How? By coming up with a solution -- any solution, almost, as its security is quite crude and costly compared to the cryptographic components of a PKI -- to the seemingly innocuous assumption of a "trusted third party" made by the designers of public key protocols for e-mail and the Web.
Some more problems with CAs are dealt with here.
The Internet DNS is another example of the high costs and risks imposed by a TTP. This one tiny part of the TCP/IP protocol stack has accounted for a majority of the disputes and handwringing involving that protocol. Why? Because it is one of the few areas of the TCP/IP stack that depends on a centralized hieararchy of TTPs rather than on protocol negotiations between individual Internet nodes. The DNS is also the single component of the Internet most likely to fail even when its names are not being disputed or spoofed.
The high costs of implementing a TTP come about mainly because traditional security solutions, which must be invoked where the protocol itself leaves off, involve high personnel costs. For more information on the necessity and security benefits of these traditional security solutions, especially personnel controls, when implementing TTP organizations, see this author's essay on group controls. The risks and costs borne by protocol users also come to be dominated by the unreliability of the TTP -- the DNS and certificate authorities being two quite commom sources of unreliability and frustration with the Internet and PKIs respectively.
Existing Trusted Third Parties are Valuable
Companies like Visa, Dun and Bradstreet, Underwriter's Laboratories, and so forth connect untrusting strangers into a common trust network. Our economy depends on them. that many developing countries lack these trust hubs and would benefit greatly from integrating with developed word hubs like these. While these organizations often have many flaws and weaknesses -- credit card companies, for example, have growing problems with fraud, identity theft, and innacurate reports, and Barings recently went belly up because their control systems had not properly adapted to digital securities trading -- by and large these institutions will be with us for a long time.
This doesn't help us get TTPs for new protocols. These institutions have a particular way of doing business that is highly evolved and specialized. They usually cannot "hill climb" to a substantially different way of doing business. Substantial innovations in new areas, e.g. e-commerce and digital security, must come from elsewhere. Any new protocol design, especially paradigmatically different areas such as capabilities or cryptographic computations, will be a mismatch to the existing institutions. Since building new TTPs from scratch is so costly, it is far cheaper when introducing protocols from these institutionally novel security technologies to minimize their dependencies on TTPs.
New Trusted Third Parties Can Be Tempting
Many are the reasons why organizations may come to favor costly TTP based security over more efficient and effective security that minimizes the use of TTPs:
Limitations of imagination, effort, knowledge, or time amongst protocol designers -- it is far easier to design security protocols that rely on TTPs than those that do not (i.e. to fob off the problem rather than solve it). Naturally design costs are an important factor limiting progress towards minimizing TTPs in security protocols. A bigger factor is lack of awareness of the importance of the problem among many security architects, especially the corporate architects who draft Internet and wireless security standards.
The temptation to claim the "high ground" as a TTP of choice are great. The ambition to become the next Visa or Verisign is a power trip that's hard to refuse. The barriers to actually building a successful TTP business are, however, often severe -- the startup costs are substantial, ongoing costs remain high, liability risks are great, and unless there is a substantial "first mover" advantage barriers to entry for competitors are few. Still, if nobody solves the TTP problems in the protocol this can be a lucrative business, and it's easy to envy big winners like Verisign rather than remembering all the now obscure companies that tried but lost. It's also easy to imagine oneself as the successful TTP, and come to advocate the security protocol that requires the TTP, rather than trying harder to actually solve the security problem.
Entrenched interests. Large numbers of articulate professionals make their living using the skills necessary in TTP organizations. For example, the legions of auditors and lawyers who create and operate traditional control structures and legal protections. They naturally favor security models that assume they must step in and implement the real security. In new areas like e-commerce they favor new business models based on TTPs (e.g. Application Service Providers) rather than taking the time to learn new practices that may threaten their old skills.
Mental transaction costs. Trust, like, taste, is a subjective judgment. Making such judgement requires mental effort. A third party with a good reputation, and that is actually trustworthy, can save its customers from having to do so much research or bear other costs associated with making these judgments. However, entities that claim to be trusted but end up not being trustworthy impose costs not only of a direct nature, when they breach the trust, but increase the general cost of trying to choose between trustworthy and treacherous trusted third parties.
Personal Property Has Not and Should Not Depend On TTPs
For most of human history the dominant form of property has been personal property. The functionality of personal property has not under normal conditions ever depended on trusted third parties. Security properties of simple goods could be verified at sale or first use, and there was no need for continued interaction with the manufacturer or other third parties (other than on occasion repair personel after exceptional use and on a voluntary and temporary basis). Property rights for many kinds of chattel (portable property) were only minimally dependent on third parties -- the only problem where TTPs were needed was to defend against the depredations of other third parties. The main security property of personal chattel was often not other TTPs as protectors but rather its portability and intimacy.
Here are some examples of the ubiquity of personal property in which there was a reality or at least a strong desire on the part of owners to be free of dependence on TTPs for functionality or security:
* Jewelry (far more often used for money in traditional cultures than
coins, e.g. Northern Europe up to 1000 AD, and worn on the body
for better property protection as well as decoration)
* Automobiles operated by and house doors opened by personal
keys.
* Personal computers -- in the original visions of many personal
computing pioneers (e.g. many members of the Homebrew Computer
Club), the PC was intended as personal property -- the owner
would have total control (and understanding) of the software
running on the PC, including the ability to copy bits on the
PC at will. Software complexity, Internet connectivity, and
unresolved incentive mismatches between software publishers
and users (PC owners) have substantially eroded the reality
of the personal computer as personal property.
This desire is instinctive and remains today. It manifests in consumer resistance when they discover unexpected dependence on and vulnerability to third parties in the devices they use. Suggestions that the functionality of personal property be dependent on third parties, even agreed to ones under strict conditions such as creditors until a chattel loan is paid off (a smart lien) are met with strong resistance. Making personal property functionality dependent on trusted third parties (i.e. trusted rather than forced by the protocol to keep to the agreement governing the security protocol and property) is in most cases quite unacceptable.
TTP Minimizing Methodology
We now propose a security protocol design methodology whereby protocol(s) are designed to minimize these costs and risks of the TTPs. Minimizing the costs and risks of the security protocol(s) themselves is an important but secondary priority.
Currently, security designers usually invoke or assume TTPs to suit the most elegant and secure or least computationally costly security protocol. These naive TTPs are then used in a proof of concept of an overall protocol architecture. But this does not discover the important things that need to be discovered. Once a security protocol is implemented the code itself costs very little, and exponential cost functions such as Moore's law keep reducing computational, bandwidth, and many other technological costs. The costs of the security protocol itself (except for the costs of message rounds, limited by the speed of light, and the costs of the user interface, limited by mental transaction costs ) approach zero. By far the largest long-term cost of the system (as we learned with PKI) is the cost of implementing the TTPs.
It's far more fruitful to estimate from the beginning what the TTPs will cost, rather than try to design the security protocols to minimize the costs of the TTPs. This will likely bring the designer to quite different trust assumptions and thus security protocols than if (s)he assumes pure, unanalyzed TTPs in certain places in order to simplify the security protocol. A natural corrolary is if that there exists a security protocol that can eliminate or greatly reduce the costs of a TTP, then it pays greatly to implement it rather than one which assumes a costly TTP. Even if the latter security protocol is simpler and much more computationally efficient.
A corrolary of "trusted third parties are security holes" is "all security protocols have security holes", since no protocol is fully free of such assumptions. The key steps in estimating TTP costs and risk are to (1) examine one's assumptions thoroughly to uncover all TTP assumptions and characterize specifically what each TTP is and is not expected to do, (2) observe that each such specific hole and task has an associated cost and risk.
There are several other important considerations, including:
Design costs. Minimizing TTPs often involves learning and applying nonintuitive and complex cryptographic and fault tolerance techniques, like some of those mentioned below. This can be a major burden or impractical for a small smart contracts project. On the other hand, design costs for a novel TTP institution are usually much higher than the design costs for a new protocol, as expensive as the latter may be. Determining whether the new institution is robust over the long term is more expensive still, while protocols can be formally analyzed and implementations audited against this analysis to achieve a very high level of confidence in a typical product development timeframe.
User mental transaction costs -- multiplying TTPs, even ones with a reasonably limited function, can quickly tax the ability of end users to track the reputation and quality of the different trusted brands. When TTPs are distributed (as in the technology described below) reputation tracking must be automated, which is much easier when the TTPs redundantly perform the same function.
If for a new context like e-commerce we can find a security protocol which replaces a TTP organization (a complex set of traditions quite unproven in the new context) with mathematics (which at least in itself is quite clear and provable) it will often be a very big win to do so. More often we will replace a complex costly TTP with one or more much simpler TTPs plus mathematics. That too is a big win. We can only tell if and by how much it is a win by focusing on the trust assumptions and the resulting costs of the TTPs rather than focusing on the efficiency of the security protocol. The key is to focus on the cost of the TTPs and design the security protocol to minimize them, rather than assuming TTPs in order to simplify or optimize the efficiency of the security protocol.
A good digital security protocol designer is not only an expert in computer science and cryptography, but also very knowledgeable about the traditional costly techniques of physical security, auditing, law, and the business relationships to be secured. This knowledge is not used to substitute these costly security methods for more cost effective digital security, but in order to minimize hidden dependence on costly methods for the real security. A good protocol designer also designs, rather than merely assumes, TTPs that work with minimal use of costly techniques.
TTP Minimizing Protocols
We saw above that the keys to minimizing TTPs are to identify them, characterize them, estimate their costs and risks, and then design protocols around TTPs of minimal cost and risk. When the risk is mitigated with techniques like those in this session, it can be very substantially reduced.
Three areas of research and implementation show special promise in improving trust. Two of these involve the particularly thorny area of privacy, where breach of trust is often irreversible -- once data gets out it can be impossible to put back.
The first protocol family in which trust can be distributed to preserve privacy is the Chaum mixes Mixes allow communications immune from third party tracing. Only any one out of N proxies in a proxy chain need be trustworthy for the privacy to be preserved. Unfortunately, all N of the proxies need to be reliable or the message will be lost and must be resent. The digital mix protocol's tradeoff is to increase messaging delays (resends) in order to minimizes the risk of irreversible privacy loss.
Another protocol family in which trust can be distributed to preserve privacy is the multiparty private computations. Here a virtual computer is distributed across the N parties who provide specially encyrpted input to each other rather than to a trusted third party. The distributed computer takes inputs from each of the N parties, computes an agreed to algorithm, then outputs the answer. Each party learns only the answer not the inputs of any other party. The threshold of parties that that must collude to violate privacy or threaten reliability can be traded off and have been studied in detail in the ample literature on this topic. Multiparty private computations can be used for confidential auditing, confidential preference gathering and data mining, auctions and exchanges with confidential bids, and so on.
A protocol family that replicates data, and distributes operations on that data, while preserving the integrity of that data, are the Byzantine resilient replicated databases. Implementations of Byzantine resilient replicated databases include Fleet and Phalanx. Fleet implements replicated persistence of general purpose objects. Some open source implementations, which approach but do not achieve Byzantine resilience, general purpose, or complete decentralization include Mojo Nation and Freenet. Applications include secure name registries and property titles as well as securely published content in Mojo Nation and Freenet. The most advace work in this area involves Byzantine fault tolerant quorum systems and other recent advanced in distributed security.
It is important to note that these threshold techniques are only meant to enhance the integrity of a single step or run of the protocol. Practical systems, such as Mojo Nation, combine a majority or super-majority within a particular run with failure detection and choice by clients of servers between runs. So we can add back all the reputation systems, auditing, and so on that add robustness in the long term to distributed systems. The majorities or super-majorities within an invocation create a very good short-term robustness that is missing from current systems like Freenet and Mojo Nation. (It's only party missing from Mojo, which has a 4-of-8 voting scheme but this has not been shown to be Byzantine resilient up to 4-of-8).
Remote Attestation of Server Code
Remote attestation has been proposed for verifying the state of software running on clients to protect intellectual property. A more valuable use for remote attestation is for verifying the behavior of servers. This is also called the transparent server approach. Through remote attestation, clients can verify that the specific desired code is running on a server. Combined with the ability to audit that code as open source, remote attestation of servers can greatly decrease the vulnerability of clients and users to the server. Given the importance of the trusted third party problem we have discussed here, this approach has vast potential to convert trusted third party protocols into secure protocols, and to make possible a wide variety of secure protocols that were heretofore impossible. For example, Hal Finney has implemented a version of bit gold called reusable proofs of work, based on a secure coprrocessor board that allows users to remotely attest the code running on the card. While one still needs to trust the manufacturer of the card, this manufacturer is separated from the installation of server code onto and the operation of the server on the card.
Leaving Small Holes Unplugged
Often the protocol designer can't figure out how to fix a vulnerability. If the attack one needs a TTP to protect against is not a serious real-world threat in the context of the application the designer is trying to secure, it is better to simply leave the small hole unplugged than to assign the task to a TTP. In the case of public key cryptography, for example, protocol designers haven't figured out how to prevent a "man-in-the-middle" (MITM) attack during the initial key exchange. SSL tried to prevent this by requiring CAs as trusted third parties, as described above, and this solution cost the web community billions of dollars in certificate fees and lost opportunities to secure communications. SSH, on the other hand, decided to simply leave this small hole unplugged. The MITM hole has, to the best of my knowledge, never even once been exploited to compromise the privacy of an SSH user, yet SSH is far more widely used to protect privacy than SSL, at a tiny fraction of the cost. This economical approach to security has been looked at at greater length by Ian Grigg.
Unscrambling the Terminology
Alan Karp, Mark Miller, and others have observed the confusion over words like "trust" and "trusted" as used in the security community, and proposed replacing the verb "trusts" with "is vulnerable to". This substitution is a great way to radically clarify security protocol designs. "Trusted third party" as used in this essay becomes "vulnerable to a third party", and the point of this paper, that this is a security hole, becomes obvious.
In the context of protocol designs, instead of saying the protocol designer trusts some little-known generic class of parties (referred to in the singular as "a trusted third party") with a given authorization (which probably really means the protocol designer just can't figure out how to plug a security hole), an honest protocol designer will admit that there is a vulnerability here -- and that it is up to "out of band" mechanisms to plug or minimize, or up to users to knowledgeably ignore, that hole. The class of parties is little-known because security protocol designers typically don't know much about the traditional non-digital security, legal, and institutional solutions needed to make such a party trustworthy. The substitution of "vulnerable to" for "trusted" works well in protocol design, and in communicating honestly about the security of a protocol.
Alas, are security designers and sellers of security systems who invoke "trusted third parties", "trusted computing", and the like really going to come out and admit that their protocols are "vulnerable"? Security designs sound so much more secure when they use the euphemism "trust".
In the real world, beyond the technical context of security protocol design, "trust" has a variety of meanings. One different use of "trust" is well-informed trust, for example "I trust this armor to protect me from normal bullets, because it's been very well tested", "I trust this site with this authorization because we're using a strong security protocol to protect me when I grant this authorization", or "I trust my wife with the kids", in which cases translating "trust" to "am vulnerable to" would be to reverse its meaning. That "trust" can take on practically opposite meanings, depending upon the context, is another strong argument for avoiding use of the word when describing the vulnerabilities, or lack thereof, of security protocols. Whether a designer thinks he does or must trust some generic class of parties is one thing. Whether a particular user will actually trust a particular entity in that class when the protocol actually runs is quite another matter. Whether either the user's trust or the designer's trust is well informed is yet another matter still.
Traditional security is costly and risky. Digital security when designed well diminishes dramatically in cost over time. When a protocol designer invokes or assumes a TTP, (s)he is creating the need for a novel organization to try to solve an unsolved security problem via traditional security and control methods. Especially in a digital context these methods require continuing high expenditures by the TTP and the TTP creates a bottleneck which imposes continuing high costs and risks on the end user.
A far better methodology is to work starting from TTPs that either well known, or easy to characterize, and of minimal cost. The best "TTP" of all is one that does not exist, but the necessity for which has been eliminated by the protocol design, or which has been automated and distributed amongst the parties to a protocol. The latter strategy has given rise to the most promising areas of security protocol research including digital mixes, multiparty private computations, and Byzantine resiliant databases. These and similar implementations will be used to radically reduce the cost of current TTPs and to solve the many outstanding problems in privacy, integrity, property rights, and contract enforcement while minimizing the very high costs of creating and operating new TTP institutions.
Links in the text.
My thanks to Mark Miller who encouraged me to write down these thoughts and provided many good comments. My thanks also to Hal Finney, Marc Stiegler, David Wager, and Ian Grigg for their comments.
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The malefactors use a legit remote access tool for mobile devices called AirDroid. They try to dupe as many people as possible into installing the app and authenticating with credentials provided by the attackers. The main target audience is 25 year-olds and up. The idea is to transfer money from a card by sending a specific text message to a short number on behalf of the victim. While this service number varies for different banks, regular Google search helps find it in the blink of an eye.
The hackers download the above-mentioned AirDroid app and install it on their PC. Before that, they create a Gmail account [email protected] and set a password test123. |
The Pastor as Marriage Fixer
Blaine B. Rader
They met in college. After their first date, Marc announced to his roommates that he had found the woman he would marry. Chris felt good with Marc. He lifted her spirits. In two months, they were living in Chris's apartment.
Chris's mother, an officer in her church's women's ministry, insisted that the marriage take place in their home church. Neither Marc nor Chris had attended church except at holidays since their confirmations. Chris asked her former youth pastor to preside. Due to the distances involved, only two premarital sessions took place and they centered on plans for the service and reception.
The couple moved to suburban Chicago where both had promising jobs. They found a lovely house to buy. They got pregnant sooner than they expected. Day care was very costly. The baby was often sick and they decided that Chris would stay home. Chris's depression returned. Marc spent more and more time at work. Their school loans came due and their credit card debt grew. There never was enough money.
The stress made them think about church again. They visited a new, growing church. The worship experiences were engaging, but they made no friends and the pastors did not call. The added expense of church offerings loomed negative. They stopped attending.
They argued about money, her moods, his lunches with female co-workers, his drinking, and their sick baby. They should see a counselor. His HMO told them that marriage counseling was not covered by their policy. She asked for help from her physician and was put on antidepressants. She felt better but they argued more.
Marc filed for divorce and they hired one attorney who would see them both to reduce costs. The marriage ended before their second anniversary.
When news of the divorce came to relatives and friends, folks were surprised. Why didn't someone help them? Don't pastors fix marriages anymore?
Changes in Pastoral Care
When a couple repeats their marital vows before us, most pastors simultaneously offer a prayer too. We pray that we will be able to stand behind this new marriage, to support the couple and protect their new family. Were it not for that pastoral promise, most Christian marriages would be indistinguishable from non-Christian or secular ones.
It is always a disappointment to discover that a couple is divorcing. If pastor and congregation knew earlier, would they have been able to make a decisive intervention for the couple? Many believe that pastors are marriage fixers. Regrettably few are.
The signs of a deteriorating marriage are many. In retrospect, nearly everything can be a signal or symptom of a problem. Cross words and emotional distancing are easy to spot. Likewise, distressed children often signal a problem. More subtle indicators include changes in worship participation and changes in financial stewardship. When marriage becomes troubled, nearly everything else is affected. Regrettably pastors are better "Monday morning quarterbacks" than expert diagnosticians about the marriages in their congregation. We eventually know, but often late in the game.
Why is this so? Are persons embarrassed, or shamed or in denial about their marital problems? Some obviously are. Most would be quite willing to share their difficulties with a helping friend, however. Some do not share as much as they used to due to changes in practices of pastoral care. Regular calling on families is not as frequent as once was the case. Pastors of larger congregations find it hard be personably knowledgeable of many of their congregation. Boundary training has led some to discourage deeper conversations with parishioners. The pastor who makes ten family calls each week is quite rare these days. Those who do that level of calling greatly expand their pastoral understanding of the marriages and the individuals of their congregations.
Experts in church life also report that there is a significant decline in the interest of persons in having a home visit. The home is a private place for many in larger communities. Even the pastor is not welcome in many church homes. Pastors report an increasing pattern of turn-downs to their requests to visit. The net result is less pastoral knowledge of those marriages which would benefit by support and encouragement.
What causes marital problems? When I was trained as a marriage therapist thirty years ago, it was popular to think of the symptoms of marital difficulty as: sex, money, intimacy, and communication. Attention to problem arenas often did little to prevent divorce. Deeper concerns were nearly always at the source of the broken marriage.
Two Core Causes of Marital Problems
I have come to believe that there are two basic sources of marital problems. First is the lack of the necessary personal growth and development to enter into marriage. Lack of individuation from family of origin, personality problems, health problems, addictions, immaturity, and the like, produce marriages which are seriously flawed. In order for these marriages to be made workable, the persons in them need to be fundamentally changed. Lacking this, marriage will not work. Pastors need to be certain that persons are equipped and ready to marry. Although pastors can be trained to use sophisticated pre-marital psychological inventories such as PREPARE, most sensitive pastors can accurately judge a couple's readiness for marriage on their own. Such inquiry takes several hours in personal conversation, however.
The second major cause of marital breakdown is the inability of the partners of a marriage to change. Fixed expectations, rigid personality patterns, and difficulty in adapting to the new bring marriages to an end more than anything else. Unwillingness to learn is another way of describing this problem. Pastors can serve persons well by offering family life education classes and by teaching and preaching about new possibilities for family life. Transformation of life from the stuck and rigid and broken is what ministry is about. All acts of ministry can be used to help broken marriages.
Should a pastor refer to professional counselors? Yes, by all means. If a half dozen pastoral conversations with the couple have resulted in insufficient change, a referral is usually in order. There are specialists in marriage counseling in most communities. Professional organizations certify counselors (American Association of Pastoral Counselors and The American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy). Many states license the practice of marriage counseling. A referral should be to trained counselors with whom the pastor is acquainted and who share common values for marriage and family. Counselors should welcome consultation with pastors.
Professional marriage and family counseling is somewhat more difficult to obtain in the days of managed care. Many insurance companies exclude relational problems from coverage. Payment may be only for individual mental illness. Managed care programs often have expectations that problems can be fixed very quickly. If not, problems are dismissed as unfixable. Frankly, relationship problems take time to be addressed helpfully. Similarly there may be encouragement of symptom removal through medications rather than addressing the underlying learned patterns of behavior. Allow help to take place over months, not days or weeks. Quick fixes are often bad fixes.
Choosing Divorce
When is divorce the choice? I personally never make that decision for another. A helper cannot ever know enough to make that very life-changing decision.
Each partner in a marriage needs to make the decision to continue a marriage or end it. Sometimes it is made deliberately and consciously as in weighing a list of pros and cons. Usually the decision is made at a deeper level. The decision announces itself to the person. It may come almost as a surprise. I refer to it as the "click of discovery." Persons find that they cannot and will not continue the marriage. Their well-being and the well-being of others in the family requires that a divorce happen. After that "click of discovery," no therapy or counseling or external persuasion seems to matter.
A decision to divorce is not the end of pastoral concern for a couple or their family. A divorce can be done respectfully and constructively or harshly and destructively. Helping persons through the divorce process (often two years) is a pastoral responsibility as much as is helping reconstruction of marriage.
Just as Jesus addressed the woman at the well, who had a long history of marital problems, with compassion and care, not condemnation, so we should minister to those whose marriages have failed. It is in forgiveness and transformation of broken lives that we know God's love for couples and families. In this we all need God's ministry of grace.
Blaine B. Rader, a pastor in the West Michigan Conference of the United Methodist Church, is a licensed psychologist and licensed marriage and family counselor. This article originally appeared in Circuit Rider magazine.
By Dick Dunn
You Get the Silver, I Get the Church
By Mary Jane Pierce Norton
Beyond Boundaries Webcast |
Home About Moni
About Moni
Moni, Feng Shui Consultant, Teacher, and Public Speaker
I am glad you found this website and are taking the time to get to know me a little better.
My journey with Feng Shui started in 1996. I had moved to the United States a year before, only one month after I graduated as an architect in Quito, Ecuador.
Shortly after I arrived I interviewed at an architectural firm for a position. There I learned that my six year degree was not recognized in this country.
The architect that interviewed me had checked on this between the time they received my resume and the interview. If I wanted to practice in the United States I would have to go back to school for at least four years, then work for another architect as an associate for three years, before I could even take the board exams.
I had felt such relief to graduate from what had been several years of grueling studying, with lots of sleepless nights, and such stress that to this day I sometimes dream that I have some really big project due in a few days and I am not finished.
Going back to school was not an option.
What was really confusing to me was that I got a very clear message from Heaven that studying architecture was my right path, and after all those years, to find myself in a position where, for moving to another country to live with my love, I would not be able to practice! There had to be a divine reason for this!
Feng Shui was the Reason
When I found Feng Shui it became clear to me why I needed to study architecture even though I would not have a chance to practice it: architecture gave me a knowledge base that I could use to study Feng Shui objectively and kick the confusion, superstitions, and fear out of Feng Shui!
The first book I read on Feng Shui I got as a door prize. It was a book with 101 Feng Shui tips for landscaping. It made sense to me, so I went on to buy the other two books available by the same author, these on 101 Feng Shui tips for homes and 101 Feng Shui tips for businesses.
I thought I had a pretty good understanding of the subject and was ready to start applying the knowledge to the Feng Shui of my own home. However, whenever I tried, it seemed the features in my home were all exceptions that were not included in the books. How I wished I had a Feng Shui consultant nearby to ask some questions! But there weren't any consultants nearby, and the internet just wasn't what it is today.
Here I was, armed with 303 Feng Shui tips, and I could not Feng Shui my own home!
I went out to the bookstore and I bought every single book available on Feng Shui. To my surprise, the more I studied, the more confused I got. What kind of a subject was Feng Shui that learning more about it increased the confusion, instead of giving more clarity?
Something Here Was Wrong!
I felt such passion for Feng Shui, I didn't want to give it up, but there were so many contradictions and varying information – it could not all be correct.
There had to be a way to sift authentic Feng Shui knowledge from incorrect information.
One morning, as I woke up, that inner voice that uses no sound told me, "You need to write a book on Feng Shui."
I protested, "I cannot write a book when I am still learning."
But the voice was very insistent, and there was a clear message to take superstitions and fears out of Feng Shui.
"Write it and it all will become clear to you."
I still did not set out to write a book on Feng Shui per se, but I did embark in the task of organizing all the materials I had collected and see what made sense.
First I grouped all the things that the different schools agreed on, and set that aside. Then came the grueling task of looking deeply in the face of all the contradictions. What was the truth?
I needed a point of reference that I could use to contrast the information and test it for truth.
One night, I was studying yet another book on Feng Shui when I glanced at my husband, who was sitting next to me, reading his own book. He was studying the same things I was studying.
Surprised, I asked him, "What are you reading? Are you reading Feng Shui?"
He was reading a book on martial arts. This book was about using pressure points (acupuncture points) in combat. The chapter he was reading was about the three cycles of the five elements. He was learning the pathways of each element to know where to strike.
I was studying about the cycles of the five elements as they are used in Feng Shui to determine color combinations and corrections.
An Integrated Culture
The fact of the matter is that Chinese culture is an integrated culture. What I mean by integrated is that their arts, science and cultural expressions are all based on the same fundamental principles of Universal laws.
So it doesn't matter whether you are studying flower arrangement, calligraphy, drawing, painting, martial arts, medicine, or Feng Shui, as part of your studies you would all be learning some of the same subjects.
If you went to a school based on Traditional Chinese Wisdom, regardless of the major you choose, you would be sharing a classroom with people who have chosen to study a variety of professions.
You would all be learning that the Tao is the power from which all of Creation comes (some people confuse the term Tao with God. Tao is better understood as the Power of God)
You would also learn that the Tao created the Universe and that there are two major forces in the Universe: Yin and Yang.
You would learn that movement is life and that there is a life force called chi, which imbues the whole Universe with life, and many other fascinating facts that would reveal to you the nature of the reality in which we exist.
A Stroke of Good Luck
Around that time, I reconnected with a friend, also my first worldly spiritual teacher, who was a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Like me with Architecture and Feng Shui, she had a Western degree in a medical field, that gave her a more ample perspective of acupuncture, the main art she practiced.
I engaged the help of this friend for a period of over a year, to contrast Feng Shui knowledge from my "confusing and contradicting" pile with a base of knowledge that had not been degraded by the addition of superstitions and other fearful beliefs.
My point was, you could argue what is good Feng Shui or bad Feng Shui until you were blue in the face, but you could not argue in the same way what was good or bad acupuncture, you would know by observing patients and finding out whether they are getting better or worse with the treatment.
To my surprise, things that I had discounted as superstition, such as the eight trigrams and the I-Ching, are used – quite often – in the practice of Chinese medicine.
In the practice of acupuncture other facts of our existence are acknowledged as realities, such as past lives and life missions. For example, the acupuncturist seeks to find out if the current state of the patient was started in this life time, or before conception.
Other knowledge that I had taken as true, fell apart in the light of acupuncture, such as the use of color in Feng Shui. It was at this time that I discovered what bad idea it was to paint the whole room in the color of the life area on the bagua map. Really bad, because it messes up the harmony of the five elements, and the five elements precede the eight trigrams that rule the life areas in importance.
To Use the Magnetic Compass or not?
One big question I had was whether to use the magnetic directions and the compass in order to determine the locations of the life areas on a floor plan, or whether to use the "compass of the heart" forwarded by the late Master Lin Yun.
My heart felt Lin Yun's method was better, but I did not have the knowledge I have now to trust my heart (the heart is the only place where your spirit has not had to lower its frequency to occupy your body), so I waited for a sign from Heaven.
The sign came to me one day when the silent voice suggested I take an alternate route to go see a client Near the end of that route, a man wearing the most unusual winter black hat (in the middle of Summer), too little to fit his head, turned the corner, looked me in the eye and pointed his index finger at me. I still feel goose bumps as I write this. (Let me know if you felt them too!)
Clearly this was a sign to use the "compass of the heart," aligning the bottom of the bagua map with the wall that contains the main door, or "mouth of chi," as Master Lin Yun, head of the Black Hat school of Feng Shui suggested.
It wouldn't be until several years later that my spiritual teacher would share with me why this made so much sense and how this system works better, because it is based in the biology of the human body.
My question was more on the lines of "to become or not to become" certified by an already existing Feng Shui master, or to continue to learn solo, using Chinese medicine as my gauge.
I kept going back and forth with this for a long time.
At some point, I had pretty much decided to travel to California and get trained under a master, when I found a mistake in one of the books he coauthored. It was advice given about how to use mirrors opposite doors in narrow hallways. As an architect, I know this is one way you could startle a person into having a heart attack, thinking somebody is coming "right at them." The Feng Shui reasoning made sense, but I new this would not be good in practice. I also read from one of his first students advice to place a mirror at the bottom of a staircase, to counteract the chi going down the staircase and force it to go up again. This is another way to give a person a heart attack (please don't try this at home!), but more importantly, why use a mirror to double a staircase, which is considered to be a huge Feng Shui problem no matter what it's shape and location? It didn't make sense.
Still I did not trust myself and my inner guidance to proceed on my own. How would I ever be trusted by clients if I did not have a certificate and a Grand Master to back me up?
Come to find out, my clients couldn't care less. As soon as they learned of my degree in Architecture, all their doubts dissolved.
By then the Nine Steps to Feng Shui® system was taking good shape, and I wanted to be able to teach it to other people. Would students trust me if I did not have an ancient school to hold my back? Lucky for me, my students felt so great during classes, that they did not care either. They wanted to learn what I had to teach regardless of credentials, because they understood what I was teaching, and when they went home and applied it, it worked! When I was writing my first book one student went as far as saying: "As soon as your book gets published I am going to recycle all my other Feng Shui books."
The problem was that, even though my clients and students did not care I did not have a certificate, I did. I cared very much.
Psychic Help?
It took a sign from Heaven, for me to understand it was not necessary for me to follow another master – that following the mastery in my own heart was enough help others bring out the mastery of their own hearts.
I was about to move to live from Mississippi to Iowa, when Gloria Murphy – a healer and psychic that was introduced to me by my dear friend Regina Catalano, also a healer – offered to give me a free reading as a going away gift. If you know me, you know I don't do psychics and prefer to trust my own inner guidance. I honestly only said yes because she was so nice and I did not want to hurt her feelings.
The first thing she told me was my guides and angels had asked her to talk to me because I had quit listening to them – chagrin –she relayed some advice that didn't make sense to me at the time, but that was crucial to me after I had children.
She wanted to know if I had questions and I asked whether I should continue solo or get certified. Her immediate answer was going to be "Of course you do," but she recognized it as her own belief and not what was coming from Spirit. Spirit's answer was "It does not matter. It would not make any difference regarding what you ultimately came to do."
What I Ultimately Came to Do
What I ultimately came to do, I know now, is to share ancient wisdom which was collected in the studies of Traditional Chinese Wisdom many years ago, to give people back the control of their immediate environments, so that they can improve their collective environment.
To make it FUN and practical, I share this wisdom through the art of Feng Shui!
The most common feedback Feng Shui clients give me is "I feel more hopeful." The most common feedback students give me is: "It all makes sense now."
My main goal in working with students and clients is that they realize their natural spiritual ability to be co-creators of their own lives, and the crucial role that living and working in environments with a healthy circulation of chi (life force) can have in the attainment of their goals.
I created my own method and school of Feng Shui because I wanted to have a system that was free of superstitious beliefs and that was not associated with any particular religious belief system, but that would be user friendly for people of all faiths, and even for people of no faith.
I had many teachers along the way, that instructed me in the knowledge and arts that would eventually give rise to the Nine Steps to Feng Shui® System.
I express gratitude to my teachers in the school of Architecture and Urban Planning, that gave me knowledge that went above and beyond their duty as teachers, and introduced me to fascinating subjects such as Systems Theory, the Pattern Languages by Christopher Alexander, and Topology, that would become instrumental in my ability to understand Feng Shui concepts and explain them in a way that makes sense to Western culture. These teachers are:
Mario Vásconez
Guido Díaz
Francisco Naranjo
Sócrates Ulloa
Carlos Velasco
Beba Muñoz
I also feel very grateful to my teachers at the Macrobiotics Center the Art of Living in Quito, Ecuador, where I learned the principles of Yin and Yang and natural Asian healing methods, including healing by nutrition.
Special gratitude goes to Dr. Susana Kronfeld, my former visual arts teacher.
I also wish to recognize Feng Shui teachers and authors who inspired me to study the art of Feng Shui and become a Feng Shui Consultant in the early years:
Master Lin Yun
Sarah Rossbach
Terah Kathryn Collins
Greg Pratt Interviewed me (Moni) on April of 2011. This interview answers some other questions that aspiring Feng Shui consultants and consultants who would like to add the Nine Steps to Feng Shui® System to their art may find interesting.
What exactly does a feng shui consultant do?
A Feng Shui consultant assesses the health of the spaces in and around buildings, both in urban and rural areas to determine whether human life can thrive in them. This is done using methods similar to the ones an acupuncturist would use to assess the health of a patient. These methods are based on the Principles of Traditional Asian Thought, which came about from the observation of nature and people's interaction with nature over thousands of years.
When a Feng Shui consultant or advisor works on a home or business building, he or she checks to see that certain conditions are met for the physical, emotional and mental wellbeing of the occupants.
Some of these conditions are:
– complete floor plans,
– balanced and proportionate areas,
– good circulation of the air flow and good circulation of traffic between the different rooms,
– a connection with nature and natural elements,
– a positive feedback loop provided by the colors, symbols, type of furniture, accessories and ornaments chosen for the locale,
– clearing of clutter and stagnant energies,
– honoring the nine life areas and
– furniture placement for greater comfort, safety and productivity
When a Feng Shui consultant finds that these requirements are not met, he or she suggests doing corrections, called "cures", to fix these problems. Sometimes these cures are of a physical nature and some times of an electromagnetic nature. Practitioners also use cures that have a strong symbolic or spiritual meaning for the client.
What does someone working in this industry get out of it personally (i.e., a sense of satisfaction helping people, etc.)?
Feng Shui is considered a healing art. It is actually one of the five branches of Traditional Chinese Medicine (the other four being: acupuncture, herbalism, Chi-Kung, and massage)
There is a great satisfaction in seeing people regain hope for life and realize that much of their destiny is actually in their hands if they learn how to use their space to support their dreams and goals in life. I have seen people go from a state of general unhappiness and lack of health to wholeness and a renewed trust in and passion for life within a year, simply by making sure that they lived and worked in healthy environments.
About 10 years back, Feng Shui was really hip and happening then… is it still or was that a passing phase?
About 10 years ago there was a boom in Feng Shui and though it has calmed down, the interest in Feng Shui is still growing, even though at a slower pace than it was before. More and more, Feng Shui is coming part of popular culture, for example it is mentioned more and more in TV shows and in movies.
I think it is similar to what happened with Yoga in the seventies. There was a boom at that time and then it calmed down, but more and more people in the United States and around the world are doing yoga, with virtually all fitness centers offering classes, in addition to all the private studios.
Similarly, though you may not hear about Feng Shui in the news as often, more and more people are aware of it.
How else has the industry changed over the past 10 years or so?
The Feng Shui boom a decade ago resulted in many different schools and approaches to this healing art. Many of them have not succeeded. There is also a lot of confusion about Feng Shui, because a Chinese Dynasty ordered the production of books containing errors in them in an effort to keep true Feng Shui knowledge only for the privileged classes, and some of these false knowledge has taken hold in the West.
The economic down turn at the end of 2008 greatly affected Feng Shui as a business, because many consider getting a Feng Shui session as a luxury and not a necessity.
If it is still a hip and happening line of work, how can people avoid being seen as just trying to capitalize on the trend? Is demand rising, falling or staying the same?
I believe it is still hip and happening. The best recommendation for a practitioner are client testimonials and referrals.
What trends change demand for those in this line of work?
The economy is a big factor, since most people do not perceive their need for Feng Shui.
I have seen that the degree of success that someone can have in Feng Shui depends on these factors:
– How much they believe in it and live by its principles. I have met practitioners that were somehow ashamed to have certain people in their circles find out what they did "on the side." A practitioner who has faith in the methods and cures of Feng Shui, especially one who "walks the talk" is a lot more likely to transmit that same confidence to clients and prospective clients.
– The area where the Practitioner lives and practices. The idiosyncrasies and world views of the majority of the people in the different communities can have a strong effect in the ability of the practitioner to promote their business. People in coastal areas, where there tends to be more prosperity, are a lot more likely to be open to Feng Shui and be willing to pay for consultations, while people in the Midwest are more the "do it yourselves" type and would be more interested in classes. Practitioners who live in the US "Bible Belt," face other challenges. Some pastors still tell their congregations that things like Yoga and Reiki come "from the devil" and many people are suspicious of Feng Shui because it is originally from Asia and they confuse it with a religion.
I should note that even though some Feng Shui schools are connected with Buddhist or Taoist groups, Feng Shui in non religious, and it does not require for people to change their faith, but it does require to people to expand their perceptions of "what is."
What kind of earnings can someone who is involved in this expect to make?
For most practitioners, Feng Shui is a great way to bring additional income to the household, but few do it as a full time business. It is very well paid by the hour, but for some people it is not so easy to find enough clients to stay busy all the time. Many practitioners complement their consultation income by teaching classes and workshops on the subject.
Feng Shui rates are at least a hundred dollars per hour and up to thousand of dollars per session, depending on the reputation of the practitioner and the area where they live.
The success of a Feng Shui business, as in any other line of work, depends not only on how much a person knows on the subject, but on their business management knowledge, and their ability to make connections and promote themselves.
Lastly, how can someone get into this line of work?
Feng Shui is not board regulated and there are no requirements to be able to practice. It is unlikely that it would ever be standardizes as some schools are very different from others in their approach and what they teach.
When choosing a school or a mentor I suggest that a person first read their textbooks to see if they agree with their world view and general principles. The prestige of the school is important, but especially the integrity of the master.
It helps to have some background in architecture (my case), design or drafting. It is essential to be able to read floor plans and make simple sketches.
You can check out my Feng Shui Consultant Training Program here: https://feng-shui-for-us.teachable.com/p/nine-steps-to-feng-shui-training |
Our inaugural CCS Literacy Week entitled "Read All About It" was a huge success and lots of fun!!!
Highlights included a visit from the founders of "Pundit Arena" (Sports Journalism Website), Handwriting classes, Library Visits and a very special Dress Up Day where staff and students dressed as their favourite literary characters. Classroom doors were decorated to mark the event and time was set aside for "Drop Everything And Read" activities throughout the week.
Well done to all involved and here's to next years Literacy Week being even bigger and better! |
Fill cabochon mold with glass frit, scrap and powders to create one-of-a-kind cast glass jewelry. Try combining powders to create a marbled look or accent with dichroic. Get eight great, unique looks from one mold! This Delphi Exclusive mold is the perfect way to create unique glass cabochons in a variety of shapes and sizes, all at one time. Use for necklace pendants, earrings, bracelets, even for hot mosaics! No need to purchase multiple molds or fire multiple times.
Ceramic mold can be used many times. Coat with Primo Primer #48235. Mold makes eight different cabochon shapes from 1/2" x 1" to 1-1/4" x 1-3/8" each. See size perspective of mold with quarter and dime images shown. Mold measures 6" x 4". A Delphi Exclusive!
Artist Melanie Churchill made the fun dichroic cabochon charm bracelet shown with dichroic frit.
Cons : I will not use it again - the results are very small and the finished surface is rough because of kiln wash so requires grinding and fire polishing. It is easier to cut the shapes and fuse - a far nicer result and only one firing involved. |
Jay vanity a former makeup artist and YouTube beauty advisor was driven to give women of all ages flawless lashes. Her love and passion for it inspired her to open a business to deliver just that, flawless lashes. That's when Vanity Lashes was created in 2012.
It all started at a young age of 16 when her mother taught her how to apply false lashes for fun, she became obsessed with how it could completely transform the appearance of your eyes in just a second.
After attending cosmetology school she pursued a career in makeup artistry she became inspired to create her very own false eyelash line/brand after some researching came across the latest trend eyelash extensions! It became a huge interest to her, she figured why have to glue on false eyelash strips everyday when you can apply lash extensions and just wake up ready to go, no mascara ever needed! it all made sense, this was it! What we've all been looking for and at the time nobody was really offering. After plenty of training and lots of practice she perfected her skill and decided it was time to give woman the confidence of feeling beautiful just waking up with gorgeous lashes.
© 2016 by Amodelifestyle. Proudly created with Wix.com |
Check out this rare find! This 1936 Hammerblow Travel Trailer was originally built by the Hammer Blow Tool Company out of Waysau, Wisconsin. Available as a restoration only, we look forward to seeing this trailer come back to life! |
About MCCIP
Impacts Report Cards
Climate Smart Adaptation
Special Topic Report Cards
Marine biodiversity legislation 2015
UK marine protected areas
As of August 2015, approximately 16% of UK waters are within marine protected areas including: 108 Special Areas of Conservation (SACs), 110 Special Protection Areas (SPAs), 29 Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) and 30 Nature Conservation Marine Protected Areas (NCMPAs). Further designations under these mechanisms are expected in the coming years. In addition, fishery closure areas exist to protect seafish in general, as well as for specific species such as sandeels and blue ling, and vulnerable marine habitats.
For the Isle of Man, five fishery closure areas and one marine nature reserve have been established; Jersey has four marine Ramsar sites; and, for Guernsey, there is one marine Ramsar site.
What do we mean by "marine protected area"?
Marine protected areas are parts of the sea that are partly or fully protected from anthropogenic activities. For the purposes of this Report Card, "marine protected area" is a generic term that includes a number of different designations. These designations are considered to contribute to a marine protected area network in the UK.
*Fisheries closures can include: those under the Inshore Fishing (Scotland) Act 1984; regulatory measures under the North- East Atlantic Fisheries Commission; and regulations under the Common Fisheries Policy.
Further information on these types of protected areas
Characteristics of UK marine protected areas
Feature led: Marine protected areas in the UK are established for specific features (species, communities or habitats) rather than marine ecosystems in their entirety. There are 1,253 designated features in the UK marine protected area network, comprising 105 different species and 74 habitats. All of these features need to be assessed individually against conservation targets. It is the features within marine protected areas that are of interest when considering the impacts of climate change.
Multi use: An important characteristic of most UK marine protected areas is that they are multi use, rather than closed areas. This presents challenges when trying to identify appropriate management responses as there is a need to attribute any impacts to human activities, natural variability, climate change or a combination of these factors.
Within networks: The identification and establishment of marine protected areas in the UK has been undertaken to contribute to broader networks (e.g. Natura 2000, OSPAR). The success of these broader networks in providing resilience to climate change needs to be determined through appropriate monitoring programmes. At present, there are very few monitoring programmes worldwide that provide appropriate evidence to assess the functioning of marine protected area networks.
Marine protected areas in the UK
Special Areas of Conservation with marine components
Special Protection Areas with marine components
Marine Conservation Zones
Nature Conservation Marine Protected Areas
UK continental shelf limit
Note: Fishery closure areas are not shown as they can be updated and are generally seasonal and specific to gear types or stocks.
© JNCC/NE/NRW/SNH/DOENI. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown Copyright and database right 2015. UK continental shelf limit. Contains public sector information, licensed under the Open Government Licence v2.0, from the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office. © Crown Copyright.
Full Report Cards Special Topic Report Cards 2017 - 10-year Report Card Marine biodiversity legislation 2015 Introduction The inclusion of climate change in legislation relevant to marine biodiversity
What are the features? What could happen to the features? Marine protected areas and ocean acidification How can marine protected areas and networks help address climate change? Management implications for marine protected areas in a changing climate What about the Marine Strategy Framework Directive? Key issues for decision makers to consider Sources of information Further Information Fish, Fisheries & Aquaculture Report Card 2012 Exploring Ecosystem Linkages Report Card 2009 Science reviews library
© Crown Copyright 2020 |
Q: Why am I able to kill Alduin during "Alduin's Bane" I've noticed that most people have a problem with this quest, but mainly in the fact that Alduin is unable to be damaged. My problem is different, I am able to damage Alduin, but instead of escaping to Sovengarde, when I hit with my killing strike he actually dies as if it was the final mission. The mission is still active as if he's alive, and Paarthanax repeatedly tells me to attack him even though he's already dead. I've redone multiple saves and characters yet I've been stuck on this quest since I've got the game, how can I fix it?
A: Depending on the state of your game, I'd say that some script or scene didn't fire properly thus allowing you to kill the actor. Try to reload a save game you did further back and see if the issue solve itself, this is sadly the only way to properly address this kind of problem.
If you don't want to deal with reload and fishing a good game state, you may want to manually set the quest stage to 220. Refer yourself to the wiki page for the quest, open the console and type setstage 220 to finish the current quest. If the next quest do not start automatically, you may need to start it manually. You may also need to resurrect Alduin.
Keep in mind that if you do make use of the console method, that won't fix whatever broke in your current save game. You may still experience weird stuff as you move forward.
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A few weeks ago, John Bercow allows male MPs to dispense with neckties, ending longstanding convention in the House of Commons. The news will come as great respite to men looking to shake off the fusty sartorial tradition as temperatures outside hit 30 degrees.
It's even a good news (or bad) for the industry as figures showed that the number of men who buy more than one tie a year has steadily dropped since 2009.
Some of the high-end menswear labels have already spotted the niche and their designers are creating shirts that are meant to be worn without a tie.
À la Tom Ford, it's ideal with a jacket as your collar won't look messy.
It is considered as the smarter, sportier and smaller variant of the normal spread type of collar. This is a very versatile type of collar. It can be worn with or without a necktie.
1/ Nail the fit. Avoid a sloppiness look.
Posted on 11/05/2018 08/05/2018 Posted in Men up!Tagged How To Wear A Suit Without A Tie, The right kind of shirt to wear without a tie, Wear a suit without a tie? |
The Biggest Debate
OK, gotta brace myself for this one; it's the gay marriage debate.
Even now, over a decade into the 21st century, it still isn't too hard (if you're looking in the right place) to find somebody to tell you that homosexuality is wrong/sinful/weird/unnatural/ARE YOU A FAG?!?!?!?! (apologies for using that word). Normally this blog does not go into my Views on any subject, but on this occasion I think I might relax these opinions to say that there is absolutely no justification for any of these opinions that is not a load of dingo's kidneys. Yes, homosexuality isn't exactly evolutionarily selected for and doesn't produce babies; but given that it's been observed in a range of animals from bats to swans, nature apparently doesn't have too much of a problem with the idea, so anything along those lines is out of the window. Yes, homosexuality is kind of a weird concept for your average straight person and you might find the idea a bit 'icky', but unless someone of your own gender starts hitting on you then there's no reason why this should affect you. And if anyone starts quoting the Bible at me, I'm going to start pointing out how Jesus was a socialist and there's nothing you can do to stop me.
Ahem. Sorry about that.
Anyway, the point I was getting at is that any debate concerning homosexuality is generally confined to this group of people shouting very loudly at the gay community and the rest of the civilised world. And, in recent history, said civilised world has been doing a lot of the winning; the gay community is a well-recognised part of our society and now the sight of two dudes making out, whilst uncommon, isn't exactly something to write home about. History will probably record the recent gay marriage debate in countries across the world as just another stepping stone along the road to sexual equality, but from my point of view one interesting thing struck me about the debate, or more specifically the debaters. Those opposing the idea of gay marriage frequently were, or at least came across as, people who didn't have a problem with gay relationships or civil partnerships but who were specifically opposed to gay marriage as a thing, which I found quite interesting. I've actually been putting off writing this post for a while because, well… controversy is not my strong suit, but I haven't really been able to get the thought out of my head so I guess you're stuck with it now.
To me, this aspect of the gay marriage debate really centred on what definition of marriage the person in question was using. To those who think that marriage is simply a strong, legally binding before-God-under-oath etc. expression of binding love between two people who want to spend their lives together, then sexual orientation doesn't really come into the picture; love is universal regardless of orientation, so according to this definition so too should marriage be. However, those opposed to gay marriage had some other idea of what marriage was meant to be, something that, by its very nature, made it something that could, almost by definition, only be between a man and a woman, and that civil partnerships exist for gay couples separately for a reason (incidentally, I personally think that the main bone of contention with the idea of a civil partnership among the gay community concerns the lack of cultural identity it carries, making it seem like a label more than a true, fundamental expression of love). Not being in this camp myself (and not having much first-hand experience of marriage), I thought I might investigate exactly what this definition of marriage might be, in order to get to the heart of the disagreement.
Since the only difference between a same-sex and straight relationship is, fundamentally, the bits of genitalia involved, it seems natural to begin from a standpoint of biology. Maybe the definition of marriage we're looking for concerns itself with a bond consummated through y'standard heterosexual mating procedure? My mind is instantly drawn to the image of marriage proposed in 'Game of Thrones' (books, I haven't seen the TV series'), in which the bride is publically stripped and 'bedded' on her wedding night in an elaborate piece of tradition that is mostly (the final act excepted) performed in front of a large, drunken feast. In any case, this definition falls at the first hurdle; heterosexual sex is, if we're talking about the pure emotional link of mutual enjoyment, satisfaction and emotional bonding, no different from homosexual sex (or else… well why would they do it?), so on its own this doesn't seem enough.
The end result of heterosexual sex, however, may point us in a better direction. Unlike homosexual relationships, heterosexual ones are biologically capable of producing babies (I will ignore for now the idea of sperm banks and such, which are a whole different business) and expanding the population, so maybe the basis for our alternative definition of marriage is a union through which to produce children, or something along those lines? This has some grounding in theology too; Adam and Eve were, according to the Bible, the first married couple (I think, anyway; I'm not too hot on my Bible study), and since God wrote the laws of biology it makes sense that he'd start off with a pair capable of continuing the lineage of the creatures made in his image. Or at least, after he made Eve, he sensed the potential the idea could have. It is presumably for this reason that the Bible incorporates specific instruction for Adam & Eve, and the book's subsequent readers, to 'Be fruitful and multiply' (Genesis 1:28), and why the Church has such strong views on the concept of sex outside marriage. But anyway; really, the validity of this argument, of the idea of marriage as a vehicle to producing children, is a personal rather than religious one, although you do have to wonder what such people think of people who have sex and children out of wedlock. Or maybe such people don't exist. I dunno, I'm speculating here.
And whilst we're on the subject, let's talk about religion, a favourite point of reasoning from internet comments sections (yes, occasionally I make the cardinal sin of reading those things). There is an argument that runs roughly along the lines of 'religion hates homosexuality, marriage is a religious ceremony, therefore the two are incompatible and a homosexual marriage is a ridiculous idea'. Proponents of this argument are less opposed to the introduction of a gay marriage bill than they are just thinking it's kinda weird, and are the source of a hilarious turn of phrase that has cropped up all over the web 'giving gay people the right to marry is like giving men the right to an abortion'. The second tenet of this argument is, however, rather a large assumption and the matter of considerable debate for, in modern society, marriage is technically a legal process. This is a concession made to respect those of other faiths (and quite right too), but is responsible for why a wedding can take place in a registry office just as easily as the church. It is also true that marriage was initially nothing to do with religion at all, but a matter of business; one family trading a woman to another in exchange for cash, and that religion rather inherited the concept as the idea of love in marriage became steadily more important over the centuries… but how you interpret this one is really down to personal debate. I happen to know for certain that this group exists, because I've seen plenty of arguments with them.
However, I personally think that the most likely reason a person would be against the idea of homosexual marriage but not homosexuality itself concerns the idea of ownership. The very idea of ownership is a quite strange and interesting one, but the thrust of the issue in this context is that human beings frequently feel a strange sense of belonging and ownership of a lot of things, be they objects, people or even ideas. A good example is patriotism/nationalism, where the idea of 'belonging' to a particular patch of land with a certain type of people can get so strong that they want to stop other people coming to their patch of land and 'stealing' their identity. And I think the same thing applies to marriage; married people have a sense of ownership over the idea, that it is fundamentally theirs and they don't want to share it with other people. It sounds both a childish and bigoted point of view and, to an extent, it is; but hey, humans are irrational creatures in the end. I can only hope that holders of this view don't feel quite so angry with it a few years down the line.
Standard | | Tagged Adam & Eve, Bible, children, civil partnership, controversy, cultural identity, Game of Thrones, gay, gay marriage, gay marriage debate, gender, heterosexual, homophobic, homosexual, identity, Jesus, love, nationalism, ownership, patriotism, relationships, sex, straight, theology | 0 comments
What the @*$!?
WARNING: Swearing will feature prominently in this post, as will a discussion of sexual material. Children, if your parents shout at you for reading this then it is officially YOUR PROBLEM. Okay?
I feel this may also be the place to apologise for missing a week of posts; didn't stop writing them, did stop posting them. Don't know why
Language can enable us to do many things; articulate our ideas, express our sorrow, reveal our love, and tell somebody else's embarrassing stories to name but a few. Every language has approached these and other practicalities of the everyday life they are designed to assist in different ways (there is one language I have heard of with no word for left or right, meaning that they refer to everything in terms of points of a compass and all members of the tribe thus have an inbuilt sense of where north is at all times), but there is one feature that every language from Japanese to Klingon has managed to incorporate, something without which a language would not be as complete and fully-fabricated as it ought, and which is almost always the first thing learnt by a student of a new language; swearing.
(Aside Note: English, partly due to its flexible nature and the fact that it didn't really develop as a language until everyone else had rather shown it the way, has always been a particularly good language for being thoroughly foul and dirty, and since it's the only language I have any degree of reasonable proficiency in I think I'll stick to that for the time being. If anyone knows anything interesting about swearing in other languages, please feel free to leave them in the comments)
Swearing, swearwords and bad language itself generally have one of three sources; many of the 'milder' swearwords tend to have a religious origin, and more specifically refer either to content considered evil by the Church/some form of condemnation to evil (so 'damn', in reference to being 'damned' by Satan), or to stuff considered in some way blasphemous and therefore wrong (the British idiom 'bloody' stems from the Tudor expression 'God's Blood', which along with similar references such as 'Christ's Passion' suggested that the Holy Trinity was in some way fallible and human, and thus capable of human weakness and vice- this was blasphemy according to the Church and therefore wrong). The place of 'mid-level' swearwords is generally taken by rather crude references to excrement, egestion and bodily emissions in general (piss, shit etc.). The 'worst swearwords' in modern society are of course sexual in nature, be they either references to genitalia, prostitution or the act itself.
The reason for these ideas having become sweary & inappropriate is a fairly simple, but nonetheless interesting, route to track. When the Church ruled the land, anything considered blasphemous or wrong according to their literature and world view was frowned upon at best and punished severely at worst, so words connected to these ideas were simply not broached in public. People knew what they meant, of course, and in seedy or otherwise 'underground' places, where the Church's reach was weak, these words found a home, instantly connecting them with this 'dirty' side of society. Poo and sex, of course, have always been considered 'dirty' among polite society, something always kept behind closed doors (I've done an entire post on the sex aspect of this before) and are thus equally shocking and ripe for sweary material when exposed to the real world.
A quick social analysis of these themes also reveals the reasons behind the 'hierarchy' of swearwords. In the past hundred years, the role of the church in everyday western society has dropped off dramatically and offending one's local priest (or your reputation with him) has become less of a social concern. Among the many consequences of this (and I'm sure an aggressive vicar could list a hundred more) has been the increased prevalence of swearing in normal society, and the fall of Church-related swearwords in terms of how severe they are; using a word once deemed blasphemous doesn't really seem that serious in a secular society, and the meaning it does have is almost anachronistic in nature. It helps, of course, that these words are among the oldest swearwords that have found common use, meaning that as time has gone by their original context has been somewhat lost and they have got steadily more and more tame. Perhaps in 200 years my future equivalent will be able to say dick in front of his dad for this reason.
The place of excrement and sex in our society has, however, not changed much in the last millennia or two. Both are things that are part of our everyday lives that all of us experience, but that are not done in the front room or broached in polite company- rather ugly necessities and facts of life still considered 'wrong' enough to become swearwords. However, whilst going to the loo is a rather inconvenient business that is only dirty because the stuff it produces is (literally), sex is something that we enjoy and often seek out. It is, therefore, a vice, something which we can form an addiction to, and addictions are something that non-addicts find slightly repulsive when observed in addicts or regular practitioners. The Church (yes, them again) has in particular found sex abhorrent if it is allowed to become rampant and undignified, historically favouring rather strict, Victorian positions and execution- all of which means that, unlike poo, sex has been actively clamped down on in one way or another at various points in history. This has, naturally, rarely done much to combat whatever has been seen as the 'problem', merely forcing it underground in most cases, but what it has done is put across an image of sex as something that is not just rather dirty but actively naughty and 'wrong'. This is responsible partly for the thrill some people get when trash talking about and during sex, and the whole 'you've been a naughty girl' terminology and ideas that surround the concept of sex- but it is also responsible for making sexually explicit references even more underhand, even more to be kept out of polite spheres of movement, and thus making sexually-related swearwords the most 'extreme' of all those in our arsenal.
So… yeah, that's what I got on the subject of swearing. Did anyone want a conclusion to this or something?
Standard | | Tagged abhorrent, addiction, addicts, anachronism, anachronistic, articulate, bad language, blasphemous, blasphemy, bloody, children, Christ's Passion, Church, compass points, context, damn, damnation, damned, devil, egestion, embarrassing stories, English, everyday, evil, excrement, fact of life, fallibility, genitalia, God, God's Blood, hierarchy, Holy Trinity, ideas, idiom, inconvenient, Japanese, Klingon, language, languages, left, literature, love, Lucifer, mild, naughty, necessities, piss, poo, priest, problem, prostitution, rampant, religious, right, Satan, secular, secular society, sex, sexual content, sexual material, sexual references, sexually explicit, shit, social analysis, sorrow, swear, swearing, swearwords, tame, terminology, thrill, underground, undignified, vicar, vice, Victorian, weakness, western society, wrong | 0 comments
The Seven Slightly Harmful Quite Bad Things
The Seven Deadly Sins are quite an odd thing amongst western culture; a list of traits ostensibly meant to represent the worst features of humanity, but that is instead regarded as something of a humorous diversion, and one, moreover, that a large section of the population have barely heard of. The sins of wrath (originally spelt 'wroth', and often represented simply as 'anger'), greed (or 'avarice'), sloth (laziness), pride, lust, envy and gluttony were originally not meant as definite sins at all. Rather, the Catholic Church, who came up with them, called them the seven Capital Vices (their original religious origin also leads to them being referred to as 'cardinal sins') and rather than representing mere sins in and of themselves they were representative of the human vices from which all sin was born. The Church's view on sin is surprisingly complex- all sinful activity is classified either as venial (bad but relatively minor) or mortal (meant to destroy the inner goodness of a person and lead them down a path of eternal damnation). Presumably the distinction was intended to prevent all sinful behaviour from being labelled a straight ticket to hell, but this idea may have been lost in a few places over time, as might (unfortunately) be accepted. Thus, holding a Capital Vice did not mean that you were automatically a sinful person, but that you were more naturally predisposed to commit sin and should try to exorcise them from you. All sin falls under the jurisdiction (for want of better word) of one of the vices, hence the confusion, and each Deadly Sin had its own counterpart Heavenly Virtue; patience for wrath, charity for greed, diligence for sloth, humility for pride, chastity for lust (hence why catholic priests are meant to be chaste), kindness for envy and temperance for gluttony. To a Catholic, therefore, these fourteen vices and virtues are the only real and, from a moral perspective, meaningful traits a person can have, all others being merely offshoots of them. Pride is usually considered the most severe of the sins, in that one challenges your place in comparison to God, and is also considered the source of the other six; Eve's original sin was not, therefore, the eating of the fruit from the forbidden tree, but the pride and self-importance that lead her to challenge the word of God.
There have been other additions, or suggestions of them, to this list over the years; acedia, a neglect of ones duty based on melancholy and depression, was seen as symptomatic of a refusal to enjoy god's world, whilst vainglory (a kind of boastful vanity) was incorporated under pride in the 14th century. Some more recent scholars have suggested the addition of traits such as fear, superstition and cruelty, although the church would probably put the former two under pride, in that one is not trusting in God to save you, and the latter as pride in your position and exercising of power over another (as you can see, 'pride' can be made to cover a whole host of things). I would also argue that, whilst the internet is notoriously loath to accept anything the Christian church has ever done as being a remotely good idea, that there is a lot we can learn by examining the list. We all do bad things, that goes without saying, but that does not mean that we are incapable of trying to make ourselves into better people, and the first step along that road is a proper understanding of precisely where and how we are flawed as people. Think of some act of your behaviour, maybe something you feel as being good behaviour and another as a dubiously moral incident, and try to place its root cause under one of those fourteen traits. You may be surprised as to what you can find out about yourself.
However, I don't want to spend the rest of this post on a moral lesson, for there is another angle I wish to consider with regard to the Seven Deadly Sins- that they need not be sins at all. Every one of the capital vices is present to some degree within us, and can be used as justification for a huge range of good behaviour. If we do not allow ourselves to be envious of our peers' achievements, how can we ever become inspired to achieve such heights ourselves- or, to pick a perhaps more appropriate example, if we are not envious of the perfectness of the Holy Trinity, how can and why should we aspire to be like them? Without the occasional espousal of anger and wrath, we may find it impossible to convey the true emotion behind what we care about, to enable others to care also, and to ensure we can appropriately defend what we care for. How could the Church ever have attempted to retake the Holy Land without the wrath required to act and win decisively? Greed too acts as a driving force for our achievements (can the church's devotion to its vast collection of holy relics not be labelled as such?), and the occasional bout of gluttony and sloth are often necessary to best aid our rest and recuperation, enabling us to continue to act as good, kind people with the emotional and physical strength to bear life's burden. Lust is often necessary as a natural predisposition to love, surely a virtuous trait if ever there was one, whilst a world consisting solely of chaste, 'proper' people would clearly not last very long. And then there is pride, the deadliest and also the most virtuous of vices. Without a sense of pride, how can we ever have even a modicum of self-respect, how can we ever recognise what we have done well and attempt to emulate it, and how can we ever feel any emotion that makes us seem like normal human beings rather than cold, calculating, heartless machines?
Perhaps, then, the one true virtue that we should apply to all of this is that of temperance. We all do bad things and we may all have a spark of the seven deadly sins inside us, but that doesn't mean necessarily that the incidences of the two need always to coincide. Sure, if we just embrace our vices and pander to them, the world will probably not end up a terribly healthy place, and I'm sure that my description of the deadly sins is probably stretching the point as to what they specifically meant in their original context. But, not every dubiously right thing you do is entirely terrible, and a little leeway here and there can go an awfully long way to making sure we don't end up going collectively mental.
Standard | | Tagged acedia, achievements, Adam & Eve, anger, aspire, avarice, bad, better people, boastful, calculating, Capital Vices, cardinal sins, care, Catholic, Catholic Church, charity, chaste, chastity, Christian, Christian church, Christianity, Church, cold, convey emotion, cruelty, Crusade, deadly sins, defend, depression, diligence, distinction, driving force, duty, emotion, emotional strength, envious, envy, Eve, fear, features, Genesis, gluttony, God, good, good behaviour, good idea, good people, greed, healthy, heartless, heavenly virtues, Holy Land, holy relics, Holy Trinity, humanity, humility, humourous diversion, inspired, internet, kindness, laziness, leeway, life's burden, love, lust, machines, meaningful, melancholy, moral, moral lesson, morality, mortal, neglect, original sin, pandering, passion, patience, perfectness, physical strength, pride, religion, religious, rest and recuperation, self-respect, Seven Deadly Sins, Seven Heavenly Virtues, sin, sinful, sinful person, sins, sloth, superstition, temperance, traits, vainglory, vanity, venial, vices, virtues, virtuous, western culture, word of God, wrath, wroth | 2 Comments
Studying homosexuality
For part two of this multi-parter on sex & sexuality in one form of another, I would like to turn to the topic that first inspired this series in the first place: homosexuality. This is a subject that is notoriously hard to talk about without offending or angering one group or another, but I'm going to try and consider the subject (please tell me off if I ever refer to it as a problem) objectively, trying to analyse it as a concept. Not that this means I won't end up using the wrong words at one point or another, but try to believe me when I say I'm not trying to.
From an evolutionary perspective, being gay doesn't make much sense. Natural selection as a way of ensuring the 'success' of a species relies upon passing on genes to the next generation, and this clearly isn't going to happen if the psychological imperative of a person is to mate with someone who they cannot have children with. It would seem, therefore, that since homosexuality is something not evolutionarily favoured, that it should have died out several million years ago, but this is patently not the case. This makes its root cause something of a poser- not being evolutionarily selected for would seem to root out any genetic cause, but it doesn't appear to be simply a feature of just our modern society (both Leonardo da Vinci and King William II were probably gay) or even solely our species (bats, dolphins and lions are among a huge group of other animals to display homosexual behaviour). It's not as if these are isolated cases either- between 8 and 15% of gulls on the Santa Barbara coast practice lesbian mating, and all bonobos (the smallest of the great apes) are bisexual. Compare this to the oft-quoted figure that 10% of human beings are gay, or even some of the other estimates that have been put about; I have heard it claimed that one third of British women are either lesbian or bisexual, whilst Alfred Kinsey, inventor of the notorious Kinsey Scale of Heterosexual-Homosexual Rating (o being totally hetero, 6 totally homo, 1-5 being various degrees of in between) claimed that less than 5% of people were exactly 0 or 6.
Homosexuality is, therefore, clearly nothing new, and from mere observation can certainly not be called 'unnatural'. Indeed, for those of us who are gay, it clearly feels like the more 'natural' way of doing things. Just as the rest of us become attracted to and fall in love with someone in what is perceived the 'normal' way, so the precise same procedure is performed by homosexuals, the only difference (of course) being that their objects of affection are of their own gender. The fundamental difference is, then, simply a question of finding the 'wrong' group of people attractive compared to the norm, although exactly how and why this difference occurs is still a conundrum that has flummoxed far finer minds than mind.
So, if homosexuality has always formed a part of our existence, why has it attracted all the various degrees of hate that it has over the years? This, at least, we can clearly call a societal thing- the ancient Greeks are famous for their acceptance of homosexuality as a form of love (the Spartans even considering it the highest form), and since it is at least tolerated where else it occurs in the animal kingdom we must presume that the hating of it is something that has sadly developed within human culture. Among teenage boys especially, the very idea of homosexuality is considered kinda disgusting, presumably mostly because it appears so alien to the burgeoning sexual emotions of the majority of them. Then we encounter the fact that wanting to have sex with a man is a 'naturally' female trait, and since women have generally been shoved firmly into subservient positions for most of human history this does not hold well for the prospect of homosexuality gaining societal respect. It has also been postulated that the motions of male homosexual intercourse, requiring one of the men to adopt a submissive position and accept the penetration of an orifice that (let's face it) wasn't designed for the purpose, is quite a humiliating idea, further enhancing the level of disgust, and making homosexuality just seem 'wrong' to many, especially men, from quite a young age. Since young men who generally don't get told what to do or think have historically tended to take up positions of power (ie sons of important people who tend to follow in their father's footsteps), this has meant these burgeoning ideas are allowed to remain untempered and find their way into the upper echelons of society. From there, by means of both law (homosexuality has frequent been made illegal in various countries from time to time, when they ever acknowledged it actually exists) or religion (the Catholic Church render any further expansion of this point unnecessary), such views filter down and further reinforce the idea of it all being 'wrong'. From there, persecution is merely a formality.
OK so… why is this persecution generally aimed at men? This one's comparatively simple to answer, and the reason is twofold. Firstly, women have, as previously mentioned, tended to be considered less important then men throughout history and lesbian exploits have thus been less likely to be of any societal importance than those of their male counterparts. Secondly… well basically, straight men have tended to be in charge and set the rules, and straight men find lesbians sexy. And I'm not even going to try analysing that particular fact.
I'm not really aiming to try and draw any meaningful conclusions from this post, just to throw around a few ideas and explore a concept or two. Next post I'll be sticking to another broadly sex-related theme, although I can't tell you which as I have absolutely no idea.
Standard | | Tagged Alfred Kinsey, analyse, Ancient Greece, attraction, bats, bisexual, bonobos, Catholic Church, children, conclusions, culture, disgusting, dolphins, evolution, gay, genetics, gulls, heterosexual, history, homosexual behaviour, homosexuality, human culture, human history, intercourse, King William II, Kinsey scale, law, Leonardo da Vinci, lesbian, lions, love, men, natural, natural selection, persecution, psychology, religion, respect, right, sex, sexuality, society, Sparta, straight, teenage boys, teenagers, unnatural, William Rufus, women, wrong | 0 comments
Why do we call a writer a bard, anyway?
In Britain at the moment, there are an awful lot of pessimists. Nothing unusual about this, as it's hardly atypical human nature and my country has never been noted for its sunny, uplifting outlook on life as a rule anyway. Their pessimism is typically of the sort adopted by people who consider themselves too intelligent (read arrogant) to believe in optimism and nice things anyway, and nowadays tends to focus around Britain's place in the world. "We have nothing world-class" they tend to say, or "The Olympics are going to be totally rubbish" if they wish to be topical.
However, whilst I could dedicate an entire post to the ramblings of these people, I would probably have to violate my 'no Views' clause by the end of it, so will instead focus on one apparent inconsistency in their argument. You see, the kind of people who say this sort of thing also tend to be the kind of people who really, really like the work of William Shakespeare.
There is no denying that the immortal Bard (as he is inexplicably known) is a true giant of literature. He is the only writer of any form to be compulsory reading on the national curriculum and is known of by just about everyone in the world, or at least the English-speaking part. He introduced between 150 and 1500 new words to the English language (depending on who you believe and how stringent you are in your criteria) as well as countless phrases ranging from 'bug-eyed monster' (Othello) to 'a sorry sight' (Macbeth), wrote nearly 40 plays, innumerable sonnets and poems, and revolutionised theatre of his time. As such he is idolised above all other literary figures, Zeus in the pantheon of the Gods of the written word, even in our modern age. All of which is doubly surprising when you consider how much of what he wrote was… well… crap.
I mean think about it- Romeo and Juliet is about a romance that ends with both lovers committing suicide over someone they've only known for three days, whilst Twelfth Night is nothing more than a romcom (in fact the film 'She's the Man' turned it into a modern one), and not a great one at that. Julius Caesar is considered even by fans to be the most boring way to spend a few hours in known human history, the character of Othello is the dopiest human in history and A Midsummer Night's Dream is about some fairies falling in love with a guy who turns into a donkey. That was considered, by Elizabethans, the very height of comedic expression.
So then, why is he so idolised? The answer is, in fact, remarkably simple: Shakespeare did stuff that was new. During the 16th century theatre hadn't really evolved from its Greek origins, and as such every play was basically the same. Every tragedy had the exact same formulaic plot line of tragic flaw-catharsis-death, which, whilst a good structure used to great effect by Arthur Miller and the guy who wrote the plot for the first God of War game, does tend to lose interest after 2000 years of ceaseless repetition. Comedies & satyrs had a bit more variety, but were essentially a mixture of stereotypes and pantomime that might have been entertaining had they not been mostly based on tired old stories, philosophy and mythology and been so unfunny that they required a chorus (who were basically a staged audience meant to show how the audience how to react). In any case there was hardly any call for these comedies anyway- they were considered the poorer cousins to the more noble and proper tragedy, amusing sideshows to distract attention from the monotony of the main dish. And then, of course, there were the irreversibly fixed tropes and rules that had to be obeyed- characters were invariably all noble and kingly (in fact it wasn't until the 1920's that the idea of a classical tragedy of the common man was entertained at all) and spoke with rigid rhythm, making the whole experience more poetic than imitative of real life. The iambic pentameter was king, the new was non-existent, and there was no concept whatsoever that any of this could change.
Now contrast this with, say, Macbeth. This is (obviously) a tragedy, about a lord who, rather than failing to recognise a tragic flaw in his personality until right at the very end and then holding out for a protracted death scene in which to explain all of it (as in a Greek tragedy), starts off a good and noble man who is sent mental by a trio of witches. Before Shakespeare's time a playwright could be lynched before he made such insulting suggestions about the noble classes (and it is worth noting that Macbeth wasn't written until he was firmly established as a playwright), but Shakespeare was one of the first of a more common-born group of playwrights, raised an actor rather than aristocrat. The main characters may be lords & kings it is true (even Shakespeare couldn't shake off the old tropes entirely, and it would take a long time for that to change), but the driving forces of the plot are all women, three of whom are old hags who speak in an irregular chanting and make up heathen prophecies. Then there is an entire monologue dedicated to an old drunk bloke, speaking just as irregularly, mumbling on about how booze kills a boner, and even the main characters get in on the act, with Macbeth and his lady scrambling structureless phrases as they fairly shit themselves in fear of discovery. Hell, he even managed to slip in an almost comic moment of parody as Macbeth compares his own life to that of a play (which, of course, it is. He pulls a similar trick in As You Like It)
This is just one example- there are countless more. Romeo and Juliet was one of the first examples of romance used as the central driving force of a tragedy, The Tempest was the Elizabethan version of fantasy literature and Henry V deserves a mention for coming up with some of the best inspirational quotes of all time. Unsurprisingly, whilst Shakespeare was able to spark a revolution at home, other countries were rocked by his radicalism- the French especially were sharply divided into two camps, one supporting this theatrical revolution (such as Voltaire) and the other vehemently opposing it. It didn't do any good- the wheels had been set in motion, and for the next 500 years theatre and literature continued (and continues) to evolve at a previously unprecedented rate. Nowadays, the work of Shakespeare seems to us as much of a relic as the old Greek tragedies must have appeared to him, but as theatre has moved on so too has our expectations of it (such as, for instance, jokes that are actually funny and speech we can understand without a scholar on hand). Shakespeare may not have told the best stories or written the best plays to our ears, but that doesn't mean he wasn't the best playwright.
Standard | | Tagged A Midsummer Night's Dream, arrogant, Arthur Miller, boredom, Britain, bug-eyed monster, catharsis, chorus, comedy, death, donkey, drunk, falling in love, fame, fixed, formulaic, France, God of War, Greek comedy, Greek theatre, Greek tragedy, hag, Henry V, human nature, iambic pentameter, immortal bard, intelligent, Julius Caesar, kings, Lady Macbeth, literature, lord, love, lynched, Macbeth, mad, mental, national curriculum, new, new worth, Olympics, Othello, pessimism, play, playwright, poem, poet, poetry, radicalism, repetition, revolution, romcom, Romeo and Juliet, rules, satyr, Shakespeare, sorry sight, story, Stratford-upon-Avon, structure, suicide, the Bard, The Tempest, theatre, tragedy, tragic flaw, tropes, Twelfth Night, Voltaire, William Shakespeare, witches, work of william shakespeare, writer | 0 comments |
Vancouver, British Columbia, December 7, 2007 (TSX Venture: EMX) – Eurasian Minerals Inc. (the "Company" or "EMX") is pleased to announce that the 2007 drill program at its Sisorta gold project extended the known mineralized gold zones, and is highlighted by an oxide intercept of 35.2 meters averaging 3.6 g/t gold. Sisorta, located in northeastern Turkey's Pontides mineral belt, is a bulk tonnage, volcanic-hosted, epithermal gold project with copper porphyry exploration potential at depth. Please refer to the map accompanying this news release.
ranging from 23 to over 100 meters, with grades over significant intervals ranging from 0.34 g/t to over 5 g/t gold (see EMX news release dated May 24, 2005). In addition, drill holes targeting the deeper extents of the system have intersected porphyry-style alteration and anomalous copper mineralization (see EMX news release dated February 16, 2006).
EMX has recently entered into a Sisorta project joint venture with Chesser Resources Limited (ASX: CHZ) ("Chesser"). Under the terms of this agreement, Chesser may earn up to a 51% interest by spending US $4 million over three years, paying EMX a total of US $400,000, and issuing 3 million shares to EMX. Chesser can increase its interest to 70% by sole funding exploration to delivery of a bankable feasibility study over the subsequent five years, with yearly cash payments of US $100,000 (see EMX news release dated October 31, 2007).
of oxide material averaging 1.62 g/t gold. Sis-14, -15, and –18 also intersected anomalous copper and/or molybdenum porphyry-style mineralization at depth. Significant results include Sis-14 with 20.6 meters averaging 0.36% copper and 8.65 meters averaging 1.45% copper, and Sis-15 with 49.9 meters averaging 0.27% copper.
gold mineralization, including 35.2 meters averaging 3.6 g/t gold. Both West Zone holes extended the drill defined gold mineralization over 100 meters down-dip and to the west, and also intersected anomalous molybdenum and/or copper porphyry-style mineralization at depth.
Significant drill intervals calculated at a nominal 0.3 g/t gold cutoff and minimum length of 7 meters, with a maximum of 3.5 meters contiguous dilution. Reported intervals are approximately true thickness.
EMX's 2007 Sisorta program successfully extended the size of the drill-defined oxide gold zones, and provided further data to support the presence of a copper porphyry target at depth. The mineralized zones remain open in all directions, as only a small proportion of the broader target region has been drilled. EMX, and joint venture partner Chesser, anticipate an expanded drill program during the 2008 field season.
EMX's drill and geochemical samples were collected in accordance with accepted industry standards. The samples were submitted to ALS Chemex laboratories in Izmir, Turkey for sample preparation and Vancouver, Canada (ISO 9001:2000 and 17025:2005 accredited) for analysis. Gold was analyzed by fire assay with an AAS finish, and the multi-element analyses were determined by ICP-AES and MS techniques. As standard procedure, the Company conducts routine QA/QC analysis on all assay results, including the systematic utilization of certified reference materials, blanks, field duplicates, and umpire laboratory check assays.
Reported intervals with no core recovery include Sis-13 between 9.50-11.60 m, 23.50-24.90 m and 25.50-26.60 m, Sis-14 from 15.10-15.80 m, and Sis-16 between 29.30-29.70 m, 30.60-31.10 m, 137.80-139.50 m and149.80-151.80 m.
Note that in select cases, intervals are reported with mineralized, but sub-cutoff contiguous dilution greater than 3.5 meters that are carried by higher grade intervals below.
EMX is exploring and investing in a mineral property and royalty portfolio located in some of the most prospective, but under-explored mineral belts of the world. |
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Home Living Shopping & Style More Than Tattoos
More Than Tattoos
New North Side shop is a tribute to the arts
by Nicole Cohen
Charles Berger in his new shop, Two Pillars Tattoo (Photo by Jay Paul)
Charles Berger says he chose Brookland Park to open his business, Two Pillars Tattoo and Sign Shop, because he loves the area. "I wanted to embrace the community that I moved into," Berger says. "Everyone's been very welcoming and all the local businesses are fantastic." Plus, Two Pillars is currently the only tattoo shop in the neighborhood. "Richmond is so saturated with tattoo shops that it's hard to find an area that is tattoo shop-free," notes Berger.
With nine years of experience, Berger formerly worked at Heroes & Ghosts Tattoo in Carytown and more recently at Lakeside Tattoo Co. while he was renovating his new business at 224 W. Brookland Park Blvd.
In addition to tattoos, Berger also creates hand-painted signs for clients such as The Rogue Gentlemen and The Savory Grain, plus sandwich boards, including one for Virginia Barbeque. The basement of the store has been utilized as a workshop for the sign business.
The first-floor tattoo parlor doubles as an art gallery, with its walls lined with paintings and illustrations from local artists. All of the works are for sale, and Berger donates a portion of the proceeds to J.E.B. Stuart Elementary School's art program. Berger says, "That's my main goal is to raise money for children, particularly local public schools because they need it."
The shop has a Victorian aesthetic, primarily painted red and black with gold filigree accents tastefully splashed in. The pool table near the front entrance adds to the charm and feel of a community gathering place.
Berger hopes his shop will support and foster the growth of the area, and he notes that he and his business neighbors support one another. Anthony Tucker of Nomad Deli & Catering Company at 207 W. Brookland Park Blvd. catered the tattoo shop's grand opening in October, and Berger frequents the eatery — the fried oysters are his favorite. Across the street from his shop, at 215 W. Brookland Park Blvd., is Ray's Ultimate Hair Designs. Berger says owner Ray Daniels has been helpful in giving him tips and assistance as a business owner.
Ultimately, when it comes to Berger's store and the current team of three tattoo artists, he says he is lucky. "I wanted to have my own space and the vision that I had for a tattoo shop to come alive and to create that," he says. "I have a good team here."
Two Pillars Tattoo accepts walk-ins, but to make an appointment, call 228-1000. For more information, visit twopillarstattoo.com.
tattoos Shop Talk North Side Richmond businesses Brookland Park Two Pillars Tattoo and Sign Shop |
The world often sets its eyes on a person, when they are at the cusp of achieving something beyond believable. Some people simply strive for success and they find it through continuous effort and some luck here and there.
Being the world number 1 in tennis, Novak Djokovic had a lot of eyes on him this year. 2021 was a very interesting year for tennis and while still not finished, the story of Novak Djokovic's Golden Slam lit up like a bright candle and was slowly extinguished in the end. Here is more on the topic.
A Very Strong Start
As it often is, Novak Djokovic has comfort and experience while playing at the Australian Open, a hard-court tournament that favors his gameplay and generally has. Even though he struggled, he won the finals against Daniil Medvedev in straight sets, though it was a tough final.
He surprised the world after he beat Rafael Nadal at the French Open in the semifinals, in a grueling 4 hours and 13 minutes, where the third set was an hour and a half long. In four epic sets, he was through to the finals where he battled Stefanos Tsitsipas for his 19th Grand Slam trophy, in a five-setter which was only a minute shorter than the semifinals.
At Wimbledon, he was unstoppable.
Even though he lost the opening set to wild card Jack Draper, Djokovic's grass experience proved too much for every opponent and his 20th Grand Slam victory was there, tying him with peers and tennis legends Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
The Olympics – The Golden Slam Gone
At the Olympics, Djokovic was playing both the singles and doubles with fellow countrywoman, Nina Stojanovic. Everything went well until Djokovic met Zverev in the semifinals, where he lost in 3 sets. They also lost the following double mixed semifinals, leaving them competing for third place.
A disheartened and tired Djokovic, from all the humidity and double matches per day, lost to Pablo Carreno Busta for the Bronze medal and withdrew from the mixed doubles match, leaving him and Stojanovic medalless in both categories.
The Calendar Slam Attempt
So close yet so far. The calendar slam did not happen, even though Djokovic tried his best. Compared to Daniil Medvedev, he was not the better player in the finals and it showed. Glimpses of Djokovic were caught in the last set, when at match point down, but in the end, Medvedev prevailed and took home his first Grand Slam.
Typically, Djokovic fares worse at the US Open and this year, it wasn't different.
There was a very emotional interview where he thanked the fans for feeling love for the first time at the US Open court, despite the tough loss.
The Golden Slam is something that has rarely happened in the history of the Open Era, with only Steffi Graf doing it in 1988. Novak Djokovic was on the track in 2021, but due to the fact that tennis is a very competitive sport, he failed to do so. Will he get another chance, is the question, but he will definitely compete and strive for more slams.
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"""The 2D heat model."""
import numpy as np
from scipy import ndimage, random
import yaml
def solve_2d(temp, spacing, out=None, alpha=1., time_step=1.):
"""Solve the 2D Heat Equation on a uniform mesh.
Parameters
----------
temp : ndarray
Temperature.
spacing : array_like
Grid spacing in the row and column directions.
out : ndarray (optional)
Output array.
alpha : float (optional)
Thermal diffusivity.
time_step : float (optional)
Time step.
Returns
-------
result : ndarray
The temperatures after time *time_step*.
Examples
--------
>>> from heat import solve_2d
>>> z0 = np.zeros((3, 3))
>>> z0[1:-1, 1:-1] = 1.
>>> solve_2d(z0, (1., 1.), alpha=.125)
array([[ 0. , 0. , 0. ],
[ 0. , 0.5, 0. ],
[ 0. , 0. , 0. ]])
"""
dy2, dx2 = spacing[0] ** 2, spacing[1] ** 2
stencil = np.array([[0., dy2, 0.],
[dx2, -2. * (dx2 + dy2), dx2],
[0., dy2, 0.]]) * alpha * time_step / (dx2 * dy2)
if out is None:
out = np.empty_like(temp)
ndimage.convolve(temp, stencil, output=out)
out[(0, -1), :] = 0.
out[:, (0, -1)] = 0.
return np.add(temp, out, out=out)
class Heat(object):
"""Solve the Heat equation on a grid.
Examples
--------
>>> heat = Heat()
>>> heat.time
0.0
>>> heat.time_step
0.25
>>> heat.advance_in_time()
>>> heat.time
0.25
>>> heat = Heat(shape=(5, 5))
>>> heat.temperature = np.zeros_like(heat.temperature)
>>> heat.temperature[2, 2] = 1.
>>> heat.advance_in_time()
>>> heat = Heat(alpha=.5)
>>> heat.time_step
0.5
>>> heat = Heat(alpha=.5, spacing=(2., 3.))
>>> heat.time_step
2.0
"""
def __init__(self, shape=(10, 20), spacing=(1., 1.), origin=(0., 0.),
alpha=1.):
"""Create a new heat model.
Paramters
---------
shape : array_like, optional
The shape of the solution grid as (*rows*, *columns*).
spacing : array_like, optional
Spacing of grid rows and columns.
origin : array_like, optional
Coordinates of lower left corner of grid.
alpha : float
Alpha parameter in the heat equation.
"""
self._shape = shape
self._spacing = spacing
self._origin = origin
self._time = 0.
self._alpha = alpha
self._time_step = min(spacing) ** 2 / (4. * self._alpha)
self._temperature = random.random(self._shape)
self._next_temperature = np.empty_like(self._temperature)
@property
def time(self):
"""Current model time."""
return self._time
@property
def temperature(self):
"""Temperature of the plate."""
return self._temperature
@temperature.setter
def temperature(self, new_temp):
"""Set the temperature of the plate.
Parameters
----------
new_temp : array_like
The new temperatures.
"""
self._temperature[:] = new_temp
@property
def time_step(self):
"""Model time step."""
return self._time_step
@time_step.setter
def time_step(self, time_step):
"""Set model time step."""
self._time_step = time_step
@property
def spacing(self):
"""Shape of the model grid."""
return self._spacing
@property
def origin(self):
"""Origin coordinates of the model grid."""
return self._origin
@classmethod
def from_file_like(cls, file_like):
"""Create a Heat object from a file-like object.
Parameters
----------
file_like : file_like
Input parameter file.
Returns
-------
Heat
A new instance of a Heat object.
"""
config = yaml.load(file_like)
return cls(**config)
def advance_in_time(self):
"""Calculate new temperatures for the next time step."""
solve_2d(self._temperature, self._spacing, out=self._next_temperature,
alpha=self._alpha, time_step=self._time_step)
np.copyto(self._temperature, self._next_temperature)
self._time += self._time_step
|
Der Miombogirlitz (Crithagra reichardi, Syn.: Serinus reichardi) ist eine Art aus der Familie der Finken. Er kommt ausschließlich in Ostafrika vor.
Es werden zwei Unterarten unterschieden. Die IUCN stuft den Miombogirlitz als nicht gefährdet (least concern) ein.
Erscheinungsbild
Der Miombogirlitz erreicht eine Körpergröße von 12,5 bis 13 Zentimeter. Es besteht kein auffälliger Sexualdimorphismus.
Der Oberkopf des Miombogirlitz ist von der Stirn bis zum Hinterhals bräunlich weiß und dunkelbraun längs gestreift. Der Mantel und der Rücken sind erdbraun mit unscharfen, dunkelbraunen Längsstreifen. Der Bürzel und die Oberschwanzdecken sind erdbraun ohne Längsstreifen. Die Steuerfedern sind dunkelbraun. Miombogirlitze haben breite, helle Überaugstreifen, die sich bis zu den Halsseiten erstrecken. Die Region zwischen Schnabelbasis und Augen, die Wangen und die Ohrdecken sind dunkelbraun. Das Kinn und die Kehle sind weiß mit einem leicht bräunlichen Schimmer. Die Brust und die Flanken sind bräunlich, die Körperseiten und die Flanken sind etwas dunkler. Auf der Oberbrust befinden sich dunkelbraune Längsstreifen, die Längsstreifen auf der unteren Brust und den Flanken sind unschärfer. Der Bauch und die Unterschwanzdecken sind bräunlich weiß. Der Schnabel ist schiefergrau, die Augen sind braun und die Beine sind schwarz.
Jungvögel sind blasser und auf der Körperoberseite mehr rötlich-braun als die adulten Vögel. Die Längsstreifen sind weniger auffällig. Der Miombogirlitz ähnelt dem Strichelgirlitz, allerdings ist der Miombogirlitz weniger intensiv gestreift. Vom Brauen- und vom Rüpellgirlitz unterscheidet sich der Miombogirlitz durch seine längs gestreifte Körperunterseite. Verwechslungsmöglichkeiten besteht auch mit dem Schwarzwangengirlitz, der jedoch eine schwarze und nicht braune Gesichtszeichnung wie der Miombogirlitz hat.
Verbreitungsgebiet
Der Miombogirlitz kommt vom Nordosten Äthiopiens bis in den Nordosten in Namibia vor, das Verbreitungsgebiet ist jedoch nicht zusammenhängend. Der Miombogirlitz ist in Äthiopien besonders häufig in dem westlichen und dem südöstlichen Hochland. In Kenia ist der Miombogirlitz dagegen verhältnismäßig selten, er kommt hier überwiegend zwischen 1.600 und 2.000 Höhenmetern vor. In Malawi ist er gleichfalls auf Höhenlagen zwischen 900 und 2.000 Metern verbreitet.
Der Lebensraum des Miombogirlitzes sind in Kenia schütter bewachsene Steilabhänge, weiter südlich in seinem Verbreitungsgebiet ist der Miomobogirlitz auf weitgehend unberührte Brachystegia- und Baikiaea-Wälder begrenzt.
Lebensweise
Der Miombogirlitz ist in der Regel ein scheuer und auffälliger Vogel. Auffällig ist nur das Männchen, wenn es von einer erhöhten Singwarte aus singt. Aus dem Verhalten der Männchen wird geschlossen, dass die Territorien sehr groß sind. Miombogirlitze kommen paarweise oder in kleinen Trupps von drei bis fünf Individuen vor. Gelegentlich werden auch Trupps mit zehn bis zwanzig Individuen beobachtet. Sie suchen einen großen Teil ihrer Nahrung auf dem Erdboden. Die Individuen eines Trupps von Miombogirlitzen wurden aber auch schon dabei beobachtet, dass sie von Baumwipfeln aus fliegende Insekten fingen. Ansonsten ist über seine Nahrungsweise wenig bekannt.
Miombogirlitze brüten einzeln oder in kleinen Kolonien von vier bis fünf Paaren. Über die Fortpflanzungsbiologie dieser Art ist ansonsten nichts bekannt. Angaben über Gelegegröße und Nestbau beruhen nach Ansicht von Fry et al., auf einer Verwechselung mit dem Brauengirlitz.
Literatur
C. Hilary Fry und Stuart Keith (Hrsg.): The Birds of Africa. Band VII. Christopher Helm, London 2004, ISBN 0-7136-6531-9.
Einzelbelege
Weblinks
Finken |
The Lego Movie Videogame is a Lego-themed action-adventure video game developed by TT Fusion. It follows the plot of the animated film The Lego Movie. The game was published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and released alongside the film in 2014 for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One, and on 16 October 2014 for Mac OS X by Feral Interactive.
Todd Hansen is the only one to reprise his role from the film while Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Nick Offerman, Alison Brie, Charlie Day, Liam Neeson, and Morgan Freeman were credited for their film voices.
Continuing the trend of gameplay from previous Lego titles by TT Games, the game puts players in control of various characters from the movie, utilizing Lego pieces to make their way through several levels. For the first time in the series, environments are completely made out of Lego pieces.
The game introduces two main new character types: Regular Builders (such as Emmet in earlier levels) and Master Builders (such as Batman, Benny, Princess Uni-Kitty, Vitruvius, and Wyldstyle). Regular Builders are unable to normally construct objects out of piles of Lego pieces and instead require instruction pages that are found throughout each level for the construction worker characters to use. Using these, players follow the instructions to build objects with specific pieces like real-life LEGO sets. Master Builders, on the other hand, have the ability to grab Lego pieces from the environment and use them to create something new.
Other abilities include using switches as Lord Business in either his Lord or President Business forms, fixing machinery, hacking into computers, destroying gold bricks with lasers, destroying silver bricks with rockets or dynamite, starting fires, and putting out fires.
The Lego Movie Videogame received positive reviews from critics. Aggregating review website Metacritic gave the PlayStation 4 version 71/100, the Xbox One version 69/100, and the Xbox 360 version 69/100.
Andrew Hayward of IGN gave the game a 6.5 out of 10, calling it "Okay". He said that some aspects of the game were "boring", and that the game's "diverse backdrops and heroes devolve into tedium and busywork." Game Informer's Andrew Reiner gave the game a positive score of 8 out of 10 in his review. He called it a "visual marvel" while praising the graphics, characters, and soundtrack.
In his generally average review for Destructoid, Ian Bonds scored the game a 7.5 out of 10. He stated: "The LEGO Movie Videogame does a decent job telling the movie's story and being its own licensed tie-in game – to its own licensed tie-in movie. Thankfully, both are fun in their own right."
Giancarlo Saldana of GamesRadar awarded the game a 4/5, writing: "The Lego Movie Videogame is one of the better movie tie-in games out there, and it may even get you to see the film if you haven't already. Its action-packed stages will keep you on your toes, and all those cheeky quips from its characters are guaranteed to put a smile on your face. It may not bring anything new to the table, but The Lego Movie Videogame takes some of the best elements from the series and delivers it all in a charming package anyone will want to play with." Saldana had minor criticisms of the game; he disliked the smaller amount of content (compared to other Lego games) and said glitches can ruin the fun.
Christopher Bratt of VideoGamer.com scored the game a 6/10, mostly praising the mix of humour, locations, and characters. Bratt's main criticisms were concerning the game's familiarity, saying: "The Lego Movie's main problem is its origin. Whereas past movie tie-ins have gleefully poked fun at their source material, adapting Hogwarts, Middle-Earth, or Gotham (among others) to fit the Lego universe, this game isn't given that opportunity, and is poorer for it. Using clips from the film during cutscenes and rarely making its own gags, I'm reminded that I don't play the Lego games for their simplistic gameplay, which predictably hasn't changed here. Instead, I play them to see other, famous worlds reimagined with that Lego magic. There's nothing wrong with The Lego Movie Videogame, but it just doesn't have the same appeal as other entries in the series."
Jason Venter of GameSpot gave the game a positive review; Venter scored the game a 7 out of 10 and stated: "The Lego Movie Videogame is a faithful take on its source material, with just enough of the film's content missing to make it worth getting out to the theater, but not so much that the game's narrative becomes difficult to follow. The added interaction is also welcome and is handled in a manner that keeps the experience approachable and generally refined, even if it isn't always as creative and varied as you might hope. While not everything is awesome, The Lego Movie Videogame should be just the ticket if you're ready to spend another 10 to 12 hours in the fantastic world of animated plastic blocks."
Blake Peterson from Game Revolution scored the game a 3.5 out of 5. He cited the "great" comedy, "high" replay value, and "fun" mini-games as positives, but criticized the presence of technical issues, disliked the platforming gameplay sections, and felt that the game should have looked better graphically. Peterson thought the first half of the game featured "strong" gameplay, but felt the second half's gameplay was "weak". Peterson also praised the game for capturing the feel of the movie.
Marc Camron of Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the game a positive score of 8.5 out of 10 in his review. Camron stated: "Another smash-and-collect game featuring everyone's favorite building toy. This time around, it's based on the new animated movie and offers many of the hilarious characters fresh off the screen. A little bit of fresh gameplay livens up this entry, but a few story and camera problems hamper the experience somewhat. Ultimately, The LEGO Movie Videogame is great fun and perfect for fans of the fantastic plastic."
On 27 November 2018, a sequel to the game, The Lego Movie 2 Videogame, based on The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, was announced. It was released on 26 February 2019 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows and Nintendo Switch.
^ Purchese, Robert (16 July 2013). "TT Games doing a Lego Movie video game • News •". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
^ "Everything is awesome: The LEGO® Movie Videogame is out on the Mac today!". Feral Interactive. 16 October 2014. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
^ "The LEGO Movie Videogame at Comic-Con". Coin-Op Tv. 29 July 2013. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
^ "The LEGO Movie Videogame for PC Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
^ "The LEGO Movie Videogame for PlayStation 3 Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
^ a b "The LEGO Movie Videogame for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
^ "The LEGO Movie Videogame for Wii U Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
^ a b "The LEGO Movie Videogame for Xbox 360 Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
^ a b "The LEGO Movie Videogame for Xbox One Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
^ "The LEGO Movie Video Game for iPhone/iPad Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
^ a b Bonds, Ian. (21 March 2014). "Review: The LEGO Movie Videogame — Everything is (moderately) awesome". Destructoid. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
^ a b Camron, Marc (21 February 2014). "EGM Review: The LEGO Movie Videogame". Electronic Gaming Monthly. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
^ a b Reiner, Andrew (11 February 2014). "Formulaic And Awesome - The Lego Movie Videogame". Game Informer. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
^ a b Peterson, Blake. (11 February 2014). "The LEGO Movie Videogame Review". Game Revolution. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
^ a b Venter, Jason (10 February 2014). "The Lego Movie Videogame Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
^ a b Saldana, Giancarlo. (12 February 2014). "THE LEGO MOVIE VIDEOGAME REVIEW". GamesRadar. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
^ a b Hayward, Andrew (12 February 2014). "The LEGO Movie Videogame Review". IGN. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
^ a b Bratt, Christopher. (19 February 2014). "The LEGO Movie Videogame Review — Fun, but it just doesn't have the same appeal as other entries in the series". VideoGamer.com. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
^ Musgrave, Shaun (29 January 2015). "'The LEGO Movie Video Game' Review – Good Cop And Bad Cop". TouchArcade. Retrieved 12 March 2019. |
Work is an important part of daily life for most people in the world. Work can provide meaning, importance, and the opportunity to have a desirable standard of living. However, experiencing generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) can make productive work extremely difficult. Being successful and satisfied in your career is a key reason to manage the disorder, and disclosing GAD to your employer can be a tricky, yet important decision to make.
The following is a guide on how to navigate that decision. For more information on career decision making and GAD read this.
Making the decision to talk to your employer about GAD can be quite stressful and anxiety provoking. The first step in making this decision is figuring out why you would do it.
Taking a realistic look at how well you are functioning, how much the disorder is affecting your productivity and completion of job responsibilities, and what you would hope to gain by telling someone are key factors to consider.
If the disorder is having a significant effect on your functioning at work and you are seeking some understanding, accommodations, or assistance, then it may be more appropriate to disclose that if it is only marginally affecting you.
Next, become very familiar with company policies and accommodations for employees with psychiatric diagnoses. Most workplaces have some policies in place for medical conditions and other life circumstances that may affect employees, so doing your homework first can make it easier to navigate this process.
Furthermore, you should gauge how much the disclosure would affect your standing with your company. If you are in a job where you feel like you may be treated unfairly after disclosure, then weigh this into the decision.
Finally, decide who to would talk with. Generally, the two best resources for employees with any type of psychological issue are a disability officer, or someone representing your employee assistance program.
If neither of these exists then consider working with your treatment provider to determine the best person to talk with.
For more information on this decision, visit Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). |
6.0 magnitude earthquake rocks eastern Turkey
A 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck Basyurt, in the Elazig province or eastern Turkey at 04:32 AM (02:32 GMT) on Monday. According to local Kandilli observatory, the quake struck at a depth of five kilometres; the epicenter was near Karakocan town in the same province.
The pre-dawn earthquake killed at least 40 people and almost 100 were injured. The village of Okcular was worst hit, claimed the press secretary for the provincial governor, Ozcan Yalcin. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, nearly five hours later, a magnitude-5.5 aftershock hit the province. 40 other aftershocks followed shortly, the highest of them being 4.4 magnitude, according to sources.
While no deaths were immediately reported, the government's crisis management center soon put the toll at seventeen with another 60 injured according to the officials at Ankara, the capital. It was soon confirmed that at least 39 were dead; the toll is expected to rise. At least four of the victims were children.
Muammer Erol, the provincial governor of Elazig, stated Okcular, Yukari Kanatli and Kayali accounted for majority of the dead. He told CNN Turk that "villages consisting mainly of mud-brick houses have been damaged, but we have minimal damage such as cracks in buildings made of cement or stone".
Okcular, the largest of the affected villages, accounted for at least seventeen of the dead. The village has a population of 800, and the majority of the dwellers live in mud-brick homes built on hillsides. About 25 to 30 houses were demolished in this village. "The village is totally flattened," Hasan Demirdag, local administrator, told NTV.
Yadin Apaydin, the administrator of Yukari Kanatli, said his village had been severely affected. "Everything has been knocked down – there is not a stone in place," he told CNN's Turkey sister network, CNN Türk.
"Many houses have collapsed. Search and rescue teams have been sent to the area," said the prime minister's office in a statement. Injured people are being rushed to local hospitals according to sources. At least 100 people have been taken to hospital. Some who panicked after the first quake jumped from balconies or windows were injured.
Rescue workers, consisting of policemen as well as civilians dug with shovels to rescue people from the debris. The Turkish Red Crescent is also sending tents and blankets to be distributed. Neighboring districts are providing ambulances to assist the victims. Cemil Cicek, deputy Prime Minister of Turkey has left for the disaster area. Health Minister Recep Akdag, Housing Minister Mustafa Demir and State Minister Cevdet Yilmaz are accompanying him.
According to CNN Türk, the tremor of the earthquake was felt in the adjacent provinces of Bitlis and Diyarbakir, causing residents to panic.
Turkey lies on highly active fault lines and earthquakes often hit the nation. A 7.4-magnitude earthquake in Istanbul killed 20,000 people in August 1999. Most of the earthquakes that hit Turkey are usually minor. |
Born in 1958 in Steyr (Austria).
Died in 2016 in Vienna.
By age 16, he had already made 150 woodcuts. From 1997 until his untimely death in 2016, he was head of the graphic arts department at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. Starting in the early 90's, our fertile collaboration in the shop included stone lithos, woodcuts, artists' books and, as of 2011, a first for the atelier — spontaneous image-making through printmaking. For his solo show at the Albertina in 2013, he shipped us his immense woods, already carved, from his Vienna studio. Once in Paris, he became like a free jazz virtuoso, working with us making huge, one-of-a-kind pieces with collage, drawing, painting, woodcut and monotype on the same sheet. A partner of unparallelled brilliance.
Né en 1958 à Steyr (Autriche).
Mort en 2016 à Vienne.
À l'âge de 16 ans, il compte déjà 150 bois gravés à son actif. De 1997 à sa mort prématurée en 2016, il dirige le département d'art graphique de l'Académie de Vienne et poursuit une collaboration féconde avec l'atelier : lithos sur pierre, bois gravés, livres d'artistes… Pour son exposition personnelle au musée Albertina en 2013, il souhaite que nous improvisions façon free jazz : une première pour l'atelier ! Depuis Vienne, il nous envoie d'immenses panneaux de bois, déjà taillés.
À Paris, nous composons donc spontanément à quatre mains des pièces uniques, mêlant collage, dessin, peinture, bois gravé et monotype. Un partenaire redoutable d'une virtuosité hors pair.
Eastern-Western Black + White was the first substantial series worked on and published with Gunter Damisch. He had commenced cutting boards in Vienna which he brought with him and engraved the final ones in the studio in Paris. The first ten copies of the sixteen plates at of an edition of 25 come in a clothbound portfolio painted by the artist.
The first lithographic series came in 1995 with several trips to Paris to work on the Steingedichte series. He used individual small stones for each composition printed in black with at times several color layers added also drawn on stone. From the edition of 21, ten copies were, of each of the sixteen plates, laid in a clothbound slipcase.
300 € each or 2 425 € for the set.
This series of 6 lithographs with a slightly narrow format done in 1996-1997 was titled Color Fields World Wide. The artist concentrated on the pushing his images in several colors using reduction and negative printing.
The following images of a much larger size and complex lithographic treatment came after between 1997-1999. He worked each image with several color layering, reduction printing and use of at times the negative effect. |
Tobi 21 - Coptic Calendar - Tobi 23
The twenty-second day of the Coptic month of Tobi, the fifth month of the Coptic year. On a common year, this day corresponds to January 17, of the Julian Calendar, and January 30, of the Gregorian Calendar. This day falls in the Coptic Season of Shemu, the season of the Harvest.
Commemorations
Saints
The departure of Saint Anthony the Great, Father of All Monks
References
Days of the Coptic calendar |
Tag: Freud
The Mesh of Power (Foucault, 1976)
by Michel Foucault 1976 (translated by Chris Chitty)
Introduction by Chris Chitty | Original French
We will attempt to proceed towards an analysis of the concept of power.1 I am not the first, far from it, to attempt to skirt around the Freudian schema that pits instinct against suppression [répression], instinct against culture.2 Many decades ago, an entire school of psychoanalysts tried to modify and develop this Freudian schema of instinct versus culture, and of instinct versus suppression – I am referring to psychoanalysts in the English as well as the French language, like Melanie Klein, Winnicott, and Lacan, who have tried to show that suppression, far from being a secondary, ulterior, or later mechanism, which would attempt to control a given or natural play of instinct, constitutes a part of the mechanism of instinct, or, more or less, of the process through which the sexual instinct [l'instinct sexuel] is developed, unfolded and constituted as drive [pulsion].
Ecology and the Critique of Modern Society (Marcuse, 1979)
Ecology and the Critique of Modern Society, a talk delivered shortly before Herbert Marcuse's death in 1979, published in Capitalism Nature Socialism, 3(3) 1992
Thank you for the warm welcome. I am glad to be able to address the wilderness class. Actually, I'm not sure what to say because I don't see any more problems. As you know, President Carter has turned over some thirty-six million acres of wilderness land to commercial development. There isn't much wilderness left to preserve. But we still will try, nonetheless.
What I propose to do is to discuss the destruction of nature in the context of the general destructiveness which characterizes our society. I will then trace the roots of this destructiveness in individuals themselves; that is, I will examine psychological destructiveness within individuals.
The Meaning of Working Through the Past (Adorno, 1959)
by Theodor Adorno (1959, Critical Models)
The question "What does working through the past mean?" requires explication. It follows from a formulation, a modish slogan that has become highly suspect during the last years. In this usage "working through the past" does not mean seriously working upon the past, that is, through a lucid consciousness breaking its power to fascinate. On the contrary, its intention is to close the books on the past and, if possible, even remove it from memory. The attitude that everything should be forgotten and forgiven, which would be proper for those who suffered injustice, is practiced by those party supporters who committed the injustice. I wrote once in a scholarly dispute: in the house of the hangman one should not speak of the noose, otherwise one might seem to harbor resentment. However, the tendency toward the unconscious and not so unconscious defensiveness against guilt is so absurdly associated with the thought of working through the past that there is sufficient reason to reflect upon a domain from which even now there emanates such a horror that one hesitates to call it by name.
The Psychopharmacology of Everyday Life
by Jamieson Webster (2018)
Everyone is on drugs. I don't mean the old-fashioned, illegal kind, but the kind made by pharmaceutical companies that come in the form of pills. As a psychoanalyst, I've listened to people through the screen of their daily doses; and I've listened to them without it. Their natural rhythms certainly change, sometimes very dramatically—I guess that's the point, isn't it? I have a great many questions about what happens when a mind—a mind that uniquely structures emotion, interest, excitement, defense, association, memory, and rest—is undercut by medication. In this Faustian bargain, what are we gaining? And what are we sacrificing?
All the lonely people: Narcissism as a Subject Form of Capitalism
by Peter Samol
(Translated and abridged from the German original: All the Lonely People. Narzissmus als adäquate Subjektform des Kapitalismus, Krisis 4/2016)
Sigmund Freud was the most astute analyst of the subjective conditions of existence in civil society. Psychoanalysis influenced by him represents the most developed theory about the sacrifices demanded of individuals living in our society. Freud understood his approach as a natural science approach. Psychoanalysis atrophied to anthropology where it could have been a critical theory (Adorno). This essay aims at a critical reconstruction of psychoanalysis regarding the term narcissism. This term coined by Freud himself characterizes a middle class subject form.
The Scientific Standing of Psychoanalysis
by Mark Solms (2018) BJPsych International, Volume 15, Issue 1,February 2018 , pp. 5-8
This paper summarises the core scientific claims of psychoanalysis and rebuts the prejudice that it is not 'evidence-based'. I address the following questions. (A) How does the emotional mind work, in health and disease? (B) Therefore, what does psychoanalytic treatment aim to achieve? (C) How effective is it?
The Impossible Profession
by Janet Malcolm (1980)
It almost looks as if analysis were the third of those "impossible" professions in which one can be sure beforehand of achieving unsatisfying results. The other two, which have been known much longer, are education and government.—Sigmund Freud: "Analysis Terminable and Interminable" (1937).
As psychoanalysts, we are only too aware that our profession is not only impossible but also extremely difficult.—Adam Limentani: International Journal of Psycho-Analysis (1977).
Aaron Green (as I shall call him) is a forty-six-year-old psychoanalyst who practices in Manhattan, in the East Nineties. He has seven patients in analysis, who come four or five times a week and lie on the couch, and eight patients who come for psychotherapy once or twice or three times a week and sit in a chair. He charges between thirty and seventy dollars per (fifty-minute) hour. He is on the faculty of a local medical school, where he teaches and supervises medical students and psychiatric residents. He is a graduate of the New York Psychoanalytic Institute and a member of the New York Psychoanalytic Society. He came to New York to study at the Institute after getting his medical degree and serving his interneship and residency in a New England city.
He is a slight man, with a vivid, impatient, unsmiling face. He has thin dark hair and wears professorial clothes. A herringbone jacket, light-blue oxford shirt, subdued tie, and gray flannel trousers are his customary apparel. He looks Jewish. He lives with his wife and son in a brownstone apartment off Madison, four blocks from his office. The living room of his apartment is furnished with black modern sofas and armchairs, beige carpets, reproductions of modern art, photographs, folk art and archeological objects, and books; it is spare, extremely neat, pleasant, perhaps a hair studied. His consultation room is a kind of poor relation of his living room. The couch is fifties Scandinavian modern rather than seventies high-tech Italian; the pictures are old moma reproductions rather than Fondation Maeght exhibition posters; there are floor lamps instead of track lighting. The lights in the consultation room are kept dim, purposely.
The Loss of Reality in Neurosis and Psychosis (Freud, 1924)
I have recently indicated as one of the features which differentiate a neurosis from a psychosis the fact that in a neurosis the ego, in its dependence on reality, suppresses a piece of the id (of instinctual life), whereas in a psychosis, this same ego, in the service of the id, withdraws from a piece of reality. Thus for a neurosis the decisive factor would be the predominance of the influence of reality, whereas for a psychosis it would be the predominance of the id. In a psychosis, a loss of reality would necessarily be present, whereas in a neurosis, it would seem, this loss would be avoided.
But this does not at all agree with the observation which all of us can make that every neurosis disturbs the patient's relation to reality in some way, that it serves him as a means of withdrawing from reality, and that, in its severe forms, it actually signifies a flight from real life. This contradiction seems a serious one; but it is easily resolved, and the explanation of it will in fact help us to understand neuroses.
Melanie Klein
Melanie Klein (1882-1960)
Melanie Klein was an Austrian psychoanalyst who devised therapeutic techniques for children that had great impact on present methods of child care and rearing.
Early Years: Family, Education, and Career
Melanie Klein was born in Vienna on March 30, 1882. Her father, Dr. Moriz Reisez, was undoubtedly an inspiration to young Melanie. Rebelling against his strict orthodox Jewish family, Moriz went to medical school rather than becoming a rabbi. His first marriage, which was arranged by his parents, ended shortly after his dependent father died. He remarried, however, when he was over the age of 40. His new wife, Libusa Deutsch, was just 25 at the time. The couple had four children, including Melanie, the youngest. Because Dr. Reisez's practice was slow and money was needed, Libusa temporarily opened a shop of exotic plants and animals. By the time Melanie was five, however, the family had inherited enough money to buy a dental practice. Moriz was much more successful at his new occupation and the family moved to a bigger apartment. Because of her father's age and the favoritism that he showed to Melanie's sister, the two did not share a close relationship. His knowledge of literature and languages, however, impressed her greatly. Moriz died when Melanie was just 18 (Segal, 1979).
Recognition and Psychoanalysis: An Interview with Axel Honneth (2009)
European Journal of Psychoanalysis, 2009
Inara Luisa Marin. You have shown a strong interest in psychoanalysis, especially after your book The Struggle for Recognition, where it takes the form of a discussion about the works of the American psychoanalyst Jessica Benjamin and those of D. H. Winnicott about object relations. Afterwards you have written various texts in which you engage in a discussion with psychoanalysis (with Freud, Loewald and Mitscherlitch). But you are above all a philosopher; your project subscribes completely to social philosophy, from which you clearly claimed this heritage. Would you explain what has driven you to work with psychoanalysis, to discuss its contributions and its heritage with a certain number of its authors?
Axel Honneth. My interest in psychoanalysis goes back deeply into my philosophical and sociological education. I was greatly fascinated by the writings of Freud when I was much younger, namely when I started to study and to do philosophy. In the beginning, in my first semesters, I also did psychology, so I was confronted with the academic psychology and I greatly preferred the writings of Freud, which I took to be much deeper and much more relevant to our self-understanding as human beings. So even when in my first readings of Freud I wasn't able to subscribe to everything he had written, especially not to his sociological writings, I was very impressed by at least three things. First, his wonderful way of writing—something you cannot match. I think he is the best German-language author in recent times. Secondly, by his radical mind: he didn't give up working through his first intuitions his whole life, and by the openness and clarity with which he did that. And thirdly, by his view on the human psyche. It is extremely helpful in making sense of some of one's own experiences. It allows oneself a better self-understanding, so it's pertinent even when it's quite away from our normal psychological descriptions, it is useful for stimulating more radical interpretations not only of one's own psyche but also of several events in your life world and in the world around you.
A Note upon the "Mystic Writing Pad" (Freud, 1925)
IF I DISTRUST my memory—neurotics, as we know, do so to a remarkable extent, but normal people have every reason for doing so as well–I am able to supplement and guarantee its working by making a note in writing. In that case the surface upon which this note is preserved, the pocket-book or sheet of paper, is as it were a materialized portion of my mnemic apparatus, the rest of which I carry about with me invisible. I have only to bear in mind the place where this "memory" has been deposited and I can then "reproduce" it at any time I like, with the certainty that it will have remained unaltered and so have escaped the possible distortions to which it might have been subjected in my actual memory.
Hegel and Freud
Mladen Dolar (2012)
Hegel and Freud have nothing in common, it would seem; there is everything to oppose them. On the one hand: the speculative philosopher of absolute spirit whose system encompassed every sphere of being – logic, nature, and spirit – and who is reputed to be the most obscure and difficult in the entire grand philosophical tradition; on the other hand: a man of medical formation, a therapist who in all his work took clinical practice as his guideline and only gradually extended some psychological insights into larger circles of culture, civilization, and history. On the one hand: not only a philosopher, but a philosopher par excellence, the paradigmatic example of a philosopher who managed to encapsulate in his system all the themes and achievements of the metaphysical tradition; on the other hand: a man of natural science who adamantly opposed philosophy as such and even saw attempts to turn psychoanalysis into a new philosophical current as one of his discipline's greatest dangers. On the one hand: not only a German, but seemingly a German par excellence, a model of German spirit, or even the Prussian state philosopher, as the adage goes; on the other hand: a Jew who already in his young days experienced the pressure of anti-Semitism and eventually, despite his fame, lived his final days in exile, his books burned by a regime that was, ironically, evoking Hegel. And finally, on the one hand the philosopher who relied more than anyone else in the history of philosophy on the powers of reason, concepts, and knowledge; on the other hand someone who more than anyone else took his cue from something that inherently escapes those powers or presents their fissure – this fissure forms the very object of psychoanalysis, of entities such as the unconscious and the drives.
Negation (Freud, 1925)
THE manner in which our patients bring forward their associations during the work of analysis gives us an opportunity for making some interesting observations. 'Now you'll think I mean to say something insulting, but really I've no such intention.' We realize that this is a rejection, by projection, of an idea that has just come up. Or: 'You ask who this person in the dream can be. It's not my mother.' We emend this to: 'So it is his mother.' In our interpretation, we take the liberty of disregarding the negation and of picking out the subject‑matter alone of the association. It is as though the patient had said: 'It's true that my mother came into my mind as I thought of this person, but I don't feel inclined to let the association count."[1]
Marx and Freud (Mattick, 1956)
by Paul Mattick (1956)
A review of EROS AND CIVILIZATION. A PHILOSOPHICAL ENQUIRY INTO FREUD. By Herbert Marcuse. The Beacon Press, Boston, 1955, 277 pp., $3.95.
Marcuse's book renews the endeavor to read Marx into Freud. Previous attempts, by Reich and Osborn for instance, failed miserably. Instead of overcoming a bewailed inertia, Reich's theories hardly sufficed to sustain a ridiculous private racket. Osborn's work, a product of the Stalinist popular-front period, designed to attract the petty bourgeois, was soon forgotten by both the Western petty-bourgeoisie and the bolshevik regime. Psychoanalysis did not become part of, or a new basis for, a radical doctrine but merely a way of transferring money from the analyzed many to the analyzing few. By providing a new terminology for the various social "ills," the ideological inertia, as part of the general inertia of capital stagnation, could at least verbally be ended. The re-interpretation in psychoanalytical terms affected all and everything; literature, the arts, the social sciences and politics. Psychoanalysis, moreover, became an independent branch of social activity developing vested interests of its own. Once installed, it perpetuated itself in competition with other ideological instrumentalities by continuously re-creating "demand" for its services through the discovery of new and more "ills" falling into its domain. It is now part and parcel of the prevailing social structure which commercializes all ideas and makes a business out of tangibles and intangibles alike.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom: The return of the repressed (Postone)
by Moishe Postone and Elizabeth Traube (1985)
George Lucas and Steven Spielberg have emerged in recent years as masters of Hollywood entertainment cinema. They specialize in slick, technically sophisticated science fiction and adventure films, modeled on the popular culture of the 1930s and 1940s and promising a way to recover the innocent pleasures of childhood movie-viewing. Yet Lucas and Spielberg's high-tech, traditionalist mythology lacks innocence, and this is nowhere so apparent as in their latest blockbuster, INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM.
Remembering, Repeating and Working-Through (Freud, 1914)
It seems to me not unnecessary to keep on reminding students of the far-reaching changes which psycho-analytic technique has undergone since its first beginnings. In its first phase – that of Breuer's catharsis – it consisted in bringing directly into focus the moment at which the symptom was formed, and in persistently endeavouring to reproduce the mental processes involved in that situation, in order to direct their discharge along the path of conscious activity. Remembering and abreacting, with the help of the hypnotic state, were what was at that time aimed at. Next, when hypnosis had been given up, the task became one of discovering from the patient's free associations what he failed to remember. The resistance was to be circumvented by the work of interpretation and by making its results known to the patient. The situations which had given rise to the formation of the symptom and the other situations which lay behind the moment at which the illness broke out retained their place as the focus of interest; but the element of abreaction receded into the background and seemed to be replaced by the expenditure of work which the patient had to make in being obliged to overcome his criticism of his free associations, in accordance with the fundamental rule of psycho-analysis. Finally, there was evolved the consistent technique used today, in which the analyst gives up the attempt to bring a particular moment or problem into focus. He contents himself with studying whatever is present for the time being on the surface of the patient's mind, and he employs the art of interpretation mainly for the purpose of recognizing the resistances which appear there, and making them conscious to the patient. From this there results a new sort of division of labour: the doctor uncovers the resistances which are unknown to the patient; when these have been got the better of, the patient often relates the forgotten situations and connections without any difficulty. The aim of these different techniques has, of course, remained the same. Descriptively speaking, it is to fill in gaps in memory; dynamically speaking, it is to overcome resistances due to repression.
Reading Adorno's Fascist Propaganda Essay in the Age of Trump
Writing shortly after the end of World War Two, just as the enormity of what had transpired begun to set in, Theodor Adorno turned to the writings of Freud to help account for the convulsive power of the fascist spell. Drawing on Freud's studies in the psychology of masses, he was able to render an account of the psychological conditions for the rise of a charismatic leader, as well as the arsenal of gestures used by the leader to bewitch and to mobilize.
In an era marked by the rise of a paradoxically international right-wing populism, and in the midst of ethno-nationalist tumult in the United States, this roundtable reflects on the legacy and contemporary utility of Freudian Theory and the Pattern of Fascist Propaganda.
Might Freud and other psychoanalytic theorists still have something to offer to social and political philosophy today? How can Adorno's analysis of Fascism in the 1930s and 1940s inform our analyses of contemporary right-wing movements? These are the questions discussed by this roundtable, featuring J. M. Bernstein, Chiara Bottici, Vladimir Safatle, and Jamieson Webster.
Marxism, Psychoanalysis and Reality (Fromm, 1966)
by Erich Fromm
During the last 35 years, I have written many works, in which — under different aspects — I tried to explain that there are not only points where Marxism and psychoanalysis overlap but that there is also an intrinsic interdependency between the two. This means, I do not only believe that a synthesis is possible but also an existential necessity.
Freud and Marx have in common that both — the first contrary to pre-Marxist sociology, the second contrary to earlier psychology — are concerned not as much with superficial phenomena as rather with driving forces, which act in certain directions and with varying intensity, and evoke phenomena that are changing and temporary.
Psychoanalysis is the only scientific form of psychology, as Marxism is the only scientific form of sociology. Only these two systems allow us to understand the hidden driving forces behind the phenomena and to predict what happens to an individual in a certain society when, under certain conditions, the acting forces evoke phenomena that seem to be exactly the opposite of what they actually are. In the field of individual psychology as well as in sociology, non-dynamic thinking is surprised when deeply effecting, existential transformations occur, while dynamic thinking, which recognizes forces that remain invisible from the surface, is able to predict probable transformations. |
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Posts Tagged 'anthology'
Introduction to The Mile High Club: Plane Sex Stoires
We're one step closer to the publication of The Mile High Club: Plane Sex Stories. I'm copyediting it now, and hopefully next month will be shooting the book trailer on a private plane!
Here's a teaser…the intro and table of contents:
Introduction: Flying High
34B Bill Kte'pi
Instrument Flight Rules Zach Lindley
A Brief Respite Desiree
Get On, Get Off Jeremy Edwards
The Scream Queen Sommer Marsden
Wild Child Matt Conklin
Bermuda Triangle Vanessa Vaughn
Top Banana Craig J. Sorensen
Nasty Little Habit Donna George Storey
Urgent Message Rachel Kramer Bussel
Obedient Teresa Noelle Roberts
Aisle Seat Stan Kent
Game in the Sky Elizabeth Coldwell
When Your Girlfriend Wears a Very Short Skirt Thomas S. Roche
Planes, Trains and Banana-Seat Bicycles Alison Tyler
Flights of Fancy Geneva King
The Girl Most Likely Kristina Wright
Bert and Betty Ryan Field
Wing Walker Cheyenne Blue
The Mile High Club is, for many, the stuff of legend, but I'm here to tell you that where there's a will, there's a way. Flying can bring out so many of our insecurities, fears, and frustrations, that it's natural we'd want to find a way to relieve all that tension by getting it on. Indeed, several of the stories here deal with sex as a way to conquer a fear of flying.
Just as I was completing this volume, I got a call from a friend who told me that on the way back from a family vacation, he got it on with a woman he ran into on the plane whom he'd known, but never slept with. They managed to have full-on intercourse (and much more) as the rest of the passengers slept–or so they thought! They found out later that they'd been true exhibitionists, seen by horny voyeurs.
In these stories, characters are often surprised to find themselves engaging in such risqué behavior midflight. The surprise and naughtiness make what's happening even hotter. For others, it's been carefully orchestrated, such as the woman meeting her online pen pal in "34B" or the one putting her arsenal of sex toys to good use in "Obedient."
Other scenarios are more fanciful, and, unless you're really lucky, are probably not going to happen to you. Part of the thrill of even thinking about the mile high club is that in such close quarters, someone's bound to notice the movements, noises, and sensations of sex happening near him or her. Voyeurism and exhibitionism are part and parcel of sex on a plane, even if you never officially get caught.
I'm sure you are probably picturing getting it on in a tiny airplane bathroom, and yes, that happens here. But there's more than one way to join the Mile High Club, as the "Wild Child" in the story by Matt Conklin learns when her kinky new friend asks for some extra ice. And in "Bermuda Triangle," we're introduced to a threesome that takes edge play to new heights, as a man is blindfolded and instructed to fly, his fear upping the ante for the novel sexual encounter about to take place.
While this isn't a how-to manual, I'm sure you can pick up a few tips on the fine art of blanket placement and in-flight discretion from these talented writers. Alas, during the numerous flights I've taken in the last year, nothing so risqué has happened to me, but that hasn't stopped me from fantasizing about what might be going on a few rows over, or wondering, as I stand in the security line, who might try to pick me up. I love that Wi-Fi is the wave of the flying future, as I write about in my story "Urgent Message," and I'm looking forward to much in-the-air flirting.
Whether you're a member of the Mile High Club or just want to be, I hope these stories take you on some exciting trips, and that your next plane ride is just as eventful! Please feel free to share your story or keep up with what's new in plane sex at my blog at https://milehighclubbook.wordpress.com.
Tags:anthology, erotica, flying, Mile High Club, plane, plane sex, planes, Rachel Kramer Bussel, sex
Welcome to The Mile High Club!
My name is Rachel, and I'm a member of the Mile High Club. Well, only kindof (you can read about my real-life plane sex adventure here).
I did edit this super-hot book, The Mile High Club: Plane Sex Stories that's coming out in March, with stories about airplane sex that'll make you want to rush to your nearest airport. If you have a story to share, email me at rachelkramerbussel at gmail.com (put "Mile High" in the subject line).
I'll be blogging about the mile high club in the news and keeping you posted about events for the book and other items of interest; I hope to do readings at airport bookstores. I can certainly say that working on this book has made every plane trip more memorable as I look around and imagine what everyone around me is up to!
Tags:anthology, Cleis Press, erotica, plane sex, Rachel Kramer Bussel, rkb, sex, sex on a plane, smut, The Mile High Club |
DURANT, Okla. — Southeastern women's tennis heads into the spring picked fifth in the Great American Conference preseason poll released on Wednesday.
The Savage Storm earned 20 points, finishing just behind Southern Arkansas.
Oklahoma Baptist is the preseason favorite with 32 points while Harding is second with 31 points. Arkansas Tech checks in third with 24 points. Henderson State was sixth and Ouachita Baptist was seventh.
The Savage Storm finished second in the GAC last season with a 5-1 mark in league play and posted an 11-11 record overall.
Southeastern will replace a trio of All-GAC honorees, including first-teamers Sandra Reljic and Luisa Auffarth.
The Storm does return four players from last season — senior Chiara Berg, junior India Shiaelis, amnd sophomores Diana Budnik and Nina Sergeev.
Southeastern opens play on Feb. 9 at Southwest Baptist. |
KIEV, December 9. /TASS/. Ukraine's coal output in November 2014 nearly halved on November 2013, dropping from 7.3 million tons to 4.1 million tons, Ukrainian media said on Tuesday, citing the country's ministry of energy and coal industry.
Since the beginning of the year, coal output was 61.5 million tons.
Ukraine is running short of power plant coal and is currently secretly negotiating possible purchasing of coal in territories not controlled by the Kiev authorities, Alexander Kikhtenko, the chairman of the Donetsk region state administration, said, adding that coal was even smuggled.
Ukraine's national energy company Ukrenergo imposed the regime of rolling blackouts from December 1. The company explained this move by repairs at energy units and coal shortages. On December 7, the Ukrainian government allowed to import electricity from Russia to avoid rolling blackouts. About 50,000 tons of Russian coal were sent to heat stations in Ukraine. The leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR, respectively) called on Russia not to sell to Ukraine coal of the types that were produced in their regions.
The Ukrainian government is looking at buying coal from Vietnam and Australia. The United States-produced coal was not even considered due to its high price. In August 2014, the Ukrainian government concluded a contract to buy one million tonnes of coal from South Africa at a price of $86 per ton. However South African coal could not be used at Ukrainian power plants. In November Steel Mont Trading Ltd. cancelled its contract on coal supplies to Ukraine. |
Gold Seal Winery is a historic winery complex located near Hammondsport in Steuben County, New York. The primary building on the complex is in the Italianate style and constructed in 1865. It is a three-story, 54 feet by 110 feet, stone structure built into a hillside. It features a bell tower, gable roof with dormers, stuccoed upper stories, and barrel vaults. The original building was enlarged on at least six occasions. A long, narrow stone addition (20 feet by 120 feet) was built in 1890 and expanded in 1903-1903 with a mansard roof in the Second Empire style. Another major addition was built in 1884 and expanded in 1887. It included a champagne fluting room, an additional storage vault, and tasting porch. A 54 feet by 109 feet addition of reinforced concrete was built in 1912. Other contributing buildings are the Pornace House (1909) and brandy distillery (1865). |
Customer Success Operations (CSOps) Enablement is creating videos for the NetApp YouTube channel demonstrating system installation and maintenance procedures. The purpose of the videos is to supplement classroom training and documentation for NetApp employees, our partners and resellers, and DIY customers. Rather than create all the content in-house, we want to make this a community project to showcase your work.
Here are the videos we are considering creating and posting by the end of April. As much as possible, each video will cover old and new hardware and procedures in 7-Mode and Clustered ONTAP. Any photos, videos or screen captures you have for these are welcome. Bulleted items are the content we are especially in need of.
All comments and suggestions on this, or future, content are welcome.
Please contact Michael Cope ([email protected]) for questions or to submit content.
Good point Scott. The 3 or 4 different SFPs that ship with cluster systems is a pain to figure out. Almost need a separate video just on the SFPs. Hopefully, I can grab photos and info from Hardware Universe and create some slides pointing out which go where. |
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Assure that the OPA re-use period does not exceed 14 days or that the OPA concentration does not drop to the MRC.
Validation reports and a protocol for the Olympus model TJF-Q180V duodenoscope and the Pentax ED-3490TK duodenoscope were provided to the FDA for review and it has been determined based on these validations that the System 83 Plus™ can effectively achieve high-level disinfection of these duodenoscopes when used in accordance with its instructions for use as described in the updated Operator's Manual.
The duodenoscopes that are validated for reprocessing in the System 83 Plus™ are the Olympus TJF-Q180V and the Pentax ED-3490TK using ortho‐Phthalaldehyde Solution high‐level disinfectant (OPA) for a minimum of 12 minutes at 20°C. The System 83 Plus™ is not validated for the reprocessing of the FUJIFILM duodenoscopes and of duodenoscopes with open elevator wire channels.
Users may reprocess the Olympus TJF-Q180V and the Pentax ED-3490TK duodenoscopes in the System 83 Plus™ using OPA, effective immediately. The duodenoscopes must undergo thorough manual cleaning, according to the duodenoscope manufacturer's cleaning instructions, and including brushing and flushing of the "sealed forceps elevator recess," as well as, brushing and flushing of the instrument/suction channel and flushing of all other channels of the duodenoscope, prior to processing the duodenoscope in the System 83 Plus™. Please see the complete reprocessing instructions for the System 83 Plus in the updated Operator's Manual Revision 04102018.
The System 83 Plus™ has been added to the FDA's website, Information about Automated Endoscope Reprocessors (AERs) and FDA's Evaluation and its list of AERs with demonstrated validation testing for the reprocessing of these duodenoscopes. Validation testing of additional make and model duodenoscopes is ongoing. CUI will update users when additional validation testing has been completed.
If you have not yet transitioned to using OPA, please contact CUI service department, Monday through Friday between the hours of 8:00 AM through 5:00 PM EST or email us at [email protected], in order to schedule a System 83 Plus™ configuration conversion to OPA.
Users will receive an acknowledgment form and new label(s) with this Technical Bulletin release. The new label is to replace the current label on the lid of the System 83 Plus™. If you do not receive it or need additional labels, please notify Custom Ultrasonics, Inc. and they will be provided. To obtain the System 83 Plus™ Operator's Manual that has been updated pursuant to this notification or for other product information, please visit the Custom Ultrasonics website at: customultrasonics.com.
To obtain the Operator's Manual and other product information, please go to the Custom Ultrasonics website: www.customultrasonics.com. Once you are registered, a copy of the manual, and if applicable, other product information can be downloaded under the Product Documentation field. Adobe PDF reader is required to open and view the document.
For new users to the site select the My Profile tab to login. Select the Register button under New User. Complete the required field and press the Register button. Authorized user will then be provided with a registration confirmation email.
During the week of April 24, 2017, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) conducted an inspection at Custom Ultrasonics' manufacturing facility in Ivyland PA. As a result of the inspection and extensive new validation testing of the System 83 Plus™, the FDA has reinstated the manufacturing, packing, and distribution of the System 83 Plus™ Washer/Disinfector (including components and systems) for use in the reprocessing of flexible endoscopes that are not duodenoscopes as of June 12, 2017.
The FDA required Custom Ultrasonics to perform validation testing on the System 83 Plus™, water filtration system and the inline disc filter. These filters were tested by independent laboratories and the performance data was reviewed and accepted by the FDA, with no changes in design. New validations were also requested on reprocessing bronchoscopes and non-GI endoscopes using the System 83 Plus™. Validations were conducted using an FDA approved protocol representing worst-case conditions. All validations met the defined performance criteria. The validations were completed using ortho-Phthalaldehyde high-level disinfectant (OPA) and Tergal 800 detergent. This new, stringent FDA approved protocol met the same strict standards the FDA has required of other automated endoscope reprocessor (AER) manufacturers.
While Custom Ultrasonics continues to work with the FDA to validate the System 83 Plus™ for duodenoscopes, the company continues to warn against the reprocessing of duodenoscopes in the System 83 Plus™ Washer/Disinfector until further notice.
Custom Ultrasonics has undergone many changes in the past several years. The leadership of our new President and CEO has taken Custom Ultrasonics into a new era of progress. Custom Ultrasonics has significantly expanded its Quality, Regulatory and Engineering Departments, as evidenced by the company passing a recent inspection of its facility and quality system with no Form 483s, in preparation for Custom Ultrasonics' re-entry into the automated endoscope reprocessing market and beyond. For over 30 years, Custom Ultrasonics has been a pioneer in the AER market, and under the guidance of our President and CEO, Custom Ultrasonics will continue in that role.
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Voters of New York
ElectionsInternational Nov 8, 2016 Charnel Anderson
Trump27 U.S. Election6
Just off the New York State Thruway in northwestern New York sits the Angola Travel Plaza, complete with all the amenities a traveler could...
Just off the New York State Thruway in northwestern New York sits the Angola Travel Plaza, complete with all the amenities a traveler could desire. The plaza feels like a strip mall that was built in the '60s. There's an automatic piano playing Elton John, and restaurants of every flavour including McDonald's and Cinnabon. The Farber gift shop sells fridge magnets and over priced cigarettes. Despite a display of magazines contemplating the outcome of the election, the cashier at the counter says he is not following the election. The 19-year old has a mixed breed puppy named Luna, and he says his time is spent between working at the plaza and playing with his puppy – no time for politics.
Outside of the Travel Plaza is a Sunoco gas station. I found Jason Zieba sitting behind the counter of the relatively sparse store passing time on his phone. Zieba doesn't want Clinton to win, he says her time as New York senator has left a bad taste in his mouth. The scruffy, blue-eyed attendant has his eyebrow pierced, and he told me that Clinton had done nothing for him during her time as senator – she sent everything that way, Zieba says, signalling east. So after work he is going to cast his vote for Trump.
Charnel Anderson
Twitter: @charneland |
AGI: Covid-19 support in Mauritius
By Shauneen Beukes | May 5, 2020 | Comments Off on AGI: Covid-19 support in Mauritius
Aspen donates anaesthetic medicines to patients in critical condition
An Aspen Global Incorporated Initiative
Ministry of Health, Emmanuel Anquetil Building, Port Louis, 29 April 2020: In a major contribution in our fight against Covid-19, Aspen Global Incorporated, the Mauritian subsidiary of Aspen Pharmacare Holdings (a multinational pharmaceutical company), has donated approximately 30,000 vials of three anaesthetic products (Diprivan, Nimbex and Tracrium) used to treat patients in intensive care units (ICUs) with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). Due to the current COVID-19 crisis, these medically critical products have become scarcer as demand has increased worldwide. It is in this context that Aspen has offered its help to Mauritius by donating a shipment of these products to the government, which were formally remitted to the Minister of Health and Wellness, Kailesh Jagutpal, during an official ceremony held on Wednesday the 29th of April 2020, at the Minister's office in Port Louis.
"We are really pleased to have offered our assistance to Mauritius in these testing times. Our sole intention is to give a helping hand to the country where we have based our global business. We all need to pool our resources to rid the world of this invisible enemy as quickly as possible with the fewest casualties. This initiative is in line with the Aspen Group's motto: 'Health Care, We Care'; and our aspirations are to care for our patients, our employees and our community. Though our stock for this product is limited in view of global demand, we will continue to consider all requests from Mauritius as a top priority," says Samer Kassem, CEO of Aspen Global Incorporated.
"I take note, with immense pleasure, of this act of generosity on behalf of Aspen. This is yet another example of the healthy and precious collaboration between the public and the private sector, I am confident that the existing robust relationship between the two sectors will keep on strengthening. Aspen's initiative in providing us with this important stock of anaesthetic drugs, in spite of the challenging and difficult global situation when it comes to movement of goods, is very much appreciated. The ongoing COVID-19 situation is a planetary challenge, I remain confident that together, with all our stakeholders involved in the fight against the novel coronavirus, we will succeed in ascertaining that our population is provided with the best and most efficient health care possible", states Kailesh Jagutpal, Minister of Health and Wellness.
These high-end pharmaceutical products are indeed essential in the process of intubating patients for ventilation, as they induce light to deep sedation and muscle relaxation. Securing this stock is very important at this stage of the epidemic as it extends the country's capacity to care for the most serious forms of illnesses due to Covid-19 in our hospitals. Indeed, this coronavirus leads, in some cases, to ARDS. The anaesthetics donated by Aspen, the use of which has been confirmed by the Covid-19 Guidelines issued by the European Society of Intensive Care, helps doctors to find the right synchronisation between the patient and the mechanical ventilator.
The advisor to the Government of Mauritius, Dr Catherine Gaud, who has been instrumental in linking Aspen to the authorities was also present at the ceremony and lauded this initiative "Such partnerships with the private sector show the sense of solidarity that all Mauritians are demonstrating in the wake of this disease. How a country combats the COVID-19 and any other pandemic of this amplitude will also depend on such solidarity."
This initiative is very important to Aspen as it is in line with its commitment to supporting the communities in which it operates. Mauritius has been the launchpad for the global expansion of the group since 2008 and, the passionate staff and their families have been very active in carrying out social initiatives towards the community since its establishment 12 years ago. While Covid-19 is yet another challenge, bringing hardship to people around the world, it also represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to "reset" our humanity and connect with others and nature as never before.
Posted in Aspen Holdings News, We Care and tagged FY 2020 |
Data Management & Technology Event
23rd June 2022 Conference
Join Neudata and 100s of technology buyers from investment management firms for our Data Management and Technology Conference
Drive efficiencies, improve data quality and deliver value to your firm by refining your data management strategy and enhancing your knowledge of the technology ecosystem
On 23rd June, Neudata's inaugural Data Management and Technology Conference will take place in London.
With 100s of technology buyers and service/tech vendors in attendance, the event will focus on:
Data Quality: Provide value, reduce costs and drive efficiencies by improving data quality to create actionable insights and improvements for your business
Data Integration: Examine common integration challenges including ingestion, mapping, measuring value and usage as well as putting data into production to refine your data integration process
Data Storage: Navigate the different storage options available and which are best suited to your data needs with a focus on scalability, ease of data access and flexibility
Future Technologies: Assess the latest technologies available that can solve your data challenges whilst sharing "dos and dont's" when assessing different tech
Our attendees will also join us for an engaging networking program (both online and in-person).
Please note: This event will be happening in conjunction with the London: Data Insights and Scouting Summit – any tickets purchased for either event will provide access to all the content available in the venue.
For any questions, please email [email protected]
Dean Murphey, Global Events Director, Neudata
Fireside Chat: How Does Data Technology Enable Alpha?
Moderator: Piers Thompson, CTO, Neudata
Hinesh Kalian, Director of Data Science, Man Group
Setting Up a Data Management Function from Scratch: Outsourced CIO
Gurprit Singh, Global Head of Data, Partners Capital
Networking Coffee Break
How Do You Institutionalise Change Management and Support Rapid Growth?
Alex Baker, CTO, Orchard Global Asset Management
Slashing Analytics Costs while Supporting Data Innovation and Avoiding Cloud Concentration Risk
Neil Carson, CEO and Co-founder, Yellowbrick Data
Panel: Defining Your Cloud Migration Strategy
Moderator: Sara Monsef, Senior Manager, Deloitte
Tuba, Islam, Machine Learning Specialist, Google Cloud
Waqar Rashid, Director of Data, Aspect Capital
Richard Waters, Manager Internal Data, Risk and Reporting Development, Systematica
Fixing Dirty Data
Susan Walsh, Founder, The Classification Guru
Networking Lunch Break
Creating an Alternative Data Entity Master: Best Practices for Accelerating Speed to Insight
Tim Barber, Chief Revenue Officer, Exabel
Panel: Future Technologies
Flo Albu, Evidence, Measurement & Evaluation Director – Technology & Data Analytic, CIFF
Simon Bowie-Britton, CTO, Trium Capital
Naomi, Clarke, Chief Data Officer, HUB
Virginie O'Shea, Founder, Firebrand Research
How a Data Blueprint Delivers Knowledge and Context for Better Decisions
Philip Dutton, Co-CEO & Co-Founder, Solidatus
Panel: Managing Data Due Diligence
Moderator: Don D'Amico, General Counsel, Neudata
Phillip Chapple, COO & Partner, Monterone Partners
Doug Bendle, Partner, CFO/COO, Adelphi Capital
Show full programme
Close programme
Convene - 22 Bishopsgate
22 Bishopsgate, London, EC2N 4AJ
Flo Albu
Children's Investment Fund Foundation
EME Director – Technology and Data Analytics
Flo Albu is a trusted digital leader with proven experience in customer-centric, data-led digital strategies. He has 20+ years of effective digital, data and technology strategy and operations, delivered at global and national levels. Flo has a strong cross-sector experience, having led organisations to success in financial sector, international affairs, logistics, aerospace, biotech, legal, international affairs, renewable energy and regulatory. In CIO, Director and consultant roles, he has delivered digital and data strategies for the Children Investment Fund Foundation, The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the Financial Conduct Authority, OFGEM, Westcoast, United Nations, EUMETSAT and Amnesty International. He is a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group task force on AI adoption in the Enterprise. He has a BSc in Engineering from UPB and a MSc in Management from Hult Ashridge.
Alex Baker
Orchard Global Asset Management LLP
Alex Baker joined Orchard Global in its London office in November 2019 as Chief Technology Officer. His primary responsibilities are to oversee the technology function at the firm as well as heading the technology team. Prior to joining Orchard Global Alex spent twelve years working at Cheyne Capital Management LLP as Head of Quantitative Credit Analytics. In conjunction with this role, he spent two years managing the Cheyne Capital investment in Novus Partners LLP, a platform that measures trading acumen, defining and extending the existing Novus equity platform to support fixed income and credit analytics. Alex also worked to launch the first ever Credit derivative based ETF on the London Stock Exchange as part of the Tabula Investment Management team. Alex career has included roles at both Morgan Stanley and the Royal Bank of Scotland as a quantitative analyst. Alex holds multiple degrees; including Physics from the University College, London. Alex is an active member of the Institute of Physics and the London Library.
Tim Barber
Exabel
Tim joined Exabel in April 2021 as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), responsible for the performance, strategy and alignment of all commercial functions within the organisation that relate to revenue generation, including sales, marketing, partner management and customer success.
Tim brings over 20 years of sales and commercial leadership experience to Exabel in both enterprise software platforms and alternative data insight solutions. Throughout his career Tim has been instrumental in driving the go to market and growth strategies in a series of successful early, mid and mature technology names including; ForgeRock, Experian Decision Analytics, Clarify and Pitney Bowes Software.
Tim has a 1st class Honours degree in Business Administration from the University of Bath, a Diploma in International Management from Erasmus School of Management, Rotterdam, and an MBA from Cranfield School of Management.
Tim is married with 3 children, and lives in the UK.
Doug Bendle
Adelphi Capital LLP
Partner, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Compliance Officer
Doug graduated from the University of York with a BSc in Economics. He worked for Deloitte in London within their investment management audit practice, qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in 2007. He went on to join ING Investment Management as a buy-side hedge fund analyst within their global fund of hedge fund team. In 2009 Doug joined Islandbridge Capital Limited, a London based fund of hedge fund, as CFO/COO. He went on to join PricewaterhouseCoopers as a Senior Manager where he led a number of hedge fund audit and assurance engagements. Doug joined Adelphi in July 2011. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and holds the IMC qualification.
Simon Bowie-Britton
Trium Capital LLP
Simon joined Trium Capital LLP in 2020 as the Chief Technology Officer. Before joining Trium, Simon was the Chief Technology Officer for over a decade at WyeTree Asset Management, building and managing systems for structured bond trading. Prior to this, Simon worked in the sell side for Goldman Sachs as a Project Manager and for 10 years at JP Morgan, managing, designing and building systems for equity and exchange traded derivative products. Simon holds a BSc from Loughborough University of Technology, a patent in the field of distributed data processing and is a Member of the IET.
Neil Carson
Yellowbrick Data
Neil Carson is the CEO and co-founder of Yellowbrick Data, the developer of enterprise data warehouse solutions that run consistently across cloud and on-premises environments. Yellowbrick delivers data modernization to large multinational corporations, such as American Express, Zurich, Citadel, and Nielsen.
Previously, he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Fusion-io where he was responsible for company strategy, product definitions, roadmaps, corporate development, strategic partnerships, and key customer acquisitions. Prior to Fusion-io, Neil was Chief Application Architect at Dell, where he led the platform architecture team across MessageOne, Everdream, Silverback Networks, and other acquired development groups. He joined Dell through the acquisition of Everdream, where he was Chief Architect.
Neil has also held roles at BMC/Remedy and Liberate Technologies, including Principal Product Architect and Principal Engineer. Neil has served as a technical advisor for start-ups Oxygen Finance and Datera Inc.
He earned a bachelor's degree in Computer Software Engineering from Cranfield University.
Phillip Chapple
Monterone Partners LLP.
Phillip Chapple is the COO of Monterone Partners LLP. He has been involved in the financial services industry since 1997. From 2010 to 2015 Mr. Chapple was the founder of the London branch of KB Associates where he focused on assisting fund managers to build investor friendly operational infrastructures and prepare for investor due diligence. Prior to joining KB Associates, Mr. Chapple was CFO/COO of Ironshield Capital Management LLP, a European Distressed investment management company. Previously he was COO at IBIS Asset Management, a $10bn family office, and Head of Operations at OLEA Capital. Mr. Chapple had commenced his career at Morgan Stanley before spending a number of years in prime brokerage at both Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch. Mr. Chapple holds a Bachelor of Laws with Honours (LLB) from Exeter University.
Naomi Clarke
Naomi Clarke has over 35 years experience across the financial sector specialising in all-things data. Over the last 15 years she has established several central data functions for buy side firms including GLG (now Man Group), GAM and M&G. In her CDO roles, she has had responsibility for data strategy, architecture, governance and analytics, focussing on how to bring data together in a controlled manner to satisfy both the demands for flexibility from data analytics functions and those of working in a highly regulated environment. She is now CDO and a founding executive member of HUB, a new venture bringing PIMCO, Man Group, State Street, IHS Markit, Microsoft and McKinsey together to build a new operating infrastructure for asset management. Naomi holds an MA from the University of Oxford.
Donald D'Amico
Neudata
Don is the General Counsel of Neudata. In addition to managing the company's legal affairs, Don leads the review of the compliance and regulatory aspects of new datasets and assists with product development. He previously served as Legal Counsel at Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP, where he onboarded third party research providers and conducted related due diligence. Don started his career as a research analyst on a merger arbitrage trading desk.
Don holds a JD from the Fordham University School of Law and a BA from Washington University in St. Louis. He has received CIPP/E and CIPP/US certifications from the International Association of Privacy Professionals.
Philip Dutton
Solidatus
Co-CEO & Co-Founder
Since its inception, Philip has led the Solidatus vision and team as Co-CEO and Co-Founder. With over two decades of industry experience, Philip has become a recognized and influential thought leader within the FinTech, RegTech and Data Management space and has campaigned to revolutionize the data economy and change the way the world manages
data. Prior to Solidatus, Philip delivered multiple global digital transformation projects across industries, championing businesses to become proactive in their management of data. He has supported organizations in delivering quantifiable and future-proof business
results, while leading the Solidatus team in addressing real-life data challenges by uncovering its true value. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Information Technology in Information Systems and Software Engineering (Honors I) from Griffith University in Australia.
Tuba Islam
Machine Learning Specialist
Tuba is a machine learning specialist at Google Cloud, based in London, primarily focusing on deep learning, forecasting, natural language processing, image processing and the automation of machine learning solutions. Before Google, she was a data scientist at SAS, working globally across Europe and US. She started her career in research and development at the National Research Institute of Electronics and Cryptology in Turkey implementing speech recognition engine for Turkish. She has an engineering background in electronics and holds a master's degree in digital signal processing.
She delivered successful projects across various industries such as rogue trader fraud detection in capital markets, smart metering analytics in utilities, hazard detection and readmission prediction in healthcare, credit risk in banking, churn prediction in telecom, rate making in insurance, demand forecasting in retail, pharmacovigilance analysis in life sciences.
What she enjoys the most is understanding the business problems and designing analytical solutions to solve them in simple, creative and effective ways.
Hinesh Kalian
Director of Data Science
Hinesh Kalian is Director of Data Science at Man Group. He is responsible for data strategy, data acquisition, data science and data science engineering across Man Group's investment
managers. Hinesh was formerly Head of Data Science and Investment Implementation for Man AHL, where he was responsible for monitoring and verifying activity on the Man AHL trading
system, new data acquisition and strategy, data management and portfolio implementation. Prior to joining Man Group in 2010, Hinesh spent six years at JPMorgan.
Hinesh holds an MSc in Finance from the University of London.
Sara Monsef
Deloitte UK
Sara is part of Deloitte Consulting's Artificial Intelligence & Data practice for nearly 10 years focused on supporting Insurance and Banking clients. She has 20 years experience in Data Management specialising in Data Governance and Data Strategy design, and supporting clients to form effective teams. Prior to joining Deloitte, Sara worked in Media and professional services firms as a Data Manager, and developer. Sara has an MSc in Information Science from UCL, and Economics and International Affairs degrees from George Washington University.
Virginie O'Shea
Firebrand Research
Virginie O'Shea is a capital markets fintech research specialist, with two decades of experience in tracking financial technology developments in the sector, with a particular focus on regulatory developments, data and standards. She is the founder of Firebrand Research, a new research and advisory firm focused on providing capital markets technology and operations insights for the digital age.
Most recently, she was a research director with Aite Group, heading up the Institutional Securities & Investments practice and covering data management, collateral management, legal entity onboarding, and post-trade technology. In this role she spearheaded strategy for the practice and managed a team of eight analysts across the globe.
Ms. O'Shea has spoken at industry conferences including Sibos, TradeTech, FISD events, and The Network Forum, and is actively engaged in a number of post-trade industry standards groups.
Prior to Aite Group, she was managing editor of A-Team Group's flagship publication,A-Team Insight, where she covered financial technology from the front to back office, including trading technology, market data, low latency, risk management, regulatory impacts on IT, and reference data. During her time at the firm, she was heavily involved in planning risk and data management events and creating multimedia offerings, including podcasts, webinars, and video interviews. Prior to this, Ms. O'Shea was group editor of Investor Services Journal and Alternatives magazine, focused on the asset servicing and buy-side communities. Before that, she was editor of STP Magazine and online service stpzone.com, where she focused on financial technology in the capital markets.
Ms. O'Shea holds a Master's degree in English Literature from the University of Edinburgh.
Waqar Rashid
Aspect Capital
Director of Data
Waqar Rashid is Director of Data at Aspect Capital, having joined the systematic investment manager in December 2006. He is responsible for the entire set of data requirements for all of Aspect's quantitative programmes. With over twenty years of experience in the industry, Waqar Rashid has held various roles including: Quantitative Analyst in the Equity Strategy Team at Goldman Sachs; Quantitative Analyst in the Equity Quant-Macro Trading Desk at Nations Bank; Head of Quant Research at IBJ Asset Management and Principal of Equinox Capital Management, where he ran European and US Equity Statistical Arbitrage. Waqar Rashid has an M.Sc. in Mathematical Economics and Econometrics from the London School of Economics and a B.A. in Economics and Mathematics from Sussex University.
Gurprit Singh
Partners Capital
Head of Data Management
Gurprit is Global Head of Data at Partners Capital, an outsourced CIO with $48 billion assets under management. He is responsible for all aspects of data from Data Governance, Data Quality to Data Analytics and Data Science.
Piers Thompson
Piers is the CTO of Neudata. Before joining Neudata, Piers held a range of technical leadership roles, most recently for Bank of America Merrill Lynch and UBS. Positions included Head of Research Data technology at UBS and Head of Global Markets Finance technology at BofAML. In addition to leading development teams in the financial services industry, Piers has also built teams and systems in domains including military aircraft, telecoms and network management.
Piers holds a BEng in Microelectronics from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
The Classification Guru
With a decade of experience fixing your dirty data, Susan Walsh is the founder and MD of the Classification Guru Ltd, a specialist data classification, taxonomy customisation and data cleansing consultancy. She is an industry thought leader, TEDx speaker and author of the 'Between the Spreadsheets: Classifying and Fixing Dirty Data'. She's also the founder of COAT.
Susan has developed a methodology that her team use to accurately and efficiently classify, normalise, cleanse and check data for errors which will help prevent costly mistakes. This could save days, if not weeks of laborious cleansing and classifying and can help your business find cost and time savings, driving profitability and supporting better, more informed business decisions.
Richard Waters
Systematica
Manager Internal Data, Risk and Reporting Development |
Feel like you're running out of time for a Valentine's gift, but want still want it to be meaningful? AND you don't exactly have a ton of time or money to spare? Well, stop your fretting, we've got you covered - make your honey a creative and thoughtful CD mix filled with the best love songs! Plus, what a great Valentine's gift idea to help set the mood for the entire night! |
Practical applications of statistics | Feb. 14
Learn more about the practical application of statistics during this special half-day event.
THU | FEBRUARY 9
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Home > Our Insights > NL Court Confirms Role of Jurisdiction in Injury Damages Calculation
NL Court Confirms Role of Jurisdiction in Injury Damages Calculation
Jennifer Reid
On March 28, 2022, the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador (General Division) decided that in a personal injury case, quantification of damages is governed by the law of the place where the action is started and entitlement to damages is governed by the law of the place where the accident occurred. And while the practical impact in Harris v. Hillyer was relatively minor, it could be significant depending on the jurisdictions involved and whether the Family Protection Endorsement is in play. Here's a look at the case and the potential impact of jurisdiction in a conflict of laws situation.
The Case. A number of passengers injured in a bus accident started actions in Newfoundland & Labrador against the bus driver and the bus company. The accident occurred in Nova Scotia, but all of the parties (both Plaintiffs and Defendants) were domiciled in Newfoundland & Labrador. Neither liability nor entitlement to damages were in issue. The parties asked the Court to rule on whether the law of Nova Scotia or of Newfoundland & Labrador applied in the calculation of the Plaintiffs' damages. This was pertinent because Nova Scotia legislation limits the award for general, non-pecuniary damages in respect of minor injuries to $7,500 plus inflation for the year of the accident ($8,937.00 for accidents occurring in 2021). However, Newfoundland & Labrador has no legislated cap. The Court found the logic of decisions from other provinces, while not binding on it, was persuasive and concluded that in a personal injury case, quantification of general, non-pecuniary damages is governed by the law of the place where the action is commenced. In this case, that meant Newfoundland & Labrador – and therefore it wasn't subject to a cap.
Conflict of Laws. The Court referenced the leading Canadian case on conflicts of laws, the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in Tolofson v. Jensen. There, the Supreme Court held that the law to be applied to "substantive rights" in a tort case is the law of the place where the tort occurred (the lex loci delicti) and the law applied to "procedural matters" is the law of the place where the action is heard (the lex fori).
Substantive v. Procedural. But what is a substantive right and what is a procedural matter? To answer, the Court turned to the Ontario Court of Appeal's decision in Somers v. Fournier. There, the Court described substantive law as law that "creates rights and obligations and is concerned with the ends which the administration of justice seeks to attain", and a procedural matter as "the vehicle providing the means and instruments by which those ends are attained." In Somers, the Court held that costs awarded at the end of litigation are a procedural matter governed by the law of the jurisdiction where the action was commenced; pre-judgment interest was substantive in nature thus governed by the law of the jurisdiction where the tort had occurred.
Entitlement v. Quantum. The Court in Somers also stated, in terms of broad strokes, that entitlement to certain heads of damages are substantive rights while the quantification or calculation of damages is a procedural matter. There, one issue was whether a general damages cap, established at common law in Ontario, applied in an action started in Ontario relating to an accident that occurred in New York, where there was no such cap. The Court in Somers found that a cap related to the calculation of the damages and thus was a procedural matter governed by the law where the action had been commenced (in that case, Ontario).
The Practical Impact. The resolution of the conflict of laws issue in Harris v. Hillyer resulted in a relatively minor impact. However, the practical impact of jurisdiction could be much more significant in other situations.
Jurisdiction Matters. The decision demonstrates that jurisdiction has a very real and potentially significant impact depending on the jurisdictions involved. To illustrate, take the example of an accident that occurred in Ontario, but where a plaintiff domiciled in Newfoundland & Labrador started the related personal injury action in Newfoundland & Labrador. To recover general, non-pecuniary damages in Ontario, a plaintiff must meet what is called the "threshold": a judge must find their injuries are a "permanent, serious disfigurement or a permanent serious impairment of an important physical, mental or psychological function". Newfoundland & Labrador, however, doesn't have this threshold. Further, Ontario applies a deductible to awards of general, non-pecuniary damages ($41,503.50 for 2022); the Newfoundland & Labrador deductible is much lower ($5,000). The plaintiff who didn't meet the Ontario threshold would likely be unable to recover any general, non-pecuniary damages, even though they started the action in Newfoundland & Labrador: the threshold is determinative of entitlement, a substantive right governed by the law of the place where the tort occurred. However, the plaintiff who did meet the Ontario threshold would be subject to the (much lower) Newfoundland & Labrador deductible: the quantification of the general, non-pecuniary damages is a procedural matter governed by the law of the place where the action was started.
Family Protection Endorsement. When dealing with a conflict of laws situation, whether a Family Protection Endorsement is in play could further complicate the picture. Interestingly, section 5(b) of the S.E.F 44 Family Protection Endorsement potentially introduces a third jurisdiction into the mix in the possible (though not probable) situation in which an insured has a policy issued in one province, has an accident in a second, and starts their action in a third: it specifies the governing law in a conflict of laws situation, not by reference to where an action is started, but rather to where the policy was issued: "In determining the amount an eligible claimant is legally entitled to recover from the inadequately insured motorist, issues of quantum shall be decided in accordance with the province governing this policy and issues of liability shall be decided in accordance with the law of the place where the accident occurred."
Please contact your McInnes Cooper lawyer or any member of our Insurance Defence Team @ McInnes Cooper to discuss how a conflict of laws impacts the calculation of damages.
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A Firm Hand On The Till
The implementation of the GST has greatly inspired us, convincing us that it is possible to achieve anything in this country if the government takes the role of a lead entrepreneur and pushes reforms
1499254099_uZD9if_GST.jpg
by V Vaidyanathan
If I were to describe the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in one line, I would liken it to a foolproof blockchain technology which records transactions along the chain from production to consumption. The GST is a consumption tax and every link in the chain will have to be accounted, so tax compliance will grow manifold.
The purpose of this note though, is to focus on the leadership factor in implementing the GST. To begin with, considering the number of interested parties in the multilateral negotiation, to break through the Ruling - Opposition dynamics, to evolve consensus, to complete the enormous amount of legislative work involved, to get the Upper and Lower Houses to clear the Bills, and to finally get 29 states to pass the Bills in their respective Assemblies is nothing short of a miracle.
When it came to implementation, most magazines and their surveys predicted that small enterprises are ill-prepared, which would cast doubts on any administrator implementing it. The headline cover page stories of BW Businessworld for instance, had the following cover page quote, 'SME's reluctance to embrace indirect tax reforms is understandable, even large ones would have liked the rollout postponed, finds a survey'. Another essay said 'India's tryst with GST' starts on a 'Wing and a prayer'. Other magazines had similar covers.
Let's consider industry representations. One IT representative said, "for an industry already reeling under change of business model, and further suffering headwind of increasing global protectionism, to further complicate it by multiple registration would only add to its woes." The airline industry, including the state-owned Air India said most of India's airline operators are dependent on globally spread computer reservation systems, we need time. For the financial services industry, the IBA represented that the preparedness of all banks is a question mark — how do you determine the location of the recipient of a service in a digital world where anywhere and everywhere banking is the norm?
From one point of view, all are valid concerns. But if you show too much empathy, you would stop in your tracks. A slight hesitation of the voice would have been enough for the system to pile on pressure. You postpone it once — who knows what new variables may creep in and derail it. Meanwhile, from the government's point of view: "If there is chaos all around on launch, we'll be publicly responsible for the mess. And worse, many would say I told you so. On the other hand, we think we're prepared. But we can never be too sure."
In the midst of all this, the firmness with which the administration went about the launch date is admirable. Union Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia pointed out, "listen, the private sector is always more efficient than the government we expect them to catch up with us." On the concerns of having to register separately in each state his comment was rather stock: "You do not have an option, it is the law, please follow the law, we will try and ease any hassles later." Naveen Kumar, chairman of GST said, "for 80 lakh taxpayers the number of invoices to upload would be a maximum of 320 crore, we have prepared all the capacity." I could almost hear the administration say, "It's July 1, now get on with it". That's leadership mettle.
Management schools teach case studies about how Lou Gerstner, Meg Whitman or Howard Shultz turned around IBM, e-Bay or Starbucks. All great stories, but the technical, legislative and implementation challenges of a tax reform of this magnitude in a federal structure, in the midst of pushbacks, in a diverse nation of millions of enterprises, towers far above these case studies a thousand times over. In fact, GST is an extraordinary case study on transformation initiated by governments.
The implementation of the GST has greatly inspired us, convincing us that it is possible to achieve anything in this country if the government takes the role of a lead entrepreneur and pushes reforms.
magazine 5 August 2017 goods and services tax Blockchain airlines
V Vaidyanathan
V Vaidyanathan is Executive Chairman at Capital First. He is an alumnus of Birla Institute of Technology and Harvard Business School and is a regular contributor on financial and banking matters in India and international forums |
Former Asheville Police Department officer Chris Hickman appeared for the first time Monday after being indicted by a grand jury in an August beating.
Violent content, explicit language: Body camera of police officer Luis Delgado on August 25, 2017, at 12:04 a.m. Officer Delgado arrives to the scene and sees a struggle between Christopher Hickman, Ruggiero and Johnnie Rush, who is being tased.
ASHEVILLE - The former police officer charged with felony strangulation in the beating of an unarmed black pedestrian made his first appearance Monday in Buncombe County Superior Court.
The morning hearing was largely procedural but set the stage for a potential showdown over the venue and arguments over whether ex-officer Chris Hickman can get a fair trial in Asheville. That could happen at Hickman's motion and plea hearing, which Judge Marvin Pope set for Oct. 1.
The former senior officer with nine years experience in the Asheville Police Department walked into court alone wearing a gray sport coat, tie and dark pants. He sat with a man who appeared to be the same person who accompanied him from the Buncombe County Detention Center when he was arrested this winter after an Aug. 24 encounter with pedestrian Johnnie Rush.
That incident gained national attention after Hickman's body camera footage of the event was leaked and published.
A grand jury indicted Hickman this month on charges of misdemeanor communicating threats, misdemeanor assault inflicting serious injury and felony assault by strangulation.
In Monday's court session, aside from setting the motion and pleas hearing for this fall, there was no discussion of the case by either prosecutors or Hickman's attorney Thomas Amburgey.
Reached after court Monday Amburgey and District Attorney Todd Williams declined to comment.
But actions are likely in the coming weeks. It's the time when a defense attorney in such a high-profile case would start gathering evidence to ask a judge to change a trial location, arguing that the large amount of publicity would make it difficult to find unbiased jurors.
In a high-profile 2017 Rutherford County case where Word of Faith Fellowship leaders were accused of beating a man for his sexual orientation a judge moved four trials to Buncombe.
Amburgey is representing a defendant in that case, which has been heard by Judge Pope. |
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Serena Williams announces pregnancy
By Terry Shropshire
Photo credit: Reddit
Game, set, pregnant.
Serena Williams is having a baby.
The world's No. 1 ranked tennis player and arguably the sport's greatest attraction has announced via social media that she is expecting her first child.
Serena Williams, 35, the younger sister of Venus Williams, 36, and winner of the most Grand Slam tournaments in professional tennis history, confirmed Wednesday she is 20 weeks along in her pregnancy, showing off her growing baby bump in a bright yellow bathing suit on Snapchat.
Serena Williams is engaged to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, 33. The couple flossed a post-Easter photo from the beach on Tuesday. They have been engaged since December after an 18-month courtship where he surprised her by getting on one knee. She, of course, announced it all on Reddit.
"It feels good," she said of the engagement in January.
"I really haven't thought about it too much, because I wasn't even really gonna think about it until after the tournament.
"So, I just keep saying, 'February, I'll start looking at the bigger picture of my life.' But right now I'm just so focused that this is all I can think about."
Williams had just conquering all foes in the Australian Open in January, vanquishing sister Venus to win the first Grand Slam of the year and seventh title in this tournament.
Reps for Williams did not immediately return a request for comment.
Urbanites had quietly hoped that Serena could reconcile her relationship with rap great Common, but despite their attempts to get back together, their romance never reignited.
Williams holds the most major titles in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles combined amongst active players. Her record of 39 major titles puts her third on the all-time list and second in the open era: 23 in singles, 14 in women's doubles, and 2 in mixed doubles. She is the most recent female player to have held all four major singles titles simultaneously (2002–03 and 2014–15) and the third player to achieve this record twice after Rod Laver and Steffi Graf. She is also the most recent player, together with her sister Venus to have held all four Grand Slam women's doubles titles simultaneously (2009–10).
Alexis Ohanian, Serena Williams, serena williams pregnant, venus williams |
Home/News/Technology/This year's roundup of the top Google searches includes super local trends
This year's roundup of the top Google searches includes super local trends
Let's jump straight to the chase: "Wordle" was Google's most searched term globally in 2022. The stat was revealed as part of Google's annual Year in Search report, which highlights the top trending search terms in both individual countries as well as globally. This year, Google is offering an even more granular look at searches in the USA with a new hub that lets you type in your city or ZIP code and see what people in your area specifically are searching for.
As you might expect, the year's top searches were dominated by terms relating to 2022's big news events, with "Ukraine" and "Queen Elizabeth" both featuring in the top five. But there were also a surprising amount of searches for specifically Indian (and presumably cricket) sporting fixtures, with "India vs England," "Ind vs SA," and "India vs West Indies" all featuring in the top 10. Remember, these are global search rankings, which makes it all the more impressive that Indian-related searches are so highly represented.
Another couple of interesting tidbits: Will Smith, Chris Rock, and Jada Pinkett Smith take up three of the five top five searches for actors after the events at the Oscars this year. And interestingly, when it comes to films, DC took two spots out of the top five (thanks to Black Adam and The Batman) compared to just one Marvel movie (Thor: Love and Thunder). That said, Thor still took the top spot.
Also, shout out to the UK, where Google's search data suggests people were absolutely obsessed with the Queen's death, with "Is the Queen dead?" "When is the Queen's funeral?" and "Where will the Queen be buried?" making up three of the top five most Googled questions. In case you're interested, "How old is Diana Ross?" came in fifth, presumably after the ex-Supremes singer performed at both Glastonbury and the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations (she's 78, in case you were wondering).
Anyway, I thoroughly recommend having a poke around the results, both globally as well as locally in the US. If nothing else, it's a fun reminder of the frankly obscene amount of stuff that's happened in 2022, which I feel confident in dubbing the longest year that has ever existed.
Google includes local Roundup searches Super top trends years
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Just a Fad or a Profound Tool for Teaching and Improving Campus Life?
Augmented Reality (AR) overlays digital information on the physical world, creating layers that can be viewed through a smartphone or tablet.
Instructors use AR to add interactive elements, such as hyperlinks, audio, and images, to textbooks or other objects of study, such as a painting. Learn how to use AR to facilitate active learning, support peer-to-peer learning, and engage students with course materials in a new way!
AR can be used, for example, to overlay information about university buildings, such as the offices located inside, and points of interest, such as a brief history of the oldest tree on campus. Discover the easy-to-use software you need to create an augmented reality experience on campus! |
While many members of the military understand the importance of "who you know" in the context of career progression, I don't think many think about it from a developmental standpoint. Our networks can have a significant influence on how we grow within the Self-Development Domain. They can challenge us intellectually. They can broaden our perspectives. They can keep our egos in check. They can also influence our professional reading habits. For example, the Squadron Executive Officer in a unit I once served in, taught me about assessing the professional value of a book based on the author, publishing company, as well as some other key indicators. To others, this may seem like a no-brainer, but at the time I didn't know any better. This connection with my XO shaped how I've approached self-study ever since-and I'm better for it. Additionally, others in my network have had similar influences on my development, which is one of the reasons I've taken to writing articles for my blog, Small Wars Journal, Armor Magazine, and other professional journals.
These important relationships that I've formed over the course of my career are what make up my Personal Learning Network (PLN). In their 2011 book, Personal Learning Networks: Using the Power of Connections to Transform Education, Will Richardson and Rob Mancabelli define a PLN as "a set of connections to people and resources both offline and online who enrich our learning –at a moment's notice." PLNs are great for aiding us in the self-development domain, because they provide us with access to a networked group of people (some much more experienced than us) who supply us with information, offer discussion and feedback, and in some cases motivation, thus enhancing our own journey of professional growth.
Connecting with others in the same unit may be ideal for professional debate and discussion. The reality however, is that there are those who serve in units where leaders are either too busy or don't see the benefits of personal study, thereby making self-learning an individual effort – and may even discourage those with the initial motivation. If you find yourself in a unit where self-study is neither encouraged or rewarded, you may find value in establishing an online personal learning network.
Many already do this by connecting with others via social media platforms like Twitter or Facebook. Social media offers numerous opportunities to connect with others and stay informed. For example, many leaders follow Doctrine Man, and it is through this connection they receive a daily stream of links to articles of interest (always with Doctrine Man's witty commentary). All of the professional journals have social media accounts they use to announce publication of new issues or highlight important articles. Users may also connect with numerous experts in fields such as leadership, ethics, strategy, foreign policy, history, etc. Additionally, it's through Twitter that I've also connected with motivated and intelligent military professionals (from all the services) who continue to positively influence my development. For those interested in developing an online personal learning network, Jonathan Silk, a Major in the U.S. Army, provides us with a great tutorial on navigating Twitter and creating online networks in a blog post titled: Hashtag(#) Leader Development.
I encourage everyone to think about their Personal Learning Network, and how they can strengthen it. Whether it's online or offline, it doesn't matter. What matters is connecting with others and building networks of professionals who positively influence our growth as individual leaders.
When I was doing some "mentorship" training for Fidelis Education, they made me aware of works by Keith Ferrazzi, specifically his books NEVER EAT ALONE and WHO'S GOT YOUR BACK. For some people, a quick read of either/both may sound too much like business development techniques for executives/marketing types, but a deeper and more thoughtful read reveals so much more than this. Ferrazzi is really talking about developing genuine, caring, and mutually beneficial relationships within your personal network. I confess I was initially turned off by his work but the more I got into it, the more intrigued I became by what he was really saying. I think he has much to say regarding forming "personal learning networks" just as much as other kinds of business/job seeking networks. He's working on a book tentatively titled: THE UNIVERSITY OF YOU: HOW TO BECOME A CONTINUOUS LEARNING AND CHANGE THE TRAJECTORY OF YOUR LIFE. |
Unsafe To Drink: Wildfires Threaten Rural Towns With Tainted Water
by Rachel Becker, Cal Matters
"Homes destroyed by the LNU Lighting Complex Fire are interspersed with untouched homes above Lake Berryessa, a resort area and water supply reservoir, on Sept. 21, 2020. After the fire in August, residents were advised not to drink or boil the tap water because of concerns about benzene and other contaminants. Photo by Anne Wernikoff for CalMatters"For more than a month after a wildfire raced through his lakeside community and destroyed his Napa County home, Kody Petrini couldn't drink the water from the taps. He wasn't even supposed to boil it.
And, worried about harming his 16-month-old, Petrini wouldn't wash his youngest son Levi with it. Instead, he took the extraordinary precaution of bathing him in bottled water.
Among the largest wildfires in California history, the LNU Lightning Complex fires killed five people and destroyed nearly 1,500 structures — including whole blocks of the Berryessa Highlands neighborhood where Petrini's home stood.
Camped out in a trailer on his in-laws' nearby lot, the 32-year-old father of two, along with all of his neighbors, was warned not to drink the water or boil it because it could be contaminated with dangerous compounds like benzene that seep into pipes in burned areas.
When wildfires spread across California, they leave a cascade of water problems in their wake: Some communities have their drinking water poisoned by toxic substances. Others wrestle with ash and debris washed into reservoirs and lakes. And many living in remote stretches of the state struggle with accessing enough water to fight fires.
Drinking water has been contaminated with hazardous chemicals after at least three California wildfires in recent years: in Santa Rosa after the Tubbs Fire in 2017, in Paradise after the Camp Fire in 2018 and now in parts of the San Lorenzo Valley burned by the CZU Lightning Complex Fires that began in August.
The cost of fixing the damage to water systems: up to $150 million in just one small town.
Towns and water agencies also are grappling with advice to give residents in fire-ravaged areas, who are confused by warnings that seem to continuously change about whether their water is safe.
The month-long wait for results of testing left Petrini and his neighbors in a frustrated limbo, forced to rely upon bottled water distributed by the county. At the end of September, testing in Berryessa Highlands finally revealed no detectable amounts of benzene, a cancer-causing chemical. One block — ironically on Clearwater Court — had elevated levels of metals including lead in one hydrant, so residents are still advised not to drink their water.
"If the water is messed up, we understand. We had a catastrophic fire up here, we understand that. But just let us know why," Petrini said. "Is it even okay for us to bathe our baby in?"
"Kody Petrini with his sons, Levi, 16 months, and Steven, 11, in Berryessa Highlands on Sept. 21, 2020. Petrini lost his home in the LNU Lighting Complex Fires and for more than a month afterward was afraid to bathe Levi with tap water for fear of contaminants. Photo by Anne Wernikoff for CalMatters"
In a state plagued by water shortages, rural California has suffered a cascade of water woes in the wake of wildfires that is likely to happen again and again as climate change primes the West to burn.
The problems now encountered in California are far beyond the scope of regulations protecting drinking water, said Darrin Polhemus, deputy director of the State Water Resources Control Board's Division of Drinking Water.
"The Safe Drinking Water Act doesn't have a clause like, 'This is what you do in a fire when a community is completely burned to the ground,'" he said.
'We're going to see more systems like this'
There are 23 major wildfires burning in a record-breaking season that has torn through more than 4 million acres of California, killing 31 people and destroying more than 8,400 structures.
Since the 1980s, climate change has more than doubled the hot and dry conditions that combine to create extreme fire weather, according to new research.
At the same time, more Californians are in harm's way: between 1990 and 2010, the number of houses built at the edge of nature increased by more than a third. And 640,000 to 1.2 million new homes could pop up in the state's highest fire risk areas by 2050.
That means more fire survivors could come home to find their pipes burned and their water undrinkable.
"It's safe to bet that with this year's fire season the way it is, winds picking up and the magnitude of fire that we've got, we're going to see more (water) systems like this," said Daniel Newton, assistant deputy director of the state water board's Division of Drinking Water. "The number of fire impacts I am starting to hear throughout the state is staggering," he added.
The threat to water in the West doesn't stop when the flames go out. Roughly two-thirds of its water supply flows from forests that can burn. And uncontrolled conflagrations can increase erosion and pollutants that rush into the lakes and reservoirs supplying Californians with water. Researchers project that fire could more than double the sediment clogging a third of Western watersheds by 2050.
"From a water perspective, this is just when the problems are all about to begin — when we put the fire out," said Kevin Bladon, associate professor of forest ecohydrology and watershed science at Oregon State University. "We can see effects (on water) persist for decades."
Problems in the pipes
The first clues that fires could contaminate pipes with chemicals came in the fall of 2017 in Santa Rosa, where the Tubbs Fire had destroyed roughly 3,000 homes and commercial buildings.
Soon after residents returned to the remaining houses, Santa Rosa Water received a complaint: The water smelled and tasted strange, according to city memo.
Testing revealed contaminants, including benzene as high as 40,000 times the state's limits, according to a recent study led by Andrew Whelton, an associate professor of civil, environmental and ecological engineering at Purdue University.
Long-term exposure to benzene, a component of crude oil and gasoline, is a well-proven cause of leukemia, and immediate, high exposure can cause dizziness and stomach ailments.
The source of the contamination, the city's investigation concluded, was the wildfires. Burned plastic piping can release benzene and other chemicals, as can homes going up in smoke. Water systems depressurized during fires may suck in those compounds, which then soak into plastic pipes and coat metals and other materials.
Long-term exposure to benzene — released by the burning of plastic piping — is a well-proven cause of leukemia, and immediate, high exposure can cause dizziness and stomach ailments.
The damage can linger for years because cleaning it up requires removing poisoned pipes and extensively flushing the system, according to Whelton.
"There is no good approach," Whelton said. "The rudimentary approach of just flushing water is there because nobody's really developed better solutions."
Drinking water in Paradise also was contaminated with chemicals including dangerous levels of benzene — at least 2,200 times the state limit in one sample, Whelton's study reports — when the Camp Fire killed 85 people and destroyed nearly 19,000 buildings in Butte County in 2018. Nearly two years later, the town's utility warns that water connections to unoccupied houses and empty lots may still be contaminated.
The tab for combating Paradise's contamination has hit an estimated $50 million, plus $80 to $100 million for additional repairs, Mickey Rich, information systems manager with the Paradise Irrigation District, told CalMatters. The district is seeking federal and state emergency funding, and has tapped into insurance to help pay for the repairs.
"Our goal is to get everything paid for by emergency funds that we can. We don't feel like our customers should have to pay for any of this damage," Rich said.
Confusing, shifting warnings
Napa County engineering manager Christopher Silke, who also oversees the private contractor operating Berryessa Highlands' tiny water district, hopes that his team's quick action saved the community's water system from a similar fate.
After the fire, the lines serving burnt properties were capped, leaks were fixed and the system repressurized and flushed. The district issued a warning to boil the water before drinking it because of potential bacteria.
But two weeks later, the state warned of the potential for contamination with chemicals like benzene, and told the district to change the warning to caution against drinking or boiling the water. The notice the district issued said that people may also want to limit showering and hot water use.
Silke immediately sent out orders to pull out the water meters where public and private plumbing intersect, and retrofit meter boxes to allow flushing but prevent backflow from the burned properties.
Although drinking water is uncontaminated with benzene and similar chemicals so far, Silke pledged to continue monitoring. "This is public health," he said. "We need to be vigilant."
Advice to residents also shifted after the CZU Lightning Complex Fires in Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties. The San Lorenzo Valley Water District issued a 'do not drink/do not boil' warning, then updated the guidance days later to recommend avoiding baths and limiting showers to lukewarm water. Residents were confused, asking at a public meeting why the district didn't warn them against washing with the water right away.
A sign warning residents not to drink the water posted along Steele Canyon Road at the entrance to Berryessa Highlands on Sept. 21, 2020. Following the lighting complex fires in August, residents have been advised not to drink or bathe in the local water out of concerns for benzene and other contaminants. Photo by Anne Wernikoff for CalMatters"
Whelton, the environmental engineer at Purdue, would have preferred immediate warnings against showering and bathing, particularly since one San Lorenzo Valley neighborhood had 42 times more benzene than state limits allow.
Chemical levels dropped below the state's standard after the pipes were flushed, Newton said. But Whelton said that testing after wildfires should continue for long periods, and should be expanded to more chemicals.
He also worries that the failure to rapidly warn people against bathing in potentially contaminated water led to precisely the predicament Petrini found himself in when weighing how to wash baby Levi.
"You have to issue water advisories and orders that don't allow infants and children to be exposed to contaminated water," Whelton said. "This isn't complicated. After a disaster, the infrastructure may be damaged, you issue a 'do not use' order."
Stefan Cajina, north coastal section chief of the water board's drinking water division, said that drinking water officials usually reserve issuing stricter guidance around showering and bathing for when they know for certain the water is contaminated. But "that has turned out to be a really confusing and uncomfortable message for the public to hear," Cajina said.
Now the state is considering reversing that approach to recommend water systems start with more stringent cautions, and scale them back as test results show the water is safe.
"Bottom line, water systems may want to be told what to do in these situations, and we do our best to provide solid guidance, but they are ultimately responsible," he said.
When the fires stop, the rains start
As California heads into the rainy season, the threats to drinking water will be amplified. Rains may extinguish wildfires, but they can also wash contaminants into water sources.
"Really what's going to determine how ugly things get and how concerning they get for both the health of our ecosystems and for our communities are those first rain events that we're going to get this fall, and really the first couple of years," Oregon State University's Bladon said. Particularly if vegetation hasn't had a chance to regrow on slopes scoured by wildfires.
Fires kill plants, increasing runoff and accelerating snowmelt. Burning soil can also change its structure, trigger erosion and leave behind layers of ash and debris that flow into streams and lakes.
"Every drop of water in a watershed basically is moving towards that outlet," said Newsha Ajami, director of Urban Water Policy at Stanford University. "And if they're not cleaned up, all those pollutants and contaminants and toxins can end up in our water system."
Sediment slicking down fire-denuded hills can fill reservoirs, squeezing out space for the water. In Santa Barbara County, the Gibraltar Reservoir has lost roughly 50% of its storage capacity over the past 20 years, largely due to increased sedimentation from wildfires, according to Joshua Haggmark, Santa Barbara's water resources manager.
After the 2007 Zaca Fire, the organic material clouding Cachuma Lake jumped by 165%. And it still hasn't returned to historic lows, Haggmark said. Near Redding, water from Whiskeytown Lake grew roughly 20 times dirtier after the Carr Fire.
"Every drop of water in a watershed basically is moving towards that outlet. And if they're not cleaned up, all those pollutants and contaminants and toxins can end up in our water system."
Newsha Ajami, director of Urban Water Policy at Stanford University
All that material can challenge downstream treatment plants to cope with the added mud and altered water chemistry, and it may fuel algal blooms. But adding chlorine to treat the water can kick off chemical reactions with all the additional organic matter to form disinfection byproducts linked to health problems, including bladder cancer.
More of the ingredients that form these disinfection byproducts were found in Northern California creeks after the Rocky and Wragg fires burned through the region in 2015, according to a recent study.
In Napa County, Silke has encountered increased sediment repeatedly in Lake Berryessa after previous wildfires, and he's bracing for problems at the treatment plant in the months ahead.
"Levi Petrini stands in the ruins of his family's burned Berryessa Highlands home. Photo courtesy of Kody Petrini."
"If you took a coffee filter, and tried to make several batches of coffee with that filter, what's going to happen then? It's going to plug up," he said. It's the same with turbid water.
Producing 100,000 gallons of drinking water from the murky lake can churn out about 40,000 gallons of sludge, he said. And that puts a bigger strain on the wastewater treatment plant, as well.
Silke has designed a $180,000 treatment step to help the mud and silt settle out of Berryessa Highlands' water. The cash-strapped water district is looking to California's Office of Emergency Services for help.
"We're going to have to find a way," Silke said.
Petrini worries that the wreckage of his home will be among the debris tumbling towards Lake Berryessa this winter if the clean-up process continues to lag.
"Rains are coming soon," he said. "And if we don't get our lots situated, it's going to cost us tens of thousands of more dollars just to get them regraded after the hills start sliding down on themselves."
Water pressure drops
On a hot September morning, Berryessa Highlands residents gathered outside the volunteer fire station to voice their water woes. A standout concern, particularly from residents who bucked evacuation orders to defend their homes, was the restricted flow from hydrants.
It happened to Daniel Williams, who helped defend his father Stu's house. Perched on the roof with a fire hose, Williams, 41, was spraying the embers when the water flow died.
"It was like, well what else do you want to throw at me? I'm doing everything I can," he said. "It just made no sense that there's this big body of water, but we have no water pressure on top of our roof to fight the fire."
The Williams' house survived; at least 93 others did not. Testing in August revealed that five of the development's 67 hydrants had possible mechanical problems, according to Annamaria Martinez with Napa County. But Napa County Fire Chief Geoff Belyea told CalMatters that despite pressure fluctuations, firefighters had enough water to battle the flames.
Readouts of the lakeside water treatment plant's activity show the pumps kept pumping, Silke said. But as water gushed from burned homes and firefighters and residents trained hoses on the flames, the 500,000-gallon ridgetop storage tank that maintains pressure in the pipes dropped to critically low levels, according to Silke.
"It's very common that in rural parts of California that water is difficult for us," said Daniel Berlant, an assistant deputy director with CalFire, the state's firefighting agency. "I've been on a number of fires, where communities — even communities you would think are more urban — that just because of the amount of water being used, the water supply and the pressure goes down."
"Rural residential community public water systems were never designed with the intent to provide a line of wildfire defense to save structures."
christopher silke, napa county engineering manager
It's why CalFire sends water tenders that can carry water to wildfires, engines are equipped with pumps to pull from lakes and pools and helicopters can swoop in.
And it's why CalFire and drinking water officials warn against residents leaving sprinklers on as a fire approaches. Not only does it diminish the water firefighters can use, but it also can prime the depressurized pipes for contamination.
"Rural residential community public water systems were never designed with the intent to provide a line of wildfire defense to save structures," Silke said.
Jennifer Clary, California director of the advocacy group Clean Water Action, said "it's virtually impossible to build a potable water system that can also fight megafires." Building a distribution system that is too large can allow the water to stagnate in pipes, which allows disinfection byproducts to accumulate, she said.
Stanford's Ajami said the key will be rebuilding with resilience. "If you're going back to build these communities, do you really want to build them the way before?" she said. "Isn't this a new chance to revisit our planning and development practices?"
For Whelton, that means updating building codes to require concrete water meter boxes rather than flammable plastic ones, and valves that prevent water flowing back from burned houses into the public water system.
Paradise is leading the way to fireproof its water. "You hope no city ever has to go through this. The good that I see is we got a lot of the research done and we have a lot of the answers now," Rich said.
The state, too, is working on developing its playbook for water systems to ensure they're prepared to immediately flush pipes, isolate burned neighborhoods and test for contaminants.
But getting ahead of the flames is an uphill battle, said the water board's Polhemus. "We need the fires to quit, before we can even catch our breath."
"American Canyon CERT members Michael Tadewald, left, and Mary Tabbert, unload cases of water at the Berryessa Highlands fire department on Sept. 21, 2020. Thousands of gallons of water have been distributed to residents since they began in early September. Photo by Anne Wernikoff for CalMatters"
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I'm a product designer at Facebook helping businesses connect with people.
Recently I graduated from the University of Maryland where I studied Product Design & Software Innovation. Previously I was a product design intern at Bread ― a fintech startup changing consumer financing. Before then I was the director of events at Startup Shell ― a student-run incubator for student-run startups at UMD. Last summer, I was working on Passenger, a company I co-founded with my brother to improve the commuting experience. I also worked with Slide and was a founding student of Make School. You can download my resume here.
I'm passionate about the intersection of design, technology, and business. It is here where we can solve problems with sustainable products.
In my free time, I like to cook, rock climb, and recently took up drawing. I'm also an avid gamer. Challenge me in Super Smash Bros. Melee, Overwatch, or Blokus. |
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Describes the effect of resistance in circuit breaker and disconnect contacts. Describes common causes of contact resistance. Explains the purpose of contact resistance testing.
Describes the principle of contact resistance testing. Describes the components of a typical contact resistance test set.
Describes the principle for connecting the current leads and voltage leads of a micro-ohmmeter to a resistance to be tested. Identifies the test connects for testing the contact resistance of a typical draw-out type circuit breaker. Identifies the test connections for testing the contact resistance of a typical high-voltage oil circuit breaker. Identifies the test connections for testing the contact resistance of a typical non-load-break disconnect switch.
Describes common procedures and safety precautions for performing a contact resistance test. Explains the meanings of various test results. |
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Q: iPhone NSURL get last redirected url i wonder how can you update your NSURL to the last url that a your url will redirect to
using NSURL or NSRequest
appreciate your help.
thanks.
A: zanque's solution works, but in order to avoid downloading "useless" data, I'd change the http method to HEAD :
NSMutableURLRequest *request = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:orinigalURL cachePolicy:NSURLRequestReloadIgnoringCacheData timeoutInterval:15.0];
[request setHTTPMethod:@"HEAD"];
NSURLResponse *response = nil;
[NSURLConnection sendSynchronousRequest:request returningResponse:&response error:nil];
NSURL *finalURL = response.URL;
A: i did it,
here is how
NSURL *originalUrl=[NSURL URLWithString:@"http://YourURL.com"];
NSData *data=nil;
NSMutableURLRequest *request = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:originalUrl cachePolicy:NSURLRequestReloadIgnoringCacheData timeoutInterval:10];
NSURLResponse *response;
NSError *error;
data = [NSURLConnection sendSynchronousRequest:request returningResponse:&response error:&error];
NSURL *LastURL=[response URL];
[request release];
[error release];
A: You'll only be able to find this out after trying to connect using NSURLConnection. If you add a method to your NSURLConnection delegate, -connection:willSendRequest:redirectResponse:, you'll be notified before redirects happen. Just grab the URL from the passed request, and that's your answer.
A: You cause following swift code to get the final redirected url:
let request = NSMutableURLRequest(url: url, cachePolicy: .reloadIgnoringCacheData, timeoutInterval: 15.0)
request.httpMethod = "HEAD"
var response: URLResponse? = nil
do {
try NSURLConnection.sendSynchronousRequest(request as URLRequest, returning: &response)
} catch { //Handle exception //if any
}
let finalURL = response?.url
|
Future Growing LLC
To inspire healthy and sustainable living around the world, by empowering people with the technology and training to do so.
About Future Growing
Aeroponics Technology
Farms – Rooftop and Urban
Category Archives: Posts
The POWER of TOWER
Have you ever wondered what puts the POWER in the Patented Vertical Aeroponic Tower Garden® Technology?
I am often asked, "What is aeroponics?" Aeroponics is considered a hydroponic technique or method, so the process is a form of hydroponics.
Inside the tower chamber.
(Click photo to enlarge)
Aeroponics is simply defined as the process of growing plants in an air or mist environment without the use of soil or an aggregate medium.
The Tower Garden® growing chamber contains no soil or aggregate medium. Instead, the chamber is empty. It's just roots and air between each irrigation cycle. The tumbling water during these irrigation cycles creates a fine mist, oxygenating the water and bathing the roots of each plant on its way down to the reservoir. This process is continuously repeated with each irrigation cycle, providing maximum amounts of fresh oxygen, water, and nutrients to the roots of the plants 24 hours a day.
The intelligent design of the Tower Garden® system produces extraordinary crops that grow much faster than they would in soil, producing bountiful harvests within weeks of being transplanted into the system.
Tower to table in ten steps . . . farming made so simple anyone can do it! (Click photo to enlarge)
One of the main purposes behind Future Growing®'s patented aeroponic design was to avoid clogging misters – which typically plagues traditional aeroponic growing systems – by utilizing high-flow aeroponics.
Another key benefit is the massive growing chamber for the roots. Because the plants' roots do not run out of space, they continue to grow strong and healthy. There are commercial Tower Garden® farmers producing herb crops for several years now with plenty of room to go!
About our aeroponic plant food:
To achieve our mission of producing healthy food for people, we also developed an all-natural, stable, water-based ionic mineral solution to support the patented vertical aeroponic Tower Garden® technology.
With assistance from leading world experts in plant and human nutrition, we developed the proprietary Aeroponic Power-Gro® and the Tower Tonic® plant food we use today. Aeroponic Power-Gro® and the Tower Tonic® contains a wide range of specially-formulated ionic minerals and plant nutrients. It is the world's first high-performance ionic mineral solution specifically designed for all types of food and flowering crops. The pH balanced blend of natural plant nutrients helps stimulate plants' roots, flowers, fruits, and leaves.
Unlike conventional hydroponic fertilizers, the amazing Aeroponic Power-Gro® and the Tower Tonic® can be used to grow everything from gourmet lettuce and edible flowers to beautiful vine-ripened tomatoes. Healthy plants packed with nutrition help create healthy people.
Aeroponic Power-Gro® and the Tower Tonic® are also loaded with trace minerals that are essential to vibrant human health! Jake Kelly, a commercial rooftop Tower Garden® farmer in Southern California, recently grew a 3-foot aeroponic kale plant in a matter of weeks.
Left: 3 foot kale in a Tower Garden. Right: Jake delivers extraordinary aeroponic produce to market.
As you can see, our patented Tower Garden® system helps both large growers and smaller growers to develop highly flavorful, pesticide-free, and environmentally-friendly crops. Whether it is a commercial farm or a balcony in Manhattan, NY, the vertical aeroponic Tower Garden® is putting the POWER back into local food.
Tim Blank
Founder and CEO, Future Growing® LLC
This entry was posted in Posts and tagged Beneficial insects, Chapala Gardens, chemical-free food, Deschutes County Fair, farm to table, farm to table movement, Future Growing, Future Growing LLC, green rooftops, Integrated Pest Management, IPM, Jake Kelly, Jessica Blank, live produce, Living Produce, local food, Local Food Movement, locavore, locavore movement, modern agriculture, natural foods, Non-GMO, Non-GMO Foods, non-GMO products, Pest control, pesticide-free food, reduce the carbon footprint, Restaurant, Rooftop Farm, Rooftop Farmer, rooftop farming, Ryan Rudloff, sustainability, sustainable, Sustainable agriculture, sustainable food, sustainable food movement, The Vertical Farmer, tim blank, Tower Garden, Urban Farm, Urban Farmer, urban farming, vertical farm, Vertical Farmer, Vertical Farming, vertical growing, water conservation in agriculture on September 11, 2015 by futuregrowing.
True Garden: Solving the Southwest's Water Crisis With Innovation
True Garden's greenhouse is located near Phoenix, Arizona. (Click photo to enlarge)
Thinking Green: True Garden's greenhouse optimizes natural, convection-based, roof venting for energy efficient climate control. (Click photo to enlarge)
Phoenix, Arizona-based True Garden is the premier vertical aeroponic food farm in the Southwest U.S. This first-of-its-kind facility, operated by solar power, was designed in partnership with Future Growing® LLC with a vision to drastically reduce the region's agricultural water consumption while making local, living produce available year-round in the hot desert regions of Phoenix and the Southwest US.
True Garden is the first high-tech greenhouse in the U.S. capable of producing most cool season food crops year-round—even in the scorching desert, where temperatures reach 120 degrees during the day and 90 degrees at night during summer months. The greenhouse uses very little energy in the winter months by operating in a naturally vented mode. During the hotter summer months, the greenhouse utilizes a combination of smart and efficient technologies to affordably keep the greenhouse at optimal temperatures, both during the day and night.
Future Growing co-founder Jessica Blank with True Garden co-founder Troy Albright. (Click photo to enlarge)
As the centerpiece of its state-of-the art greenhouse, True Garden founders Lisa and Troy Albright selected Future Growing's® vertical aeroponic Tower Garden® technology because Future Growing® has a very successful and proven track record–establishing hundreds of urban farms with its vertical aeroponic technology across the country–and the vertical tower farm is ideal for small urban settings like this one.
Utilizing Future Growing's® aeroponic technology which re-circulates valuable water, True Garden uses 95% less water, 90% less space, and no harmful chemical, pesticides, or herbicides like Roundup®. The technology benefits urban growers and consumers alike, since the aeroponic plants grown in Tower Gardens® are more nutrient-dense than traditional produce. They grow extremely fast, and the Tower Gardens® yield "living" produce with the roots still intact. You cannot buy produce that is fresher and more hyperlocal than that.
24 day old "living" basil ready for market. (Click photo to enlarge)
Understanding that the current U.S. water crisis is more serious than any other time in our history, Lisa and Troy are dedicated to implementing technologies like Future Growing's® vertical aeroponic growing system that empower local farmers, eliminate food transportation, and use significantly less water than conventional farming. In addition to urban farming, True Garden is dedicated educating the public and empowering homeowners to grow the same way in their own back yard. Local food, living produce, tours, events, and classes at True Garden can be found at www.TrueGarden.com.
This entry was posted in Posts and tagged agriculture, Beneficial insects, California, chemical-free, conservation, Earth Day, farm to table, food service, Future Growing, Future Growing LLC, green rooftops, hyper-local sourcing, Integrated Pest Management, IPM, live produce, Living Produce, local food, Local Food Movement, locally grown, locavore, Los Angeles, modern agriculture, movement, natural foods, Niels Thorlaksson, Non-GMO, Non-GMO Foods, non-GMO products, Pest control, pesticide-free food, recirculating water system, reduced carbon footprint, Rooftop Farm, Rooftop Farmer, rooftop farming, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara California, sustainability, sustainable, sustainable food, sustainable food movement, The Vertical Farmer, tim blank, Tower Garden, Troy Albright, True Garden, Urban Farm, Urban Farmer, urban farming, vertical farm, Vertical Farmer, Vertical Farming, vertical growing, water conservation on April 10, 2015 by futuregrowing.
SF Giants Fans Enjoy World Series-Level Food
The Garden at AT&T Park. (Click photo to enlarge)
When the San Francisco Giants play in Game 3 of the World Series at AT&T Park today, baseball fans will get to enjoy some of the freshest, most nutritious, and flavorful local food served at any ballpark— because much of the produce comes from a Future Growing® garden featuring hundreds of state-of-the-art vertical aeroponic Tower Gardens®.
The Giants and their award-winning foodservice partner, Bon Appétit Management Company, opened The Garden at AT&T Park this summer with much fanfare. In fact, President Obama honored the Giants for being the first "green" Major League Baseball team. This is also another "First of Its Kind In The World" farm for Future Growing®, since this is the only major sports venue in the world to house a local organic food farm right on-site.
Located behind the centerfield wall, just under the scoreboard, this 4,320 square-foot space offers a bounty of fruits, vegetables, greens, and flowers that are grown sustainably and picked the day they are used in Bon Appetit's innovative ballpark food. Each tower, made of FDA-compliant, food-grade plastic, can grow up to 44 plants on a tiny footprint. Of course, the aeroponic Tower Gardens® are also better for the environment, using up to 95 percent less land by growing vertically and 95 percent less water than conventional farming by recycling 100 percent of the growing solution.
Not only is this fresh, healthy produce used in many of the food items featured at the ballpark, but The Garden serves as a culinary and nutritional classroom for children in the community. The team and Bon Appétit work closely with local chefs, farmers, and wellness organizations to teach children about how to plant their own urban garden and how to prepare healthy meals.
"The goal of The Garden is to introduce and educate the community about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle," according to a statement from the San Francisco Giants.
In addition to educating the community about healthy eating and growing, fans at the World Series games and the thousands of people who attend Giants' games throughout the year, have a beautiful, unique place to gather before and during games.
Giants' rightfielder Hunter Pence is one of the biggest proponents of the aeroponic garden. "I like vegetables and I enjoy gardens. I enjoy plants," he said. "I was lucky that my dad kind of forced me to eat healthy…I grew up and appreciated that. Now, Pence eats a kale salad almost daily and also loves eating cauliflower, beets, and broccoli.
The San Francisco Giants and Bon Appétit Management Company are truly leaders in the healthy growing movement. Their addition of The Garden at AT&T Park sets them apart from all other stadiums' foodservice programs, and Future Growing® is proud to be their partner.
This entry was posted in Posts on October 24, 2014 by futuregrowing.
California Farmer Finds Solution To The State's Water Crisis In Local Food
Today, I would like to share with you the story of how Niels Thorlaksson, an amazing Tower Garden® farmer in Santa Barbara, transformed his life from a job that he was not passionate about to living his dream of growing food for the masses with the most energy-efficient and sustainable farming method on the planet. With the severe drought in California, more farmers are looking for similar sustainable, earth friendly growing solutions—and Tower Garden® vertical food farming technology,which uses 90 percent less water on 90 percent land, provides that chemical-free solution for feeding Americans, today and into the future.
Niels Thorlaksson's backyard has 100 aeroponic Tower Gardens®. (Click photo to enlarge)
Here is Niels' story, in his own words:
"My Dad, Erik, has always been an avid gardener, which started my interest in growing my own fruits and vegetables when I was just a little kid. We would plant a garden at home with tomatoes, squash, and zucchini, to name just a few. It was fun eating fresh produce that we had grown, and we enjoyed sharing our harvest with friends too. Growing up, we spent our Saturday mornings visiting the local farmers' market. I loved trying all the cool local foods, and seeing new offerings with each season. These values of growing my own food and supporting local farmers stuck with me and are still very important to me.
For the past three years, I had been working for a large company in downtown Los Angeles. I realized that my job wasn't who I was or what I stood for. I knew that I wanted to be involved with something that was making a bigger impact on our world, and do something I really loved. But I had no idea what it was going to be.
Niels holds a harvest of fresh Tower Garden® lettuce. (Click photo to enlarge)
This realization coincided with my introduction to the Tower Garden®. I was fascinated by the technology and loved the ability to save signficiant water, space and time while growing. My family and I decided to purchase one Tower Garden®, and we set it up next to our tomato and squash garden in the back yard.
However, I soon learned that Tower Gardens® were being used for much more than for home growers. I found out that they are being used for commercial food production to support the sustainable and local food movements. I wanted to see how it worked with my own eyes, so I went on tours of several Tower Garden® farms.
Seeing how the Tower Gardens® can directly impact people's lives in such a positive way was the final piece of the puzzle. I helped set up several small farms in southern California, and saw that other people shared my values. This is when I decided I wanted to get involved and start a project of my own.
Land is extremely expensive in my area, so I currently have 100 Future Growing® Tower Gardens® in my own back yard. Watering grass has given way to watering food, which is grown and used locally. My part-time hobby expanded my vision and passion for local growing, in what has become a successful, full-time business.
Click photo to enlarge.
I am blessed to be working with some of the top restaurants in Santa Barbara region, and my five-star produce undoubtedly keeps me in that position. I work directly with the chefs to deliver exactly what they want to see on their menus. I can grow special varieties they can't find in farmers' markets. When I get my orders, I can deliver them the same day, since most of the restaurants are a few minutes away from my farm in downtown Santa Barbara. In fact, I am the closest farm to downtown!
I hope our Tower Garden® farm will inspire people to change the way they think about the food they eat, where it comes from, and how it is produced. With many of the problems we are facing in the future, I believe the Tower Garden® is essential to improving the way we access our food."
Everyone at Future Growing agrees with Niels that the vertical aeroponic Tower Garden® growing system is necessary to support the populations of today and the future. With its recirculating water system, the Tower Garden® technology saves an incredible amount of time, water, and energy and—most importantly—produces the best-tasting, sustainable produce around. I commend Niels, along with all the other Future Growing® farmers, for following their passion and building a business that not only improves their lives, but also the lives of everyone around them and the planet.
This entry was posted in Posts and tagged agriculture, Beneficial insects, California, chemical-free, conservation, Earth Day, farm to table, food service, Future Growing, Future Growing LLC, green rooftops, hyper-local sourcing, Integrated Pest Management, IPM, live produce, Living Produce, local food, Local Food Movement, locally grown, locavore, Los Angeles, modern agriculture, movement, natural foods, Niels Thorlaksson, Non-GMO, Non-GMO Foods, non-GMO products, Pest control, pesticide-free food, recirculating water system, reduced carbon footprint, Rooftop Farm, Rooftop Farmer, rooftop farming, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara California, sustainability, sustainable, sustainable food, sustainable food movement, The Vertical Farmer, tim blank, Tower Garden, Urban Farm, Urban Farmer, urban farming, vertical farm, Vertical Farmer, Vertical Farming, vertical growing, water conservation on April 16, 2014 by futuregrowing.
Chef Emeril Lagasse Promotes Farm-To-Table, Visits a Future Growing Farm in Florida
Chef Emeril Lagasse became popular with TV audiences soon after "Emeril Live" began airing on the Food Network in 1997. The show was certainly popular in our family, partly because of Emeril's humorous, down-to-earth personality, and partly because of his recipes, which the guys in my family have occasionally downloaded and attempted to re-create.
Besides his TV career, Emeril devotes his time and resources to the Emeril Lagasse Foundation, a purpose close to my own heart, which is dedicated to mentoring and enabling young people, especially those from disadvantaged circumstances
Emeril is also an ardent supporter of the farm-to-table movement, which is not surprising. To use his words: "It ain't rocket science." Most of us have sampled "fresh" organic produce in the supermarket, only to discover it's anything but fresh after being trucked thousands of miles and put in storage.
Katherine Grandey harvests locally grown basil at The GreenHouse in central Florida. (Click photo to enlarge)
That's why we at Future Growing® believe "locally sourced" is an essential ingredient of "beyond organic" foods, and we noted with interest a recent "teaser" clip for an episode of "Emeril's Florida". "Farm-to-table is our focus," Emeril proclaimed in the voiceover, so we made sure not to miss the episode when it aired on Feb 16.
In the second segment of the show, Emeril visited his restaurant, "Tchoup Chop", which he launched near Universal Orlando in 2002. It turns out that The GreenHouse—a Future Growing® Tower Garden® installation operated by Katherine Grandey in central Florida—is a supplier of fresh greens for Tchoup Chop, and provides "some of the best produce in the area," according to Emeril.
We at Future Growing® recognize the quality and volume of pesticide-free crops that The GreenHouse supplies to a number of Central Florida's finest restaurants. It was our pleasure to get Katherine started in aeroponic farming, but we believe her success is due to her forward-thinking business strategy, as well as her focus on customer service.
When Emeril visited The GreenHouse, he noted that seasonal availability is not an issue for the operation, and marveled at the output of the relatively small installation (135,000 plants per year). During the episode, he explained that this type of production is made possible by the unique vertical design of the aeroponic Tower Gardens®.
Chef Emeril Lagasse compliments Katherine Grandey on the quality of the food The GreenHouse is producing for area restaurants. (Click photo to enlarge)
"In many cases, she [Katherine] can turn crops around in two to three weeks. That's pretty amazing," Emeril commented. "She doesn't use any pesticides or herbicides". Importantly, Emeril pointed out how flavorful and delicious all the greens he tasted were. At the end of the segment, Emeril thanked Katherine for her time, and grinned as he told her: "I'm gonna have to take some of this with me."
Chef Emeril Lagasse and Katherine Grandey sample mustard greens at The GreenHouse.
We're grateful to Chef Emeril and other chefs across the country who have helped "farm-to-table" become mainstream. In combination with Future Growing's® aeroponic technology, local sourcing has become a sustainable, "beyond organic" way to supply the nutritional needs of our planet. And to think all this can be done on 90% less land, using 90% less water, and using no harmful chemicals or herbicides—that is revolutionary!
For photos and additional information about The GreenHouse, click here.
This entry was posted in Posts and tagged aeroponic, aeroponics, Beneficial insects, Beyond Organic, chemical-free food, Cooking Channel, Emeril Lagasse, Emeril's Orlando, farm to table, farm to table movement, Food Network, Future Growing, Future Growing LLC, green rooftops, Integrated Pest Management, IPM, Jessica Blank, Katherine Grandey, live produce, Living Produce, local food, Local Food Movement, locally sourced, locavore, locavore movement, Mike Grandey, modern agriculture, natural foods, Non-GMO, Non-GMO Foods, non-GMO products, Pest control, pesticide-free food, reduce the carbon footprint, Rooftop Farm, Rooftop Farmer, rooftop farming, sustainability, sustainable, Sustainable agriculture, sustainable food, sustainable food movement, Tchoup Chop, The Greenhouse, The Vertical Farmer, tim blank, Tower Garden, Urban Farm, Urban Farmer, urban farming, vertical farm, Vertical Farmer, Vertical Farming, vertical growing, water conservation in agriculture on April 8, 2014 by futuregrowing.
Ready, Set, Go: Spring Is Coming To Connecticut
Future Growing® vertical aeroponic Tower Garden® farms range in size from 10-tower turnkey micro-farms to large-scale acreage located under controlled environment greenhouses. Because of the modular nature of the technology and extraordinary growing power of the system, we see our farms popping up in incredibly unique and diverse locations. The Iron Towers urban farm in Middletown, CT is certainly no exception!
Iron Towers owner Jessica Solé with freshly harvested "living" lettuce. (Click photo to enlarge)
The Iron Scissors Salon and Spa underwent an extreme makeover in 2013. People passing by the salon couldn't help but notice the large vertical garden—the first of its kind in Connecticut—in the salon's front parking lot.
Owner Jessica Solé says the garden is an extension of her philosophy that clients should leave her establishment looking and feeling their best. "We're very cutting-edge here, and wellness is a big trend," Solé told the Middletown Press. "Our mission is to get people to feel their best, inside and out."
"The growing system is cutting-edge also, using aeroponic Tower Gardens® to grow the plants instead of soil. The system was developed by Future Growing®, a company Tim Blank founded following his work at Disney's exhibit on The Land at EPCOT Center Theme Park. The Tower Garden® is a completely self-contained system that can be used anywhere. Once plugged in, the unit recycles the water every 15 minutes, creating a soothing 'waterfall' sound effect. There are no weeds to deal with, and the system lends itself well to natural and ecological pest control. Iron Towers' plants grow much quicker than they would if they were grown in soil," Sole told the newspaper.
Jessica Solé with newly harvested "living" kale.
While most produce Americans consume produce that is contaminated with pesticides, Iron Towers does not use any pesticides in its operation. "We love to take lettuce right off the towers and feed our clients, knowing that they are eating high quality, chemical-free plants," Solé said.
This spring, the Iron Scissors Tower Garden® farm is expected to start growing nearly 500 plants, including squash, hot peppers, tomatoes, mixed lettuce, kale, Swiss chard, zucchini, cucumbers, dill, basil, and arugula. The salon is expanding to offer counseling on health and nutrition, and installed a juice bar. Produce from the farm is available at a mini farmers' market, and — in a first for the Tower Garden® — will be used in masks for the spa, and in salads for its clients.
The Iron Scissors "Tower Team". (Click photo to enlarge)
The Iron Towers urban farm will be open in mid-April and will have fresh produce, seedlings, and gardening classes available throughout the spring and summer. Iron Towers Farm is located in front of the Iron Scissors Salon at 330 South Main Street in Middletown, CT. You can also call Iron Scissors at 860-344-8418.
Keep up the great work, Iron Towers!
This entry was posted in Posts and tagged Beneficial insects, chemical-free food, farm to table, farm to table movement, farmers market, Future Growing, Future Growing LLC, green rooftops, Integrated Pest Management, IPM, Iron Scissors, Iron Towers, Iron Towers Urban Farm, Jessica Blank, Jessica Sole, live produce, Living Produce, local food, Local Food Movement, locavore, locavore movement, modern agriculture, natural foods, New England Aeroponics, Non-GMO, Non-GMO Foods, non-GMO products, Pest control, pesticide-free food, reduce the carbon footprint, Restaurant, Rooftop Farm, Rooftop Farmer, rooftop farming, sustainability, sustainable, Sustainable agriculture, sustainable food, sustainable food movement, The Iron Scissors, The Vertical Farmer, tim blank, Tower Garden, Urban Farm, Urban Farmer, urban farming, vertical farm, Vertical Farmer, Vertical Farming, vertical growing, water conservation in agriculture on April 2, 2014 by futuregrowing.
Future Growing® Hits a Home Run with Aeroponic Tower Garden® Farm!
An artists' rendering of the Giants Garden, a 3,000-square-foot organic garden slated to open this summer at AT&T Park. Believed to be the first of its kind at an American sports venue, the edible garden will supply produce for some of the parks' concessions and serve as an open-air dining area and community classroom.
Image courtesy of EDG Design Group. (Click photo to enlarge)
Future Growing's® Tower Gardens® are set to knock it out of the park this summer, when Giants Garden, a 3,000-square-foot vertical organic garden, opens at AT&T Park in San Francisco. Believed to be the first of its kind at an American sports venue, the edible garden will supply produce for some of the parks' concessions and serve as an open-air dining area and community classroom.
The ballpark farm won't be Future Growing's® first foray into the record books. Leading the local food movement, Future Growing® has held the record of the "first of its kind in the world" farms for the past five years.
2013: Former President Bill Clinton toured Step Up On Vine's rooftop farm in Los Angeles. Future Growing® opened Step Up On Vine's rooftop farm, the world's first aeroponic rooftop farm featuring housing units for the homeless. Step Up On Vine is also the first "green" building with a rooftop aeroponic farm, helping it to qualify as LEED "Platinum" by the U.S. Green Building Council. (Click photos to enlarge)
2012: Future Growing® opened Rouses Supermarket's "Roots on the Rooftop" farm in New Orleans, the world's first roof-to-supermarket aeroponic farm. (Click photo to enlarge)
2011: Future Growing® opened O'Hare Urban Garden at Chicago O'Hare International Airport, the world's first aeroponic farm inside an airport terminal. All of the Tower Garden® produce from the O'Hare Urban Garden is hand-delivered to the airport's eateries and the O'Hare Farmers Market inside the terminal. (Click photo to enlarge)
2010: Future Growing® opened Manhattan's first roof-to-table aeroponic farm for Chef John Mooney's Bell Book & Candle eatery. (Click photo to enlarge)
2009: Future Growing opened Sky Growers in Orlando, Florida, the world's first certified "green" building with commercially-scaled aeroponics incorporated onto the rooftop. (Click photo to enlarge)
You can learn about each of these record-setting projects and more at www.FutureGrowing.com.
This entry was posted in Posts and tagged AT&T Park, Beneficial insects, chemical-free food, Concessions, EDG Design Group, farm to table, farm to table movement, farmers market, Future Growing, Future Growing LLC, Giant's Garden, green rooftops, Integrated Pest Management, IPM, Jessica Blank, live produce, Living Produce, local food, Local Food Movement, locavore, locavore movement, Major League Baseball, MLB, modern agriculture, natural foods, Non-GMO, Non-GMO Foods, non-GMO products, Pest control, pesticide-free food, reduce the carbon footprint, Restaurant, Rooftop Farm, Rooftop Farmer, rooftop farming, San Francisco, San Francisco Giants, Sunrise Hydroponics, sustainability, sustainable, Sustainable agriculture, sustainable food, sustainable food movement, The Vertical Farmer, tim blank, Tower Garden, Urban Farm, Urban Farmer, urban farming, vertical farm, Vertical Farmer, Vertical Farming, vertical growing, water conservation in agriculture on March 25, 2014 by futuregrowing.
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How often in the Bahá'í Writings do we read references to the song of the nightingale? Yet how many of us have ever heard this bird? I thought I'd start with it, so you would know what it sounds like and can imagine it, in the Garden of Ridvan.
This song was written by Rob Belcher, a dear Canadian Bahá'í friend. Rob passed away several years ago, but left a legacy of beautiful songs that he always sought to share.
This video commemorates the Baha'i Holy Days of Ridvan. The audio tracts excerpts are from the Baha'i World Congress Choir CD. |
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Another fun summer nails for getting ready for the sunny season! These ice cream nails are very easy to make and will make you happy (and possibly people around you too)!
You can use any color of base (I used pink thinking of strawberry flavor :D).
I then messily painted a layer of white as a whip cream on top of the pink.This does not have to be neat, since you want to achieve the dripping effect. Then at the end I just used different color nail stripper for the candy bits! |
We the People!
Public Policy and Ideas
Lenin Moreno´s Referendum: the Chronicle of a Political Crisis Foretold?
Posted on May 19, 2018 by diego bastidas chasing
"Constitutional questions are first and foremost not questions of right but of power" (Ferdinand Lassalle)
"…But what is left of democracy?" (Wendy Brown)
After ten years of political stability and one of the broadest social reform agendas implemented in its history under President Rafael Correa government, Ecuadorian people voted in a historic referendum, which will have an enormous impact on the country´s institutional and social future. Thanks to President Correa´s, the quality of Ecuadorian democracy was strengthened in areas of equity between 2007 and 2017; the rate of poverty dropped from 37.6% to 22.5% and according to the Gini index the rate of inequality dropped from 0,54 to 0,47.
During the Correa administration, there existed a strong political will to recover and rebuild the State from the ashes of the neoliberalism era and to foster a more participatory democracy.
After Lenin Moreno, once the former Vice President of Correa became elected in April 2017, the political spectrum turned to the right as President Moreno started to descorreizar the country. To "descorreizar" Ecuador, President Moreno launched his referendum initiative arguing that his reasons were mainly to fight against corruption in State institutions and to reactivate the economy, so then he initiated an entire reform of "control" institutions.
It is difficult to define what descorreizar the country means precisely. This has been a term used by those political forces against former President Correa to says is aimed to dismantling the institutional arrangement created by the Constitution of 2008, which is associated solely with President Correa´s style of government. Moreover, President Moreno has begun to dismantle the economy and social policies implemented by former President Correa´s coalition, which are focused on inclusion and redistribution of wealth and social resources. In addition, it has been claimed that corruption was widespread during the Correa administration because all the power had concentrated in his hands.
The referendum issued by President Moreno consisted of seven questions in total, including one a presidential reelection ban, one on the elimination of the Plusvalia Act, and one on a substantial reform of the Council for Citizen Participation and Social Control ("CPSC").
The Government received a positive response to seven questions of 60% while 36 % of electors voted "No" on the three questions mentioned in the previous paragraph. Currently, the new referendum policies are being executed diligently by the different state actors with the full support of mass-media as well as and traditional political forces of all political spectrums and the elites.
In spite of the positive "public opinion" regarding President Moreno´s proposed changes, reforming the CPSC which Montecristi´s Constitution consider as the "holy grail" of the new accountability and "check and balance" system, is simply a means for President Moreno to gain full control of the State power, at which point he can become the leader of an authoritarian regime.
The reform of the Council for Citizen Participation and Social Control and its Transition
The government´s reason for the proposed amendment to the Constitution is that the Council for CPSC needs to be reform because the former Council has not fulfilled its mandate. The proposal indicates that, through the amendment, new council members will be elected by the people thereby increasing the legitimacy of this branch of government.
In the meantime, the Council has to be replaced by a transition Council in which members are nominated entirely by the executive and designated by the Assembly and will have the complete authority to replace the control authorities over a period of six months -Ombudsperson, Public Defender, National Prosecutor, Comptroller, Electoral Council, Electoral Court.
The CPSC was an innovation in terms to give citizens' voice an institutional channel to increase the participatory democracy and as a different way to design the accountability and check and balances mechanisms (1). In this sense, the Ecuadorian Constitution reflects Bolivarian constitutionalism, in which Simon Bolivar suggested such a social contract was necessary as it as the necessity to create and develop a moral power in the society capable of promoted and cultivated cultural transparency sense among citizens. Bolivar believed that our Republics had to promote the common good through its political arrangements: "let us give our Republic a four branch of government aimed to educate the kids and the people hearts, the public spirit, the customs and the republican moral." (2)
Under the Constitution, the CPSC has to fulfill three crucial functions: promote the participatory democracy mechanism; promote the transparency and social control among common people; enable a process in which the control authorities, electoral branch, and judicial council are selected on merits and citizens base on approval mechanisms.
When this "transition" mechanism was criticized, President Moreno simply replied in an interview "The Ecuadorian people know I am not a liar. So I ask them to have faith in me". However, one of the citizen´s main concerns has been was how this situation might represent a threat to horizontal accountability mechanisms, as the executive branch will directly nominate the new transition Council members.
The new Council members have now been chosen, and the Council for the transition has started its work. In contrast to the former Council where there was greater diversity, the new Council is composed of six males as well as only one indigenous male and just one female.
As mentioned above, this Transition Council will have the authority to evaluate current control authorities and to designate new ones. Hence, one of the main concerns of this proposal is, as there is a link between the members' designation and the Government, the new control may not be able to fulfill their duties independently and ethically. Ironically, this was one of the main criticisms of the Council during President Correa´s administration– its attachment to the executive.
With that said, the second part of reform could eventually be beneficial in terms of democratic participation. One of the positive aspects of the government's proposal is that new Council members should be elected every four years through popular vote. The success of the reform will depend on its implementation, and on how political actors, citizens, and social organizations will respond to it. This new election mechanism could potentially give more legitimization to the Council and give citizens the opportunity to citizens to engage and learn more about the new participatory framework. However, one of the risks associated with the electoral mechanism could be how to ensure that not only the powerful and elite can have a seat on the Council.
It is important to stress that the CPSC was designed as kind of "holy grail" in the 10-year-old Ecuadorian constitutional system, and served independently to ensure checks and balances were maintained. Today, it is difficult to envision a scenario where Ecuadorian political parties -starting with the Moreno government will not be tempted to seize greater power for their own benefit. Ecuadorian political history shows a pattern where political actors were not respectful of their power limitations and tried to reshape other branches of government to serve their agendas. If that pattern repeats itself once again, the "medicine" proposed to deal with the "politicization problem" of this Council is likely to be worse than the alleged illness.
The new transition Council has started its functions facing severe challenges. The first problem has revolved around the extension of its current power. Here, public and scholarly opinions are divided. Some people argue that because this is a "transition" time, the transition Council must have extraordinary powers. Other sectors say the Council must fulfill what people voted for in the Referendum, and there is no signal of people will give the transition Council extraordinary powers.
Indeed, the Council members – except for one its members- currently stated they have extraordinary powers, and they have started to evaluate even the Constitutional Court, launching a warning to the highest tribunal that if the Court does not accept the CPSC ´s evaluation, members of the Constitutional Court will be replaced. However, the Constitution states that the CPSC does not have the power to replace members of the Constitutional Court. Similarly, when the CPSC fired the Ombudsperson after his show of opposition, the Council designated a new Ombudsperson without any public input as was required on the Referendum.
Despite this constitutional debate, the Council President -an old guard conservative politician- says that because of this "transition" time, he has "extraordinary" powers, even if the Constitutional norms do not support his thesis, the CPSC norms will prevail. This constitutional interpretation is completely arbitrary and even was opposed by one of the council members. What the new Council president is saying is that the CPSC could be above Constitutional order and the Rule of Law, and could start to exercise its power in an authoritarian manner.
The bypass of horizontal accountability mechanisms and some procedural problems associated with this Referendum initiative
Despite the Presidential constitutional faculty to announce a Referendum this particular initiative of President Moreno spurred a controversial debate regarding its constitutional legitimacy because the Constitutional Court – a crucial institution of horizontal accountability– was bypassed and not allowed to exercise control over the whole process (3).
Generally, Referendums are a way to engage citizens in Direct Democracy logic and are used to achieve different goals, sometimes to vote on sensitive issues, however, bypassing institutional checks and balances through executive powers can be problematic. Referendums initiatives should be designed as a way to strengthen citizens´ voice and power (4).
One of the problems associated with Referendums that scholars have detected is that complex political topics may be reduced to yes and no questions, as in the recent Ecuadorian Referendum case. In addition, the government and its new political allies were afraid of President Correa´s influence during the campaign, so they did not spend adequate time promoting a serious debate in order to engage citizens. Moreover, the way questions were framed in the Referendum was misleading, which shows a lack of fair play.
The OAS electoral mission prepared a report highlighting the lack of constitutional control over this Referendum initiative: "if this referendum initiative would have a constitutional control before many of the challenges would have been avoided".
Chronicle of a Political Crisis Foretold?
Was the Referendum really meant to strengthen either the participatory democracy and social transparency mechanisms in Ecuador, or was mainly used as a legitimization strategy to boost government power and its allies in pursuit of their political agendas and interests? It is too early to determine these answers with 100 percent accuracy.
At this moment, it is a fact that President Moreno´s Government, the new Council, the mass-media, the elites and the new majority at the Assembly are working aggressively to fulfill the plan to "descorreizar" the country. We could observe how Moreno and his allies have designed and are implementing a sophisticated strategy to fulfill the main objective, where there is no difference between the discourse of the Government´s secretary of communication and the editorials or interview show across mass-media. Private mass-medias want to get rid of the Communication Act or any democratic regulation over their power so they will support the Government agenda wholeheartedly.
As part of this plan, the governing coalition hasn´t had any problems challenging the Constitution or the democratic norms. Indeed, in one short year, we have observed how a democratic elected vice-president was "guillotined" under a clear case of "Lawfare", the President of the Parliament was also replaced in an illegal way; the Ombudsperson was fired after asking the CPSC to respect the due process of law. Lastly, the comtropller started a legal persecution against President Correa for his sovereign policies surrounding the external debt.
This kind of Blitzkrieg ("Guerra relámpago") strategy against Rafael Correa´s social and democratic legacy seems to be working at the perfection until now. However, the Council could face its biggest proof when it challenges the Constitutional Court.
As pointed out before, if the transition Council assumes the extraordinary power to evaluate and reorganize the Constitutional Court, this could lead to an intense power struggle ("Choque de trenes") between the two institutions. At this moment, the Constitutional Court has to decide when to give in Council ´s power or to rescue the Constitutional order from an authoritarian path that Moreno and his coalition started to walk. We could observe two possible scenarios here:
Scenario one: the Constitutional Court decides to exercise its full control and take an ex-post constitutional control. Here the goal would be aimed at assessing whether the whole Referendum was or not Constitutional or just issue a decision limiting the power of the transition Council. The first situation could lead to a the political crisis because the actions of the Government and its allies may be declared unconstitutional. In this casem we could enter into a very uncertain political arena. If the second action were taken, the Council will see limitations to its power and seriously affected President Moreno agenda.
Scenario two: The Council decides to use its "extraordinary" attributions to end the mandate of the Constitutional Court, and to start designating new members directly. This move has the full support of President Moreno who has indicate in tv message connection he will support every decision taken by the Council. However, from a constitutional point of view, this would represent one of the worst breakdown of the Rule of Law in Ecuadorian history. In this case, from a legal point of view only an emergency mechanism review by the Interamerican Human Rights Court could save Ecuadorian from the authoritarian regime.
At the parliamentary level, Moreno has lost his early political allies since he decided to break with his electoral constituents and shift toward the support of right-wing parties. This is also problematic in terms of the stability of his government. Because of the new alliance with the right-wing parties, Moreno has to make serious concessions in his governmental plan, the one which won the elections. In other words, this represents another constitutional infraction, which could open the door to a possible "recall" during the second year of his mandate.
We have observed in Ecuador a very catastrophic political scenario over the past year, which leads to the question: Are we facing the chronicle of a political crisis foretold? Everyone who knows the Ecuadorian political history and the way our elites and right-wing forces operate can agree with Gabriel García Marquez "There Had Never Been a (Political Crisis) More Foretold".
(1) New Institutions for Participatory Democracy in Latin America: Voice and Consequence. Cameron, Maxwell.
(2) Angostura Speech. Bolivar, Simon.
(3) Mauricio Guim & Augusto Verduga, Ecuador's "Unstoppable" Constitutional Referendum, Int'l J. Const. L. Blog, Dec. 16, 2017, at: http://www.iconnectblog.com/2017/12/ecuadors- unstoppable-constitutional-referendum
(4) The Rise of Referendums: Elite Strategy or Populist Weapon?, Topaloff, Journal Of Democracy.
This entry was posted in Direct Democracy, Ecuador, Latin America, Lenin Moreno, Rafael Correa, Referendum. Bookmark the permalink.
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Apple introduces the latest and fastest versions of the MacBook / Shutter Stock
Today, Apple unveiled its newest and swiftest devices of 2023 – the upgraded "MacBook Pro" laptops and the "Mac Mini" desktop computer. These technological marvels will not only boost your productivity but also make all-day computing a breeze!
Apple's latest 14-inch and 16-inch "MacBook Pro" designs remain similar to their 2021 predecessors, yet now feature the more powerful "M2 Pro" and "M2 Max" processors instead of M1 Max and M1 Pro.
By launching their new laptops, Apple has signalled the expansion of the M2 chip which first made its appearance in last year's MacBook Air and Pro.
The new Macs are helping to fuel the tech giant's product line, which gained a whopping $40.2 billion in revenue last year, equating to more than 10% of Apple Inc.'s total income.
This year, Apple is introducing its advanced M2 chip to the Mac Pro desktop computer. Additionally, they are adding more MacBook Air options for consumers with a larger 15-inch screen model being released soon.
As Apple furthers its transition away from Intel processors in Mac computers, the M2 Pro will now reach unprecedented levels of performance with up to 12 main processing cores and 19 graphics cores. The new model's power amplifies even more with the M2 Max which boosts graphics performance to a maximum 38 cores – double that of its predecessor. With these upgrades, users can expect greater speeds and smoother execution than ever before!
With the introduction of the new laptops, memory performance has been taken to a whole new level. Models that are equipped with M2 Max chip have an astounding maximum of 96 GB – 32GB higher than previous computers.
With 8 terabytes of storage capacity, the laptop has been significantly upgraded. Additionally, its battery life is extended – 18 hours for the 14-inch model and 22 hours for the 16-inch version; a marginal increase from their original 17 and 21 hour lifespans respectively.
Musk gets allies in his war against Apple.. Among them are...
5bestthings - Nov 30, 2022 0 |
Q: Custom JFreeChart title font is far too small I am trying to set a custom Font for the title in JFreeChart with the code:
InputStream is = new FileInputStream("test.ttf");
java.awt.Font customFont = java.awt.Font.createFont(java.awt.Font.TRUETYPE_FONT, is);
customFont.deriveFont(24f);
chart.getTitle().setFont(customFont);
Ends up with a very small font title(almost invisible):
Any ideas how to add a custom Font to JFreeChart title?
public class Function2DDemo1 extends ApplicationFrame {
public Function2DDemo1(String title) {
super(title);
JPanel chartPanel = createDemoPanel();
chartPanel.setPreferredSize(new java.awt.Dimension(500, 270));
setContentPane(chartPanel);
}
private static JFreeChart createChart(XYDataset dataset) {
// create the chart...
JFreeChart chart = ChartFactory.createXYLineChart("Function2DDemo1 ", // chart
// title
"X", // x axis label
"Y", // y axis label
dataset, // data
PlotOrientation.VERTICAL, true, // include legend
true, // tooltips
false // urls
);
// SET A CUSTOM TITLE FONT
try {
InputStream is = new FileInputStream("test.ttf");
java.awt.Font customFont = java.awt.Font.createFont(java.awt.Font.TRUETYPE_FONT, is);
customFont.deriveFont(24f);
chart.getTitle().setFont(customFont);
} catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (FontFormatException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
XYPlot plot = (XYPlot) chart.getPlot();
plot.getDomainAxis().setLowerMargin(0.0);
plot.getDomainAxis().setUpperMargin(0.0);
return chart;
}
public static XYDataset createDataset() {
XYDataset result = DatasetUtilities.sampleFunction2D(new X2(), -4.0, 4.0, 40, "f(x)");
return result;
}
public static JPanel createDemoPanel() {
JFreeChart chart = createChart(createDataset());
return new ChartPanel(chart);
}
static class X2 implements Function2D {
public double getValue(double x) {
return x * x + 2;
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
Function2DDemo1 demo = new Function2DDemo1("JFreeChart: Function2DDemo1.java");
demo.pack();
RefineryUtilities.centerFrameOnScreen(demo);
demo.setVisible(true);
}
}
A: The deriveFont method returns a Font object that you forgot to store. Change your code to:
customFont = customFont.deriveFont(24f);
I tested your code, with this fix, using a free font from http://www.urbanfonts.com and it seems to work just fine (on Windows). My guess is that when you load a font file, the default size is 1.
|
New 11i Training: Learning solutions for your entire implementation team.
Still on Release 10.7 or 11? Upgrade to Oracle E-Business Suite11i and take advantage of the many new capabilities and significant technology improvements. The 11 and 11i New and Enhanced Technology features web page provides whitepapers, presentations, FAQs and videos that discuss the technology enhancements included in Release 11 and 11i. Also available is the 11 and 11i New and Enhanced Product features web page that provides all the new product features.
"Meet the Gurus" is one of the most popular features at AppsWorld. It's your opportunity to get up close and personal with some of the best brains at Oracle. Take advantage of this rare opportunity to interact with some of Oracle's most experienced architects and engineers in an informal setting. Oracle Gurus scheduled to make an appearance are: John Wookey, Senior VP, Applications Development, Kurt Robson, Vice Pr! esident, Design and Architecture, Cliff Godwin, Senior Vice President, Application Technology, and Tim Chou, President, Oracle Outsourcing. Check out the full Guru Lounge schedule here.
Oracle AppsNet eNews is your monthly guide to the latest Oracle E-Business Suite information provided on Oracle AppsNet. The eNews is brought to all AppsNet members as a FREE service.
This eNews highlights the January newsletter. Please click here to view the complete January 2003 issue.
Oracle AppsWorld is an excellent opportunity to learn about Oracle's E-Business Suite Applications strategy and get all the information you need to upgrade to Release 11i. Gain valuable business and technical training that will not only extend the functionality of the applications you use today, but will help you make strategic applications decisions for the future. Join us at the upcoming San Diego 2003 conference.
Attend this pre-conference event on Sunday, January 19 at the San Diego AppsWorld conference between 3:15 pm and 6:00 pm PST to learn how customers have successfully upgraded to Oracle E-Business Suite 11i. This is the perfect opportunity to listen to and interact with customers, analysts, and Oracle experts as they discuss the benefits of upgrading.
11i Install -- Try your hand at installing a complete production instance of Oracle E-Business Suite 11i in less than a day. Learn how to rapidly configure the Oracle E-Business Suite using Oracle iSetup and its rules-based Configurator. Find out how to create test and development environments using cloning and identify strategies to minimize downtime. Get tips on how to use Oracle Application Manager to manage and maintain your Oracle E-Business Suite.
11i Upgrade -- Learn what Oracle has to offer to make your upgrade easier. Take a mini-lesson with Oracle University: get an overview of the common upgrade steps and gain hands-on experience with many of the upgrade tools. Learn about the free 11i Upgrade Assist Program from Oracle Support that provides step-by-step assistance across all phases of your upgrade, from project and system initialization to confirmation of upgrade completion.
Visit the 11i Hands-On Sessions at AppsWorld. Check the conference agenda for location and times.
Oracle Outsourcing is represented all over Oracle AppsWorld this January 2003! You will find outsourcing topics in technical sessions, Leader's Circle, 11i Upgrade Forum, 11i Upgrade Theater, the Guru Program and in the Demogrounds. Click here to get more details on Outsourcing at AppsWorld.
The Oracle AppsWorld conference sessions are organized around 10 focus areas that will help you find solutions and information regarding specific areas of interest. Oracle product experts, customers, and partners will deliver sessions at AppsWorld in the following 10 areas: E-Business Suite, E-Business Technology, Supply Chain Management, Procurement, Finance, Human Resources, Projects, Service, Sales & Marketing, and Industries. |
A blog from Plastiki crew member and TreeHugger founder, Graham Hill. This piece was originally written for the Huffington Post.
"It's about a week into the Kiribati to Fiji or New Caledonia or wherever we end up being able to make it to on this side-slipping, 60 foot raft made from recyclable plastic and 12,500 reclaimed water bottles dubbed the Plastiki. And I'm suspicious. Day in, day out it feels like the exact same scene. A 360 degree view to the horizon consisting of big dark waves, the odd bird or flying fish and nary a boat, island or anything else of interest. Is this Groundhog Day? The Truman Show II? Because the Pacific is seemingly endless and I feel like I'm on a movie set. It just goes on and on and on.
"Fresh from TED Oceans' Mission Blue conference in the Galapagos and overhearing a multitude of interviews daily that David de Rothschild is giving to the likes of CNN, Oprah, TreeHugger and many more via our speedy Inmarsat connection, the question of why we've destroyed our oceans has been top of mind.
"How are these two thoughts related? Well…I now get it. I now understand viscerally how we got to this point. I can see how we'd not have been concerned about polluting our oceans. Why? Because they feel impossibly gigantic! It's almost inconceivable to think that something so large and so deep could be affected by us humans. You can literally sail for days on end and not even see another boat and all this time it extends not only to the horizons but also hundreds or thousands of feet below you. Our oceans are the definition of massive.
"So I don't think we should beat ourselves up too much. It's a terrible situation, certainly, but you can see how we got here, you can empathize with how we've played this. In short, we've just witnessed the jump of "Don't *@## where you eat" from local to global.
"Everyone has understood this saying on a small, local level for a long time. It just makes sense…where your living situation is compact, you don't let the bad stuff contaminate the good. What changed in the last century is that we quadrupled our numbers while greatly increasing the power of our tools. Prior to this, we had the space, the resources, the leeway to pollute; nature would simply take it. Now, we don't. It's as if we were consuming and polluting in an expanding pattern around the globe and we just recently started bumping into ourselves. Suddenly, we are clueing in that the oceans are actually finite and that little ol' us can indeed affect them, and unfortunately in a very significant manner.
"Our task now? Truly internalize this lesson that has worked so well for so long on a small, local scale and then move quickly enough to create the legal and regulatory framework that will protect our oceans, an essential breadbasket of humanity. Because, we need the oceans…they are a non-negotiable item in the intricate formula that allows our species to survive on this planet. They are not a nice-to-have, they are a need-to-have. We simply can't survive without them.
« A UNIQUE VESSEL. AN UNPREDICTABLE JOURNEY.
We are divided into 2 and, around the Pacific, fought, but are connected by one hand with a lot of people now. By Plastiki. Brave sailors. |
tonight. Not a masterpiece, nor a particularly unpredictable story, but quite an enjoyable film all the same, with very likeable turns from Anne Hathaway and Stanley Tucci, and (the usual) towering performance from Meryl Streep. The only reason I don't declare Streep a national treasure is that doing so would probably provoke W into granting drilling rights in her to some corporation or other.
Also seen in the last coupla weeks:
Pilates Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Electric Boogaloo Dead Man's Chest (a little strident and not nearly as fun as the first movie, but entertaining in the bits where it's really firing on all cylinders, and greatly enriched by the addition of Stellan Skarsgård and Bill Nighy to the company);
Miami Vice (if you like Michael Mann films, it's a Michael Mann film, and if you don't like Michael Mann films, it's still a Michael Mann film);
V For Vendetta (thoughts here); and
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, which made me laugh my arse off and which I now feel compelled to proselytise on behalf of. So go rent it already.
<streep>That's all.</streep>", "url": "https://trystero.livejournal.com/126335.html", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/sign.png" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Douglas Bailey", "image": "https://l-userpic.livejournal.com/14975023/894988" }, "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Journal trystero", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://trystero.livejournal.com", "contentUrl": "https://l-userpic.livejournal.com/14973240/894988" } } }
movie update
Saw The Devil Wears Prada tonight. Not a masterpiece, nor a particularly unpredictable story, but quite an enjoyable film all the same, with very likeable turns from Anne Hathaway and Stanley Tucci, and (the usual) towering performance from Meryl Streep. The only reason I don't declare Streep a national treasure is that doing so would probably provoke W into granting drilling rights in her to some corporation or other.
<streep>That's all.</streep>
Tags: film |
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ShelfLife@Texas
Q&A: 'The Sword and the Shield' author shares how Malcolm X and MLK had more in common than is often believed
Posted on October 7, 2020 by Jessica Sinn
The metaphorical meaning behind the title of Peniel Joseph's new book "The Sword and the Shield" (Basic Books, 2020) may seem obvious to anyone with a basic understanding of the civil rights movement: The shield represents Martin Luther King Jr.'s nonviolent quest for radical citizenship, and the sword represents Malcolm X's bold pursuit for Black dignity by any means necessary.
This book has been selected for this fall's UT Reads campaign! You can read more about it on the Human Resources website.
Yet a deeper look into the personal and political journeys of these civil rights icons shows us a different side of the story. We caught up with Joseph, the Barbara Jordan Chair in Ethics and Political Values at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, during his book tour to learn more about the contrasting and, at times, overlapping political ideologies of Malcolm X and King—and how they both brought the sword and the shield to the fight for Black freedom and equality.
Why is it so important to look back at this history to understand what we're seeing out in the streets?
It's vitally important because Malcolm X and Dr. King were active in America's second reconstruction. Now I think we're entering the third reconstruction, and we need to have an understanding of how we got to this point. The title of this book is a metaphor for Malcolm X being the political sword and Dr. King being the political shield. But really, they're both; they want to defend lives, and they're willing to courageously speak truth to power no matter the consequences. Looking back at this point in history helps us reimagine democracy today to push for racial justice.
Did you come across anything new or surprising in your research?
I didn't know the extent of Malcolm X's support for the 1964 Civil Rights Act until I further looked into his visit to the U.S. Senate, when he and Dr. King had their first and only meeting during a filibuster. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert Penn Warren later interviewed Malcolm X for his book "Who Speaks for the Negro?" and asked him what he thought of Dr. King. Malcolm told him they shared the same goals; they had different methods, but they both wanted human dignity.
I also didn't know, until doing this research, that Malcolm X actually sat in on a speech that Dr. King gave in Harlem on Dec. 17, 1964, and later praised that speech to his own group. A couple months later, he tried to visit Dr. King in jail during the voting rights protests in Selma. He wasn't allowed to visit, but he did speak with Coretta Scott King after delivering a speech to let her know that he wanted to help the voting rights act succeed. So there really was much more convergence with them in terms of dignity and human rights.
How, in your opinion, can Black Lives Matter advocates see themselves in both Malcolm X and King?
Malcolm X and Dr. King both faced police brutality and wanted a transformation of the criminal justice system. Malcolm X was in talks with the New York Police Department to stop racially profiling and to stop the no-knock and stop-and-frisk policies. Dr. King fought for this, too, in Harlem and Los Angeles. They didn't succeed, so you have this whole other generation over 50 years later saying they don't want to live like this. They don't want to have this kind of punishment and criminalization at the expense of tens of millions of people.
Dr. King said in his final speech, "The greatness of America is the right to protest for right." That makes us the country that we are—freedom of speech, freedom of expression and the idea that when there's a grand mistake, we can correct it collectively.
What would you like your readers to take away from this book?
I want people to better explain the movement and to help others realize we've been here before. We've had opportunities in the past and movements of real progress, but then we get fatigued. There have been movements of urban rebellions, civil disturbances and race riots, but instead of finding the root origins of these problems, we went in the other direction of mass incarceration and demonization. We chose law and order over the good of the beloved community.
That path that we took brought us here—52 years after Dr. King's death—where we are racially segregated, impoverished and massively divided. I'd like for people to understand that we were here before, we've made the wrong choice, and we have the opportunity now to make the right choice. We have to transform policy, and we have to transform hearts and minds and understand that antiracism and racial justice is a constant lifetime of work.
Dr. King used to say that the civil rights movement was about redeeming the nation's soul, and I think he was absolutely right. At the core, we are absolutely good, but if we aren't vigilant, we can do terrible things to each other.
Watch him discuss his new book in this Q&A produced by the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement.
This entry was posted in Faculty Books and tagged DDCE, LBJ School of Public Affairs, Peniel Joseph, The Sword and the Shield by Jessica Sinn. Bookmark the permalink.
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2D to 3D Conversion is improved to the point usability, especially with older DVDs.
The UN55F7500 is going to get a lot of competition from LG and Panasonic in the 55 inch class. All the sets are feature heavy with smart TV suites, high refresh rates, and top notch picture quality. Samsung's F7500 stands out when it comes to picture quality and design. Contrast is impressive on this one with the best black level performance. The design of the TV it as eye catching as it is pleasing. The super thin bezel and curved stand really play into the floating image illusion.
The clear coat, rich black screen and the high quality edge lighting LEDs allow for colors to pop and give a real sense of depth when viewing HD quality source material. In-picture Light flow (areas of the on screen picture that show lights, or sunlight streaming into images) is the best of any TV you will find on the market except the tier 1 F8000. Black levels and contrast are two other strong points of picture quality on the UN55F7500. Blacks are deep even when other areas of the screen are bright. Dark shadow detail is impressive as well. In testing against the LG LA7400 and Panasonic ST60 plasma, this TV was our winner in overall picture quality.
Colors can really pop on the 55F7500 for an LED TV, though they can get hazy if the backlight is set too high. From up-converted content color and light flow is much better than other TVs on the market – one of the reasons this is a premium model. Overall color is very well balanced and saturated and the Movie mode is set very close to D6500K right out of the box. Only top plasma TVs will beat the F7500 in color performance.
LED Backlighting – A Standout Feature for the F7500!
Rather than use full array LED backlighting Samsung and others have opted to use the edge-lit variety. They are very powerful LED lights and peak whites are always impressive. This also prevents blowing out the colors. You should only use the backlight higher than this when there is direct sunlight pouring into the room and you need the extra brightness to combat it. It is best to keep the backlight at around a 16 or 17 setting. This is easily accessed in the picture menu.
A 240Hz refresh rate is becoming standard on the top tier models across all of the manufacturers. Panels that processes images at this rate employ a great reduction in motion blur at about a 30% increase over 120Hz panels. This can improve viewing for watching sports or gaming in particularly. The Clear Motion Rate specification is Samsung's spec for letting us know how well (fast) the TV can process fast motion. It's essentially a Hz rate enhancer by synching the refresh rate with the LED backlight and the Image processor. It's sort of a competing spec with Panasonic's Sub Field Drive – both shooting a higher comparison number as a refresh rate substitute.
The Auto Motion Plus feature is something that comes as a blessing and a curse and is set to On in all of the preset picture setting modes. When watching content from the Internet, TV, DVD or BluRay, this feature should be disabled or at least the De-Judder portion of the feature should be set to 0. Leaving the De-Blur portion on is OK. The feature creates the dreaded 'Soap Opera' effect, making images look terribly unrealistic by eliminating natural background blur. Turn it off in the Picture Options menu and everything will be fine again. You'll immediately see judder when you disable it, but your eyes will adjust momentarily. When viewing 480i based content we saw slight improvements when the setting was low.
However, the AutoMotion Plus shows its worth when it comes to gaming and 3D viewing. We cover those issues in depth below. We would love to see a direct button on the remote control to the AutoMotion Plus settings.
55F7500 – Leave the Picture Mode on the Standard setting with the Smooth setting in Auto Motion Plus feature on. The AutoMotion Plus feature adds tons of depth to 3D images and reduces judder to a non-issue. We also turned the 3D light setting up to High from the low position. Great picture but it does degrade from side viewing angles and is not as strong as the LA7400 3D picture. Changing the picture settings to Vivid and trying different combinations to improve the 3D picture saturation and depth proved fruitless as it created noticeable double images and glowing around figures.
We noted improvements of 2D to 3D conversion last year and are still seeing the results here. Be aware that the picture settings change when 3D is enabled by pressing the 3D button on the remote, so make sure the AutoMotion Plus setting is on to get the best effect. We tried a Blu-ray first. The 3D effect was pronounced in The 5th Element with a good deal of depth. We also tried out streaming content from Amazon's Instant Video service. When watching Justified the picture popped. I did find that turning down the AutoMotion Plus feature kept the picture from looking unnatural. I saw small amount of crosstalk in the streaming content. The picture from both sources remained bright and clear as the 2D images.
Standard Definition Up-Conversion Quality – Best in the Market!
Samsung 55F7500 performed excellently in this often forgotten category. If you watch Netflix streaming videos and normal DVDs you will appreciate the F7500's excellence here. The F7500 brought Kill Bill and Tristan and Isolde DVDs to life. The light throughput from the UN55F7500 really makes the difference to create more color and contrast around and in images. If you want to really make older DVDs come to life and you can handle diminished natural background blur, try the AutoMotion Plus feature on the Smooth setting rather than our normal recommended Off position.
Color and contrast do fade when viewing from off center though subtly - as we usually see with LED TVs. Off-center from top to bottom is not as bad as an offender, but the effects are still seen. The black bars at the top and bottom of the screen get a purplish haze as you move farther off center. We saw a little bit of light bleed at extreme angles, but it disappears as you move toward the center again. Center viewing will always provide the absolute best picture on this one, moving to the side can mitigate the excellence of picture quality somewhat. The UN55F7500AF cant match a good plasma TV in this area.
The Movie or Game picture mode are my preferred settings when gaming on the UN55F7500 with a Playstation 3. In the Movie Mode For both Gran Turismo 5 and Okami HD, I recommend turning the AutoMotion Plus setting on User with the Blur Reduction at 10 and Judder Reduction down to 0. Tuning the Judder Reduction to 0, and the Blur Reduction to 10 essentially copies the Game mode capability - except with the Movie mode coloration. With this setting, the motion blur from camera movement is smoothed out without creating the undesired 'soap opera' effect for everything else on screen. It does this without too much additional picture processing for even more controller input lag. The Game Mode was fairly hidden deep in the menus, so here is where it can be found: Menu > System > General > Game Mode. This will give the best results for input lag, though it is not eliminated. Different people may be more sensitive to different things when gaming on an LED TV. Try out each method and adjust from there to gain the best personal results. I personally found the extra bit of input lag less bothersome than the motion blur, so I went with the Automotion over Game Mode. I found it to be a great gaming TV overall and it was very enjoyable with the right settings. I tried Gran Turismo with 3D enabled as well. The 3D effects of depth really showed, but picture quality suffered so much I would not opt to play a game that way.
Disabling the AutoMotion Plus feature makes a small impact on the motion lag at 90ms.
The UN55F7500 implements Samsung's Flow Design. This pertains to the bezel, frame, and stand. The bezel is almost non existent at around .25 inches wide. It's not going to be noticed unless it is really looked for. The metal frame gets a rose gold trim. The crescent moon design of the stand is impressive and very effective at rounding out the complete floating image appearance. This is one TV that really demands attention from the looks alone and is clearly one of the best looking TVs on the market. We especially like the jet black screen when turned off. The small camera atop the TV can be pressed down into its cavity to hide it if you prefer.
We measure the Side bezel at half an inch, and total depth at 1.25 including the back input box and speakers.
The dual-core processor found in the ES7500 is done away with in favor of a new quad-core processor. This will greatly increase the speed of the Smart TV function. It is a welcome addition since processing speed and multitasking were slow before the upgrade to the quad-core. The quad-core also helps speed the browsing function which was slow in 2012. Don't worry about this innovative technology fading into obscurity, either; with a Smart Evolution feature, the TV uploads the newest features each year through a kit attached to the back of the set.
This page on the Smart Hub lists all of your downloaded apps. Premium apps are listed under the recommended section. Getting to the apps store is not as intuitive as we would like it to be. From the main Apps page the 'Samsung Apps' button is the way to access the store. (See highlighted box below) There is no real way to identify that it is the way to get to more Apps unless you open it. The store front loads up quickly and displays a number of free apps and ways to sort them by category. We especially liked the Explore 3D and MTV Music Meter Apps this year. ESPN Next Level wasnt bad either.
A Web Browser and built-in Wifi are also included on the 55F7500. A retractable camera is also built into the top of the TV. This is a big plus considering that add on cameras from last year sold for more than $100 a piece. The camera allows for gesture control and increased interactivity with apps.
In the UN55F7500's web browser, the cursor is controlled by the pad on the touch remote. Think of it like the touch pad on your laptop I found it to be a decent way to navigate around pages. It's much better than a 5-way remote, but it still can't compete with the point and click nature of LG's Magic Remote. One downside we experienced was that it can be hard to do pinpoint clicking and selecting. This leads to fumbling around for the delete or back button. Scrolling up and down is also pretty slow with the touch pad. Page load time was by no means fast, but there is a big improvement over last year's attempt. Multiple tab browsing was one of the better aspects of the browser. We loaded up a 1080p movie trailer on Youtube and were impressed. It loaded up quickly but skipped every so often.
Smart Touch Remote – Impressive looking, but Useful?
The Smart Touch remote is the only remote included with the F7500 series TVs. It is a big change from the standard remote. There are no numbers and not too many buttons. The first thing we noticed is the touch pad area in the center. This is where you will be swiping your thumb to switch between screens on the Smart Hub. The swipe touch pad is an improvement over the normal 5 way controller, but it's still pretty slow when it comes to inputting text.
The voice features are engaged by pressing the mic button on the remote. You cannot immediately start talking after the voice button is pressed. It takes a moment before the voice recognition starts. There were many times where we had to repeat what was said because of the wait. This method of control is not terribly helpful in navigating around the Smart Hub, the remote is still going to be much faster. Where the voice features do come in handy though are when you search for specific content. After asking the TV "What movies are on right now?" it brought back exactly that. The results showed movies currently playing on Starz, HBO, and other channels. A search for "Johnny Depp" brought back a list of all his movies. The feature is a nice addition to further the functionality of the remote. It won't be the sole method for controlling the TV.
When trying to use the mic for inputting text into a search field on Google or Bing, only the last word the mic heard was used. When I tried to search "LCD TV Buying Guide," only the word 'Guide' was put in the search bar. It seemed like it wanted one word at a time, but that would add a lot more time than necessary.
The built in camera of the UN55F7500AF allows you to control a number of things with just your hand. To engage the motion controls all you have to do is hold your open hand in front of the screen. It is pretty good at seeing your hand. Then you move your open hand around to move the on screen cursor. To select an option, make your hand into a fist then open it again. This is where the feature gets a little rough. You have to keep your hand in exactly the right place, make a fist, then open your hand in the exact same spot for it to register. Talk about an arm workout. If you move the cursor to the left side of the screen, a volume control appears. Same on the right with selecting channels. Move the cursor to the top right hand corner and a menu appears that lets you back up, switch inputs, open the recommendation menu, or power off the TV. The back command is one that will be used a lot and having to open a second hand menu to do it is very tedious.
The UN55F7500 is a second tier model has almost all the important features of the F8000 above it. The CMR rate is slightly lower Micro Dimming capability. So it will sell for a small discount ($300) to the F8000 at around $2200. Competition is from the LG 55LA7400, The Sony KDL55W802A, and the Panasonic TC-P60VT60 plasma to name a couple. This TV may seem expensive unless you compare it to the OLED and 4K TVs coming on to the market, and the F7500 is just as good-looking. |
Register For The Yeah 5k
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
Boomer Esiason Foundation
The Thomas Plott Foundation Golf Tournament
First, we would like to thank you for making the Thomas Plott Foundation Golf Tournament a huge success over the years. Thanks to the overwhelming generosity of our friends and the golfing community we have raised almost $500,000 dollars! This money goes directly toward finding a cure for Thomas and the 30,000 other Americans suffering from Cystic Fibrosis.
While we hated to cancel the 2020 and 2021 tournaments, we are thrilled to announce the 2022 tournament will be back and better than ever! Please SAVE THE DATE Thursday, October 6, 2022. We will continue to offer great prizes for an even better cause; finding a cure for Cystic Fibrosis. Please make plans to join us at North River Yacht Club on Thursday, October 6, 2022. While there are many worthwhile charity golf tournaments, we hope you will once again put The Thomas Plott Foundation Tournament on your play list.
Cystic Fibrosis is a uniformly fatal genetic disease. It causes severe problems early on for the lungs, pancreas, and liver and affects most major organs as the disease progresses. Thanks to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, major milestones have been made to improve the life expectancy for the 30,000 Americans battling this devastating disease. However, continued research and drug development is imperative to continue these life saving advances.
As you know, our second son Thomas was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis as an infant. We have been very lucky to keep the disease at bay by doing a daily combination of breathing treatments, medication, and chest physical therapy.
Please join our friends and family for this exciting golf event for The Thomas Plott Foundation, created solely to advance medical research in the field of Cystic Fibrosis. Attached is the brochure for this year's event.
Team and sponsorship information will be posted soon. Thanks and see you out on the course!
Many thanks to our 2018 Sponsors!
John Plott Company, Nick's Kids, Blair Construction, Mid-States Asphalt, ST Bunn Construction, Townsend Ford, Hinton Lumber Products, The Harrison Family, BAMA Concrete, Andrew Kniphfer-Allstate, Adams Beverages, Your Golf Superstore, Amy and Mike Echols, and Moe's Original BBQ-Tuscaloosa.
Par-Tee To Cure Cystic Fibrosis
Join us for the Par-Tee To Cure Cystic Fibrosis on Wednesday, October 16th!
© 2023 The Thomas Plott Foundation. |
By milhayser on September 29, 2013.
The U.S. "war on drugs," besides failing to meet its goals, has demonstrated a stubborn ignorance of the effects that different drugs have in the human body. Granted, some drugs cause degeneration and are properly outlawed. Opiates such as heroin and stimulants such as cocaine and methamphetamine take a harsh physical toll and leave users addicted to the chemical. But classified along with these truly dangerous drugs are some of nature's most mysterious medicines. New research shows how marijuana, psychedelics, MDMA and even ketamine have positive physiological and psychological effects that can persist even after the drug has worn off.
The marijuana flower, of course, is the nearest of these drugs to public and political acceptance, and the transformation of its image over the decades is very instructive. Stuck with a Spanish name in the 1930's to excite American xenophobia, marijuana has long been demonized as causing "reefer madness." In fact, new research shows that marijuana has potent neuroprotective and neuroplastic properties, in addition to its power as a non-addictive painkiller. Marijuana contains at least 85 cannabinoid chemicals, including the well-known THC, and the lesser known CBD. New research shows that CBD, administered thirty minutes after a devastating loss of oxygen in mice brains, totally circumvented brain damage. Cannabinoids are currently being studied for a wide range of therapeutic applications, including the fight against cancer. Their potency should come as no surprise since all mammals have cannabinoid receptors in their brains. According to Salon, these receptors evolved in animals 550 million years before the marijuana plant.
Psychedelic drugs are very different; the most popular ones are psilocybin, mescaline, and LSD. Psilocybin and mescaline occur naturally, in certain mushrooms and cacti, respectively. LSD must be made in a laboratory. These drugs have differing effects, but the psychedelic experience has many features in common. A new study in PLOS ONE showed no correlation between a lifetime of psychedelic use and negative mental health outcomes. In fact, "in several cases psychedelic use was associated with lower rate of mental health problems." Ongoing research on psilocybin suggests that it can help terminally ill patients come to terms with their mortality in healthy and beneficial ways. Meanwhile mescaline, in the form of peyote, is exempt from DEA regulation when taken under certain religious circumstances. Mescaline and psilocybin have been used in tribal cultures for thousands of years as tools for understanding the self and the world. If you try them just once your life can change drastically. After marijuana, magic mushrooms and peyote cactus should be decriminalized as natural, non-addictive, safe substances. LSD on the other hand can cause psychedelic effects for up to 16 hours (about twice as long as psilocybin) and may present a bigger danger to public health.
Similar in effect to psychedelics, but also demonstrating stimulant properties, is MDMA or Ecstasy. While conflicting research suggests that long term or heavy use of MDMA may cause brain damage, a 2011 study at UCLA "found that persons with autism using the drug often report an increase in socialization and strong feelings of empathy that last even after the drug has worn off." Perhaps one day this darling of dance culture will be available for therapeutic use by prescription.
Finally, there's a drug you may not have heard of: Ketamine, best known as a horse tranquilizer and club drug. In sub-anaesthetic doses "Special K" causes very strange psychological effects unlike those of pot or psychedelics. It's a type of drug known as a dissociative, along PCP and dextromethorphan. But while these latter drugs can cause psychosis and brain damage, Ketamine turns out to be pretty gentle, and may even have a future as an antidepressant. According to Scientific American, "the enthusiasm for ketamine is such that physicians, often working out of small clinics, have already started prescribing low doses of the generic anesthetic off-label [...] and drug companies are contemplating whether to get into the act by creating new drugs based on ketamine's biochemistry."
A word of warning: these drugs are illegal for recreational use, they often have unpleasant effects, and it's always possible to get too much of a good thing. Many drugs are truly dangerous and deserve to remain tightly regulated or illegal. One needs only to read about the emergence of krokodil, a street form of mesomorphine cooked up from codeine and toxic chemicals, to be reminded of the horrors of drug addiction.
But the prohibition of safe, non-addictive, psychologically inspiring, and medically promising substances is not the answer.
Many of the drugs who listed here, like LSD and horse tranquilizers, are going to have negative effects on young teens because of their psychedelic and damaging psychological properties. Sure, they might have a few minor benefits, like antidepressant, but it could also end up ruining kid's lives. Marijuana, on the other hand, is a drug you listed that I agree can have some benefits. Some researchers believe that its increase in availability is leading to a decrease in drinking among teens, which is a good thing because nobody has ever died directly from marijuana consumption and kids who drive while "high", god forbid, are likely to be more cautious then drunk drivers.
Drug addiction is a problem that has plagued humanity for many generations, however the USA recently made marijuana legal in some states. What is this hinting at? The fact that society is slowing building an acceptance towards "Natures medicine". The only problem with this is that it is mainly used for recreational use and not medical uses and we cannot yet predict the consequences of this misuse.
There's some good things here but meh.
So writer of this if krokodil was legal tommorow would you do it? No and 99% human race agrees with you.
I'm sorry but it's a pretty stupid concept that this article perpetuates. You cannot protect people from themselves. Hey buddy were going to save yourself from ruining your life by ruining your life right now and throwing in in jail.
I don't think it's a black and white ordeal. It's good if it's not hurting yourself, but bad if it's hurting the person. |
Concert Announcements FFW>>
Concert announcements: The Warhol Spring Sound Series, Savages, Brand New, more
Posted By Margaret Welsh on Tue, Jan 26, 2016 at 5:12 PM
The winter portion of the Warhol's Sound Series is well underway (the next is Ekmeles on Jan. 30), but it is, of course, never too early to start talking about spring. Most, but not all of these are actually taking place at the Warhol: check out the museum website for more information.
Songhoy Blues
On March 17, that portion of the season opens with Drag City supergroup Rangda, featuring Sir Richard Bishop, Ben Chasny and Chris Corsano ($12-15). On March 19, composer Tristan Perich and pianist Vicky Chow will perform the composition "Surface Image" ($12-15, on sale now). Icelandic label The Bedroom Community brings its 10 Year Anniversary: Whale Watching on March 31, featuring artists Nico Muhly, Ben Frost, Sam Amidon and Valgeir Sigurðsson ($15-20, on sale now). French new music collective Ensemble Linea performs on April 2 ($10-20, on sale now). Son Lux plays on April 9 ($12-15). West African "desert blues" band Songhoy Blues comes to town April 12 ($12-15). Dawn of Midi will play music inspired by North and West African folk traditions on April 16 ($12-15). Julian Lage, who was the subject of the documentary Jules at Eight, brings his trio on May 3 ($12-15). And finally, auto-visual group Cineshape performs on May 4 ($10-15).
ORieL & The Revoluters, Ras Maisha, Truth & Rites, Joe Bischoff and others join together at Altar Bar for Drusky's Reggae Fusion Fest. That's happening Feb. 6 ($18-22, on sale now).
Shalerpalooza 2016 is happening at Mr. Small's Theatre on Feb. 20. The lineup features Sidetracked, Trashbag Parachse, Offkilter, Remains Of This, Act 80's, Tobacco Road, Villain, DJ Monsoon, DJ Remus, TEEOOH and more ($8-10, on sale now).
Also at Mr. Small's: Youtube stars Trevor Moran & Ricky Dillon on March 3 ($29.50, on sale now); The Joy Formidable and Everything Everything on April 10 ($20-22, on sale Friday); Issues, Crown The Empire, One OK Rock and Night Verses on April 16 ($23-25, on sale Friday); and Savages on May 17 ($20-22, on sale Friday).
On March 19 at Club Cafe, Joe Grushecky and Eddie Manion celebrate the release of Grushecky's new solo record ($15-20, on sale Friday). Also at Club Cafe, Pure Bathing Culture and Pillar Point on April 3 ($10, on sale Friday); Erin McKeown on April 8 ($14-16, on sale now). And on May 7, THE SHOW plays an acoustic set at 6:30 p.m., followed by a plugged-in set at 10:15 p.m. ($7-10, on sale now).
And looking ahead to what will likely be one of the bigger shows of the summer (among those of us who aren't sure if we're too old to be considered millennials or not) Brand New and Modest Mouse will be making a stop at Stage AE on July 5 ($49.99-60, on sale Friday).
Tags: Brand New , Warhol Sound Series , Modest Mouse , Savages , FFW>> , Image
Health-insurance enrollment event at Pittsburgh's City-County Building tomorrow
Info Sessions Upcoming for Major New Arts Festival
Guide to Pittsburgh: The Playlist
Why Third Eye Blind is donating profits from its new EP to the Warhol Museum
MP3 Monday: Bagger
Magnetic Fields perform 50 Song Memoir at Carnegie Music Hall June 19 and 20
By Mike Shanley
CP Year in Review: Looking back on senior writer Ryan Deto's favorite stories of 2019
CP Year in Review: Looking back on managing editor Alex Gordon's favorite stories of 2019
CP Year in Review: Looking back on editorial designer Abbie Adams' favorite covers of 2019
CP Year in Review: Looking back on senior writer Amanda Waltz's favorite stories of 2019 |
Waldorf schools claim to be North America's fastest-growing chain of alternative independent schools. Parents praise them for encouraging pupils' artistic expression and keeping pressure and competition to a minimum. But critics are troubled by the schools' underlying philosophy. It rejects modern medicine and psychiatry and promotes belief in astrology and the existence of gnomes in the woods.
Last spring, Helen and Cam Dorion (not their real names) were thrilled with the alternative school they had just selected for their children.
Helen and Cam were so impressed they moved their family from Ottawa's west end to the outlying suburb of Stittsville, Ont., to be closer to their newly chosen school.
The Dorions were not alone in their enthusiasm for Waldorf schools. According to the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America, Waldorf schools recently have become North America's fastest-growing alternative independent schools. With their reputation for artistic expression and non-conformity, it is hardly surprising that pop psychologist David Elkind gives Waldorf schools full endorsement in his best-seller, The Hurried Child.
Started more than 80 years ago in Europe (where they are called Steiner Schools), there are more than 600 Waldorf schools in over 30 countries, with 20 in Canada. Named after a German cigarette factory where the first school opened, Waldorf schools were founded by Rudolf Steiner, a prominent New Age-style Austrian philosopher and self-styled clairvoyant who started a movement called Anthroposophy.
Waldorf schools have no computers or high-tech gadgetry, and all classroom supplies are made of natural fibre (cotton, wood, wool, etc.). To keep pressure and competition to a minimum, there are no clocks, drill cards, textbooks or tests. No mirrors of any kind are allowed in Waldorf schools (they promote too much self-focus), nor are black crayons in early grades (a harsh and undesirable colour).
To its supporters, Waldorf is a gentle antidote to today's preoccupation with early achievement, inflated commercialism and undue pressure on children. Many parents are particularly happy that Waldorf teachers stay with the same students from preschool until Grade 8 — a process called looping. The teachers believe this practice promotes security and trust in the classroom.
As with any non-conventional school, Waldorf has its critics.
To its detractors, Waldorf's apparent humility and security are only a veneer. They point to the philosophy (some call it a religion) called Anthroposophy, developed by Steiner, and forming the cornerstone of all Waldorf schools.
Although not officially part of the Waldorf curriculum, Anthroposophy is pushed in brochures, newsletters and pamphlets that are scattered throughout the schools. Waldorf teachers are trained and well versed in Anthroposophy, and local Anthroposophy study groups are established at the schools. Waldorf classrooms include prayer tables, where the children recite daily incantations about spirits and rhythms in nature.
The critics view Anthroposophy as a potentially dangerous religion that is New Age-like and mystical. They are troubled, for example, by how Anthroposophy rejects modern medicine and psychiatry and believes (among other things) in astrology, reincarnation and the existence of little gnomes in the woods. A contingent of Waldorf critics charges that some of Steiner's Anthroposophical writings are racist, while others are simply bothered by the feeling of exclusion Waldorf schools create.
Anthroposophy is based on the prolific lectures and writings of Steiner. Described as a body of beliefs called "spiritual mysticism," some key elements of Anthroposophy are reincarnation, destiny, biodynamics, eurythmy and Anthroposophical medicine.
According to an Anthroposophy brochure, biodynamics is a "scientific and spiritual approach" to organic farming and gardening, considering such things as "life rhythms of sun and moon," and the "cosmic forces" of other planets. ("By learning how to strengthen and harmonize these influences," says the brochure, "we can enhance the nutritional value of our food.") Waldorf school gardens are managed according to biodynamics, and most parents could easily appreciate the schoolyard's freedom from pesticides and chemicals.
Eurythmy is a system of rhythmic, dance-like movements that are taught to all Waldorf children and performed at school concerts. According to another Anthroposophy brochure, eurythmy is based on "the movement language of the soul," and is seen by many Waldorf parents as a form of artistic expression that they are pleased to see their children acquire.
Lombard, a vocal critic of Waldorf education, happily sent her daughter to her local Waldorf school in Wisconsin until her daughter came home with what she felt were some disturbing aspects of the curriculum. Lombard decided to investigate.
The "secret society" Lombard refers to takes the form of Anthroposophy study groups held by Waldorf staff for the true believers. There are many philosophical and esoteric issues that are discussed in these groups, including the topic of the gnomes.
Look on the floors, walls, shelves, window sills, prayer tables, snack tables, play areas or just about anywhere in a Waldorf classroom and you will see the gnomes. There are cotton-felt gnomes, hand-knit wool gnomes and gnomes drawn with pastels and water colours. Small, handcrafted gnomes are also the mainstay of most Waldorf school fundraisers. While many parents believe the gnomes simply provide flights of fancy for imaginative play, Anthroposophists believe gnomes are a true life form.
"As in little dwarf-like people who live in the interior of the Earth?" one concerned new Waldorf parent posted in a recent online Waldorf discussion group.
"But do they really believe in gnomes?" persisted the first parent.
"Trust me, they believe it," Diane Winters asserted. She's a former Waldorf classroom aide in Philadelphia and now a vocal critic of Waldorf education because of her growing concerns with the schools' philosophy.
I received similar responses from the half-dozen other Waldorf supporters whom I queried on the topic. Ernst Von Bezold, who represents Waldorf schools on the board of directors for the Ontario Federation of Independent Schools, believes gnomes are "nature's spirits" and says he is open to believing that some people have seen them. He claims he has seen angels.
"Steiner taught that if you didn't make spiritual progression over successive lifetimes, you come back as a gnome," explains Philadelphia's Diana Winters.
Reincarnation, spiritual progression, and karma (destiny) are a big part of Anthroposophy's spiritual mysticism and Steiner has written volumes on these topics.
References to gnomes in school literature are hard to find, but references to incarnation and destiny can be found in the online newsletter of the Toronto Waldorf School, which states, "Child development is regarded by the Waldorf educator as a process whereby an individual incarnates into earthly existence…. We see it as our task to facilitate the development of each individual on the path to their destiny".
Waldorf's approach to literacy is another controversial aspect of the school's philosophy. Believing that too much early learning can hamper spiritual development, the schools have strict policies to curtail early literacy. These policies include the complete exclusion of books in the early grades, and postponing reading and writing until the child is around eight years old — depending on when the child's permanent teeth emerge.
Another aspect of the Waldorf approach is its rejection of traditional medicine in favour of the Anthroposophical herbal remedies that are often sold in the schools. An Anthroposophical medicine newsletter on display at the Ottawa Waldorf School contains articles on curing cancer with mistletoe, treating diabetes with herbs and homeopathy and "the spiritual psychology of chronic illness." Waldorf children who are diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, autism and other serious disorders are often taken off their medication and parents are urged to withdraw their children from any psychiatric or psychological services they may be receiving.
On this point, Waldorf parents who believe today's children are over-medicated for behaviour disorders are in good company, with many reputable physicians claiming that far too many of today's children are given medication.
But Waldorf's rejection of modern medicine is largely based on Anthroposophy, which according to Eugenie Scott of the National Center for Science Education in the United States, is not scientific. "Anthroposophical medicine claims that disease is caused primarily by a disturbance of the 'vital essence,' the heart does not pump blood, and there are twelve senses corresponding to signs of the zodiac," she says.
Other Waldorf critics are more concerned with the seemingly racist contents of Rudolf Steiner's writings, some of which have been found in teacher training material.
These passages from Steiner's works are posted at the Web site of PLANS, People for Legal and Non-sectarian Schools, which was founded by former Waldorf parents and teachers in order to take the Sacramento, Calif., public school district to court for funding Waldorf schools — schools that PLANS alleges in the ongoing legal case are religious and therefore in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
Closer to home, a group of former Waldorf parents from Montreal filed a complaint with the Quebec government that their local Waldorf school was not sufficiently upfront about Anthroposophy, prompting Montreal researcher Yves Casgrain to recently begin a book on the issue.
Charges against Waldorf have ebbed and flowed across Europe and North America over the past 60 years. But actual cases or formal complaints of racism have never surfaced in any Waldorf school.
Von Bezold says he has never seen anything that resembles racism or anti-Semitism from his experience, and if he did he would become alarmed. "Steiner's views are Steiner's views. And a Waldorf teacher is free to accept or reject his views," says Von Bezold, also pointing out there are no allegations of racism or anti-Semitism in Canadian Waldorf schools.
Von Bezold bases his defence of Steiner and Waldorf schools on his own study of Anthroposophy, his experience as a supply teacher in Waldorf schools and 53 years of Waldorf education that have been accumulated by his four children. Von Bezold has no problems with Waldorf's mystical views regarding things such as karma and reincarnation, and he points out many mainstream religions have questionable or objectionable elements to them, yet society accepts them without question.
Using Von Bezold's logic, one could view the publication of horoscopes in the daily newspapers as weird or objectionable, or the religious teachings of any non-secular school in mainstream society. Telling children about Santa (which is objectionable to many Anthroposophists), the Easter bunny, or the tooth fairy could also be held up to moral scrutiny.
To further their defence, Waldorf supporters could also point out they are not the only schools with disenchanted parents. Rates of dissatisfaction and attrition are much higher in French immersion programs than Waldorf schools, for example, and significant numbers of parents withdraw their children from Montessori schools due to school pressure for early literacy.
O Maoileoin is one of only six graduating students at Vancouver Waldorf School in 1999, and in many ways O Maoileoin could be considered the quintessential Waldorfian proteg�.
O Maoileoin recalls with fondness the spiritual rituals of his early Waldorf years, including the group blessings of fresh fruit; the staring at tree roots for gnomes; and his school's prohibition against black clothing or black crayons in the early years. O Maoileoin is particularly grateful for learning that "there is credibility to less popular beliefs," and he also appreciates his lessons on native American culture, Norse mythology, Egyptian history and the stories of the Bible.
As with many Waldorf parents, O Maoileoin's parents were not ones to embrace a wholly conventional belief system. When they decided to send their son to Waldorf 16 years ago, they were both practicing transcendental meditation. Since then O Maoileoin's mother has worked as a professional astrologist. As a child, O Maoileoin was taught about telekinesis and astral travel.
While a teenager at Waldorf, O Maoileoin spent six years practicing Wicca (modern witchcraft), after which he said he became an agnostic and then an atheist. As with many of his classmates, O Maoileoin rejected Steiner and Anthroposophy as a teen, although now he is a follower. Recently, O Maoileoin also converted to Catholicism.
In storybook fashion, O Maoileoin recently became engaged to a woman who was in his Grade One class at the Vancouver Waldorf School. He now sets his sights on a master's degree in divinity at Vancouver School of Theology and his dream is to eventually teach at a Waldorf school.
While Waldorf graduates such as O Maoileoin feel they have thrived from their unconventional and spiritual education, disenchanted Waldorf parents express a common sense of being misled by the school's wholesome image.
Public Waldorf schools booming in Sacramento — but are they legal? |
Justia Patents Switching A Message Which Includes An Address HeaderUS Patent for System and method for intercepting and authenticating packets during one or more communication sessions and automatically recognizing content Patent (Patent # 7,242,681)
System and method for intercepting and authenticating packets during one or more communication sessions and automatically recognizing content
May 17, 2002 - Sandstorm Enterprises, Inc.
A system is described for analyzing and automatically recognizing content of packet streams intercepted over a communication link. The system comprises an interface and a packet stream analyzer. The interface is configured to receive packets over the communication link and assemble the received packets into one or more packet streams. The packet stream analyzer is configured to receive respective packet streams from said interface and analyze each packet stream to generate selected types of information regarding the packet stream. The packet stream analyzer comprises an analyzer module graph comprising a plurality of analyzer modules interconnected in a graph. Respective ones of the analyzer modules are configured to perform at least one analysis operation in connection with at least a portion of a packet stream provided thereto to determine the likelihood that the packet stream is of one of a plurality of predetermined types, and generate at least one selected type of information in relation thereto.
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U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/267,449, filed Mar. 12, 1999, in the name of Simson L. Garfinkel and entitled "Packet Interception System Including Arrangement Facilitating Authentication Of Intercepted Packets" (hereinafter referred to as "the Garfinkel I patent application"), assigned to the assignee of the present application and incorporated by reference.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/488,397, filed Jan. 20, 1999, in the name of Simson L. Garfinkel, entitled "Network Communications Surveillance System and Method" (hereinafter referred to as the Garfinkel II patent application), assigned to the assignee of this application and incorporated by reference.
The invention relates generally to the field of systems and methods for intercepting communications and more particularly to systems and methods for intercepting message packets associated with various communication sessions and analyzing the message packets based on their content, and providing authentication of the intercepted message packets and the analysis thereof.
Wiretapping, including interception and recording of communications, can be quite useful in investigations by governmental agencies such as law enforcement, as well as private investigative agencies. Although originally developed to intercept analog telephonic communications, more recently agencies have discovered that wiretapping can also be useful in intercepting message packets transmitted by a computer or other packet source device, or received by another computer or other packet destination device, over, for example, a digital data network such as the Internet, World Wide Web, or the like.
Message packets may contain a variety of types of information in a variety of different formats. For example, message packets may contain information in textual form, information that defines an image, information that defines a Web page, or other types of information as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art. Textual information may be in plain text form or in a format that is used by a word processing program. Textual information may also be in a format such as that defined by, for example, the HyperText Markup Language ("HTML"), which is used to defined a Web page. Information that defines an image may be in any of a number of formats, including the well-known bitmap, GIF (Graphics Interchange Format),JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group), and MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group) formats, the first three being used for still images and the last being used for moving images. Message packets may also contain audio files, which are intended to be played by the device that receives the respective message packets, in any of a number of formats, including the well-known MP3 (MPEG version 3), RM (Real Media) formats.
The information in a message packet may also be compressed using, for example, the well known ZIP compression methodology, or any of a number of other well-known compression methodologies. Alternatively or in addition, the information may be encoded using, for example, the well-known UUENCODE encoding methodology, which converts binary data to ASCII characters, which can, for example, be sent in Email, or using any of a number of other well-known encoding methodologies. In addition, the information may be encrypted using any of a number of well-known encrypting methodologies.
Given the wide variety of types of information that may be contained in message packets that have been intercepted during a wiretap session, it is often difficult to efficiently recognize the content of message packets and information streams contained in a series of message packets associated with a particular connection.
The invention provides a new and improved system and method for intercepting and authenticating packets during one or more communication session, automatically recognizing packet content and generating reports relating to the intercepted packets.
In brief summary, the invention provides a system is described for analyzing and automatically recognizing content of packet streams intercepted over a communication link. The system comprises an interface and a packet stream analyzer. The interface is configured to receive packets over the communication link and assemble the received packets into one or more packet streams. The packet stream analyzer is configured to receive respective packet streams from said interface and analyze each packet stream to generate selected types of information regarding the packet stream. The packet stream analyzer comprises an analyzer module graph comprising a plurality of analyzer modules interconnected in a graph. Respective ones of the analyzer modules are configured to perform at least one analysis operation in connection with at least a portion of a packet stream provided thereto to determine the likelihood that the packet stream is of one of a plurality of predetermined types, and generate at least one selected type of information in relation thereto.
This invention is pointed out with particularity in the appended claims. The above and further advantages of this invention may be better understood by referring to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a packet interception and processing system including an arrangement for intercepting and authenticating packets during one or more communication session, automatically recognizing packet content and generating reports relating to the intercepted packets;
FIG. 2 schematically depicts an illustrative analyzer module graph useful in the packet interception and processing system depicted in FIG. 1; and
FIG. 3 is a flow chart depicting operations performed by modules comprising the illustrative analyzer module graph in connection with initializing and registering themselves with other modules in the graph.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AN ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENT
FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a packet interception and processing system 10 that intercepts message packets, process the intercepted message packets to generate information relating thereto, and that facilitates the authentication of the intercepted message packets and the information generated therefor, constructed in accordance with the invention. With reference to FIG. 1, the packet interception and processing system 10 is used to intercept message packets transferred between one device, identified by reference numeral 11, and one or more other devices, generally identified by reference numeral 12, over a communications medium 13. In FIG. 1, device 11 will be identified as a "wiretapped" device, and, in that regard, the packet interception and processing system 10 will intercept message packets that are transmitted and received by the device 11 over the communication link 13. The wiretapped device 11 may comprise any mechanism for generating and transmitting packets over a communications medium, and for receiving packets over the communications medium and utilizing them, including, for example, a personal computer, computer workstation or the like. Similarly, each of the other device(s) 12 may comprise any mechanism for receiving packets and utilizing and/or storing packets, and for generating and transmitting them, including, for example, a personal computer, computer workstation, a mass information storage subsystem, hardcopy output device, or the like. The communications link 13 may comprise any of a number of types of media for transferring packets between the wiretapped device 11, including, for example, a public digital data network such as the Internet or World Wide Web, a private network, the public switched telephone network (PSTN), a wireless link, or any other mechanism by which digital data can be transferred between the devices 11 and 12.
Wiretapped device 11 and device(s) 12 may operate according to any of a number of well-known information transfer paradigms. For example, devices 11 and 12 may operate according to a "client/server" paradigm, in which some devices operate as a "client" and other devices operate as servers. According to the client/server paradigm, one device, operating as a client device, retrieves information from another device, operating as a server device. The client device initiates a download, or transfer, of information to it (that is, the client device) from a server device by transferring one or more message packets to the server device, the message packets identifying the information to be retrieved. The server device, in turn, will transfer the identified information to the client device in one or more message packets. A client device can download information from a number of server devices and, contrariwise, a single server can download information to a number of client devices. It will be appreciated that a single device can operate as a client device, as a server device or as both a client device (with one or more server devices) and a server device (with one or more client devices). If the wiretapped device 11 operates as a client device, the packet information and processing system 10 can intercept and process message packets that the device 11 transmits to other devices requesting downloading of information as well as the message packets that the device 11 receives from the other devices providing the requested information. If the wiretapped device 11 operates as a server device, the packet information and processing system 10 can intercept and process message packets that the device 11 receives requesting downloading of information as well as message packets that the device 11 transmits providing the requested information.
It will be appreciated that the wiretapped device 11 and other device(s) 12 can operate according to other paradigms, including, for example, the well-known "peer-to-peer" paradigm, or according to any combination of paradigms.
The packet interception and processing system 10 operates as a wiretap mechanism to eavesdrop on and intercept the message packets transmitted by the wiretapped device 11 over communications medium 13. As is conventional, each message packet may be associated with a communication session. A communication session, in turn, may be associated with one or more message packets. As will be used herein, a "connection" corresponds to a set of message packets that are used in a transfer using the well-known TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) protocol. A "packet stream," in turn, corresponds to one or more packets that comprise a connection, or one or more packets transferred using the well-known UDP (user datagram protocol) protocol.
A message packet typically comprises a header portion and a "payload" portion. The "payload" comprises the information that is to be transferred in the message packet. The payload of a message packet, or the payloads of a set of message packets, comprise a steam of bytes that, in turn, comprise or define one or more objects. The header of a message packet contains information that is useful in transferring the message packet between the source device and the destination device, which information may include, for example, network addresses identifying the destination and source devices, a protocol identifier, and other information as will be apparent to those skilled in the art. In addition, the header may contain information that is useful in identifying a set of message packets that are associated with a connection, packet stream and/or session, as well as information identifying the particular connection, packet stream and/or session, and information useful in assembling each object if, for example, the information comprising the respective object is divided up among a plurality of message packets. The header may also contain information that is useful in verifying that all of the message packets associated with a particular packet stream have been received by the destination device. Typically, an object is transferred from a source and destination using a protocol "stack," which, at both the source and destination devices, comprises a set of programs arranged in a series of levels that may facilitate associating message packets with a respective connection, packet stream or session, verification that all message packets associated therewith have been properly received, and assembly of the respective object as necessary. Each level in the hierarchy may, in turn, be associated with its own set of protocol information, all of which can be provided in the header portion(s) of respective message packets. Accordingly, a message packet may be associated with a set of nested protocols each of which, in turn, is associated with one of the various levels in the protocol stack and each of which may be associated with protocol information provided in the respective message packet.
Typically, an object comprises a set of bytes that denote or define a self-contained data structure, such as text, an image, or audio associated with a Web page or other type of document. Textual information may, for example, be in ASCII text form, in a form typically generated by a word processor such as Microsoft Word® or Corel® WordPerfect®, in a form encoded using any of a number of encoding methodologies, or in any other form as will be apparent to those skilled in the art. One illustrative encoding methodology is the well-known HTML (HyperText Mark-up Language) that is typically used to define the structure of, and provide textual information for, Web pages. As is well known, an HTML object may also include links to other objects, such as image or audio information, that may, in the case of images, be displayed as part of, or, in the case of audio information, be played along with, the respective Web page. Image information defines a still or moving image, and may be encoded using any of a number of encoding methodologies, including, for example, the well-known JPEG(Joint Photography Experts Group), GIF (Graphics Interchange Format), and MPEG (Motion Pictures Experts Group) encoding methodologies. Audio information defines sounds that are to be played, and may be encoded using any of a number of encoding methodologies, including, for example, the well known WAV (wave), MP3 (MPEG version 3), RM (Real Media) encoding methodologies.
An object may be contained in the payload(s) of one or more message packets, and may be encoded, compressed and/or encrypted using any of a number of well-known generally-applicable encoding, compression and/or encryption methodologies. For example, the payload(s) may be encoded using the well-known UUENCODE encoding methodology, compressed using the well-known ZIP compression methodology and/or encrypted using any of a number of well-known the well-known encryption methodologies.
As noted above, an object may be encoded, compressed and/or encrypted using a generally-applicable encoding, compression, and/or encryption methodology. A "byte-stream" corresponds to the object in decrypted, de-compressed and/or decoded form.
A communication session, in turn, more specifically comprises one or more related packet streams, bytestreams, objects, and/or collections of objects. For example, a communication session associated with a Web page will generally comprise the set of packet streams, bytestreams and/or collection of objects that are associated with the Web page, which may include a text object in HTML format, one or more image objects encoded using associated image encoding methodologies, one or more audio objects encoded using associated audio encoding methodologies, and, perhaps, other types of objects, which may be displayed (in the case of the text and image object(s) or played (in the case of the audio object(s)) by the device after they have been received. Similarly, a communication session associated with an Email message will comprise the set of packet streams, bytestreams and/or collection of objects that are associated with the Email message, which may also include a text object in an Email format, one or more image objects and one or more audio objects. Communication sessions associated with other types of entities will be apparent to those skilled in the art.
As noted above, the packet interception and processing system 10 operates as a wiretap mechanism to eavesdrop on and intercept the message packets transmitted by the wiretapped device 11 over communications medium 13. In addition, the packet interception and processing system 10 analyzes the packet streams, bytestreams, and objects comprising respective communication sessions and provides mechanisms whereby the packet streams, bytestreams, objects and the analyses can be recognized and authenticated. As will be described in detail below, recognition and analysis is performed by a plurality of protocol- and information-format-specific parsing analyzer modules that are arranged in a graph. The graph includes a root module that is associated with unprocessed packet streams. The root module has, as children, modules that can parse the packet streams and recognize and/or analyze low-level types of information that are extracted from communication sessions, including, for example, information associated with particular protocols that may be used to transfer message packets between the wiretapped device 11 and the other devices(s) 12. These child modules, in turn, have, as deeper-level children, other modules that can recognize and/or analyze higher-level types of information, such as higher level protocol information, object content or content comprising portions of objects, and the like. Similarly, these deeper-level child modules can have also have yet deeper-level child modules, and so on down the graph. The graph can also have cycles, as will be described below. Traversal of the graph is driven by heuristics that are specific to the respect modules and the particular characteristics of the type(s) of packet streams, bytestreams, and objects that are recognized thereby, by relationships established by modules between separate packet streams, bytestreams or objects, and by stream assembly and transformation operations that are performed by the respective modules.
The packet interception and processing system 10 can perform authentication by cryptographically signing the message packets as they are intercepted, along with a time stamp associated with the time at which the packet interception and processing system 10 receive the message packet, and, perhaps, other identifying information. In addition, the packet interception and processing system 10 separately cryptographically signs the results of processing, the results including the results provided by the various module(s) comprising the graph during graph traversal as well as information defining the configuration of the graph, that is, the manner in which the various modules comprising the graph are interconnected. Since the information defining the configuration of the graph is cryptographically signed, if the graph is re-established at some time after the end of a session to, for example, confirm results of processing during the session, the fact that the configuration of the re-established graph corresponds to the configuration of the graph during the session can be established by generating a cryptographic signature for the re-established graph and comparing it to the cryptographic signature that was generated for the graph for the configuration that was used during the session. If the cryptographic signatures match, the re-established graph will have the same organization as the graph during the session. Similarly, since each message packet, along with the time stamp and other identifying information that may be provided, is individually cryptographically signed, one can, at any time, verify that the message packet, time stamp and other identifying information corresponds to the message packet, time stamp and other identifying information for which the cryptographic signature was originally generated by generating a new cryptographic signature and comparing the new cryptographic signature to the cryptographic signature that was generated when the message packet was originally received. Thus, one can verify the results of processing during a particular processing session by initially re-establishing the graph, and using the cryptographic signature to verify that the re-established graph corresponds to the originally-constituted graph. After the graph has been re-established and verified, the message packets can be applied to the graph, and the results generating by the graph compared to the previously-generated results. That the message packets correspond to the message packets as originally received can also be verified using their individual cryptographic signatures.
Details of operations performed by the packet interception and processing system 10 will be described in detail in connection with FIGS. 1 through 3. The mechanism by which the packet interception and processing system 10 intercepts copies of the message packets from the communications medium is well-known and will not be described herein. After receiving a message packet, the packet interception and processing system 10 can, as described in the aforementioned Garfinkel I patent application, append the time stamp that identifies the time at which the packet was intercepted, and in addition provide a tag that facilitates authentication of both the information in the packet and the sequence with which packets are received to a high degree of reliability. The packet interception and processing system 10 includes a link interface 20, a packet processor 21, a processed packet store 22, a packet demultiplexer 23, a demultiplexed packet store 24, an analysis engine 25, an analyzed packet database 26, and a report generator 27 all of which operator under control of a user interface/control module 28. The link interface 20 receives copies of the packets transferred between the wiretapped device 11 and device 12 from the communications medium 13 and provides them to the packet processor 21 for processing. The link interface 20 may include any suitable network interface through which the packet interception and processing system 10 can receive message packets. In addition, the link interface 20 may also provide connections to other types of equipment, including, for example, personal computers, computer workstations or the like over which the packet interception and processing system 10 can provide information as described below.
The packet processor 21 appends the time stamp and the tag to the message packet to generate a processed packet, and stores the processed packet in the processed packet store 22. In one embodiment, the structure of processed packets and their organization as stored in the processed packet store 22 are as described in the aforementioned Garfinkel I application, as are operations performed by the packet processor 21 in connection with generating the tag appended to the processed packets. The time stamp provided by the packet processor 21 identifies the time at which the packet processor 21 processed the packet, which will normally be a function of the time the packet was received by the packet interception and processing system 10. The tag appended to the packet in each processed packet facilitates authentication of the contents of the packet, as well as the time stamp. In addition, the manner in which the tags for successive processed packets are generated further serves to authenticate the packet sequence.
Packets intercepted and stored in the processed packet store may relate to messages that are associated with several sessions that may wiretapped device 11 may be engaged in with one or more of the other devices 12. After a processed packet has been stored in the processed packet store 22, the packet demultiplexer 23 can retrieve the processed packet from the processed packet store 22 and store the processed packets in the demultiplexed packet store, the processed packet being stored in such a manner as to reconstruct the various packet stream(s) that may be associated with the various session(s) in which the wiretapped device 11 may be engaged. The reconstructed packet streams as reconstructed by the packet demultiplexer 23 can facilitate reconstruction of the respective object. In addition, the packet demultiplexer 23 also generates summary information for the respective streams, which it also stores in the demultiplexed packet store 24. The demultiplexed packet store 24 comprises two storage sections, including a summary store 33, in which the summary information is stored, and a transcript store 34 in which the reconstructed packet streams are stored. The summary information generated by the packet demultiplexer 23 may include, for example, a pointer to the beginning of the reconstructed packet stream in the transcript store, time stamps for the first and last message packets comprising the reconstructed packet stream, length information such as the number of message packets and/or number of bytes comprising the reconstructed packet stream, the identification of the source and destination for the message packet(s) comprising the packet stream, and other information as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art.
The packet analysis engine 25 serves to analyze the processed packet streams that are stored in the demultiplexed packet store 24. The packet analysis engine 25 includes an analyzer module graph 35 that operates under control of an analyzer control module 36. The analyzer module graph 35 includes the aforementioned analyzer graph, comprising the aforementioned protocol- and information-format-specific parsing analyzer modules. As noted above, the analyzer modules cooperate to recognize and analyze the protocols and contents of the respective packet streams that are stored in the transcript store 34. The analyzer modules comprising the analyzer module graph 35 operate under control of the analyzer control module 36, which, in turn, makes use of the summary information that is stored in the summary store 33 in controlling the analyzer modules. The analyzer control module 36 can enable data from respective processed packet streams to be retrieved from the transcript store 34 and be provided to the analyzer module graph 35 for processing.
The analyzer modules comprising graph 35 operate to analyze the respective processed packet streams from the transcript store 34, to decode, decompress and/or decrypt them as necessary, parse the content and store the parsed content and other information in the analyzed packet database 26. An illustrative analyzer module graph 35 will be described in detail below in connection with FIG. 2. Generally, each analyzer module in the graph 35 is configured to parse message packets provided thereto and, using information generated during the parse, and perhaps, other information that it may receive, perform one or more of a number of types of operations. Analyzer modules may perform a number of types of operations, including, for example, determining the likelihood that a packets is of a particular protocol or content type, decoding, decrypting and/or recognizing, packet content and/or packet transfer protocol information, storing information such as the protocol type information and/or the decoded, decrypted or recognized information in the analyzed packet database 26, and the like. It will be appreciated that the analyzer modules will also store authentication information in the analyzed packet database 26 along with the other information, which can facilitate later authentication of that other information as described above.
Generally, packet information from the transcript store 34 will initially be provided to a ROOT module, which distributes the packet information to one or more analyzer modules that comprise its child modules. "Packet information" will be used to generally refer to an individual message packet, message packets comprising a packet stream, information from the payload portion(s) of one or more message packets in a packet stream which may comprise, for example, one or more objects, or other types of information that may be transferred in the payload portion of one or more message packet, or any combination thereof. The information in or from the payload portion(s) of respective message packets may be encoded, compressed, and/or encrypted form, in UUENCODEd, uncompressed and/or unencrypted form, or any combination thereof. The ROOT module may, in addition to the packet information, receive other information, which will be referred to as packet meta information, that generally describes the packet information. The packet meta information may be generated by, for example, the packet processor 21 or the packet demultiplexer 23 as they are processing the respective packet(s) prior to storage in the respective processed packet store 22 or transcript store 34. If the ROOT module does receive packet meta information, the ROOT module can use the packet meta information in determining which of its child modules should receive the packet information. In addition, if the ROOT module does receive packet meta information, it can also provide that packet meta information to the child module(s) to which it provides the packet information. The ROOT module may also generate packet meta information for provision to the analyzer module(s) to which it provides the packet information.
When an analyzer module in the graph 35 below the root module receives packet information from a parent analyzer module in the graph, it will process the packet information to try to determine whether the packet's protocol or content type corresponds to the protocol or content type, or one of the types, that the respective analyzer module is designed to identify. If the analyzer module also receives packet meta information, it can make use of the packet meta information in its operations. In identifying the protocol or content type, the respective analyzer module may, for example, make use of one or more characteristics of the respective protocol or content type to determine whether packet information conforms to the respective protocol or content type. If the analyzer module is able to identify the protocol or content type, it may provide the packet information to one or more child modules for further processing. If, for example, an analyzer module is designed to identify a type of protocol associated with one level in the protocol stack, the child or children to which the analyzer module provides the packet information may be designed to identify a type of protocol that is associated with another, generally higher, level in the protocol stack. On the other hand, if an analyzer module is designed to identify a type of protocol that is in the highest level in the protocol stack, the child or children to which the analyzer module provides the packet information will generally be associated with processing and identifying a type of content. At various levels, packet information may be directed to analyzer modules that can attempt to decode, decompress and/or decrypt the packet information as necessary to provide unencoded, uncompressed and unencrypted packet information. Ones of the analyzer modules may also generate packet meta information that they can, along with packet information, provide to their child modules to assist them in their operations.
The analyzer modules also generally store information regarding the results of their processing in the analyzed packet database 26. For example, if an analyzer module associated with a protocol type determines that the packet information is associated with that protocol type, the analyzer module can store information so indicating in the analyzed packet database 26. In addition, to the information identifying the particular protocol type, the analyzer module may also store other information from, for example, the header(s) associated with that protocol type. Similarly, if an analyzer module associated with a particular content type determines that the packet information that it receives is associated with associated with that content type, the analyzer module can store information so indicating in the analyzed packet database 26.
Similarly, if an analyzer module that is associated with a particular decoding, decompression and/or decryption methodology attempts to decode, decompress and/or decrypt packet information, the analyzer module can store information so indicating in the analyzed packet database 26, which information may, for example, indicate whether it successfully decoded, decompressed and/or decrypted the packet information. In addition, if the analyzer module successfully decodes, decompresses and/or decrypts the packet information, it can store the decoded, decompressed and/or decrypted packet information in the analyzed packet database 26, and, in addition, provide the decoded, decompressed and/or decrypted packet information to one or more child modules for further processing.
If an analyzer module that receives packet information determines that the packet information is not associated with the particular protocol or content type(s) with which the analyzer module is associated, the analyzer module can also store information so indicating in the analyzed packet database 26. Similarly, if an analyzer module that is designed to decode, decompress and/or decrypt packet information determines that it is unable to do so in connection with packet information provided thereto, the analyzer module can also store information so indicating in the analyzed packet database 26. It will be appreciated that the analyzer module may be unable to decode, decompress and/or decrypt packet information that is provided thereto for any of a number of reasons, including, for example, the fact that, even though the packet information may contain an indication that it is encoded, compressed and/or encrypted using a particular encoding, compression or encryption methodology, it (that is, the packet information) may, in fact not be encoded, compressed or encrypted using the particular encoding, compression or encryption methodology.
The information stored in the analyzed packet database can be any of a number of types of information. In one embodiment, the analyzed packet database 26 comprises a number of SQL ("structured query language") tables in which information such as, for example, session connection information, parsed filed information, parse statistics, object information and the like can be stored. After packet information has been stored in the analyzed packet database 26, the information can be used by the report generator 27 to generate various types of reports 31. In one embodiment, a number of types of reports are pre-defined, templates for which are provided in a template store 30.
The user interface 26 provides an arrangement whereby an operator can control the operations of the packet interception and processing system 10. The user interface 26 can include, for example, a video display device (not separately shown) for displaying information to the operator, a keyboard and pointing device (also not separately shown) that the operator can use to input into to the system 10, and so forth. The operator, through the user interface 28, can enable the network interface 20 to begin intercepting packets from the communication link 13 for processing by the packet processor 21 and storage in the processed packet store 22. In addition, the operator, through the user interface 28, can enable the packet demultiplexer 23 to retrieve the processed packets from the processed packet store 22, demultiplex them to generate the message streams for storage in the transcript store 34, and generate the summary information for storage in the summary store 33. Furthermore, the operator, through the user interface 28, can control the analyzer control 36 to, in turn, enable demultiplexed packet information to be retrieved from the transcript store and provided to the analyzer module graph 35 for processing. In addition, the operator, through the user interface 28, can enable the report generator 27 to generate one or more reports 31 using one or more of the templates from the template store 30, using database queries input by the operator or using other information provided to the report generator 27 as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art. The operator can enable these operations to be performed directly though the user interface, by selection of user profiles that may be stored in a user profile store that identify particular reports that are to be generated for the respective profile, or in other manners as will be apparent to those skilled in the art.
As noted above, the analyzer modules are connected in a graph 35, an illustrative one of which will be described in connection with FIG. 2. With reference to FIG. 2, the illustrative graph 35 includes a plurality of analyzer modules organized in a graph. As noted above, each analyzer module is configured to be able to perform one or more operations, which may include, for example, determining the likelihood that a packet is of a particular protocol or content type, decoding, decompressing and/or decrypting packet information, recognizing packet information, storing the packet information and/or recognized packet information in the analyzed packet database 26, and the like. In addition, some analyzer modules essentially operate to distribute packet information and perhaps packet meta information to the analyzer modules, as will be described below.
Generally, when an analyzer module attempts to determine whether message packets comprising a packet stream are associated with a particular type of transfer protocol, it will attempt to determine whether the message packet(s) contain features that are typical of that type of transfer protocol. Similarly, when an analyzer module attempts to determine whether message packets comprising a packet stream contain information of a particular type of content information, it will attempt to determine whether the packet information contains features that are typical of the respective content information type. Similarly, when an analyzer module attempts to determine whether message packets comprising a packet stream are associated with packet transfer protocol information of a particular type, it attempts to determine whether the message packet contains features that conform to the definition of the particular transfer protocol. If an analyzer module determines that a particular element of packet information or packet transfer protocol information has features of a particular type of content information or packet transfer protocol information, it (that is, the analyzer module) can determine that the particular element is likely to be of the particular type.
If two or more analyzer modules determine that there is non-zero likelihood that particular element of packet information or packet transfer protocol information is of a respective type as recognized by the respective analyzer module, and if the types are mutually exclusive, the analyzer control module 36 can select one of the types as the correct one. Thus, for example, if an analyzer module is provided to recognize textual information in a selected format and another analyzer module is provided to recognize image information in a selected format, and if both of them determine that there is a non-zero likelihood that a particular element of packet information is of the respective textual or image information type, the analyzer control module 36 will select the format type based on likelihood information provided by the analyzer modules. The analyzer modules essentially generate likelihood information indicating the likelihood that the particular element of packet information is in the respective format, based on the presence or absence of features in the respective format in the element of packet information. The analyzer control module 36 will use the likelihood information generated by the respective analyzer modules to select the format type for the element of packet information. Similar operations are performed in connection with analyzer modules that are provided to recognize other types of information, including packet transfer protocol information.
The illustrative analyzer module graph 35 depicted in FIG. 2 can contain cycles, as will be described below. The graph begins with the aforementioned ROOT module. The ROOT module, under control of the analyzer control module 36, receives packet information from the transcript store 34, perhaps along with packet meta information that may be stored along with the packet information in the transcript store 34. As noted above, some types of message packet transfer protocols and some types of content provide information as to the particular message packet transfer protocol that is used and/or type of content that is transferred in the respective message packet stream, which information is stored as the packet meta information in the transcript store 34. The ROOT module, after it receives the packet information and the packet meta information, distributes the information to one or more other analysis modules in the graph 35. The ROOT module distributes message packet information stream to modules that determine the lower level message transfer protocol that was used to transfer the message packets comprising the message packet stream. In the illustrative graph 35 depicted in FIG. 2, one of the analysis modules to which the ROOT module provides the message packet information stream is an IP module which, for each processed packet in the respective stream provided thereto by the ROOT module, performs selected checking operations in connection with the respective processed packet to determine whether the structure of the processed packet indicates that it is likely to be a packet that conforms to the well-known IP protocol.
The ROOT module may also provide processed packets to other modules (not shown), which can determine whether the structure of the processed packet conforms to those defined by respective non-IP protocols. The ROOT module may direct the packet information to one child module if, for example, packet meta information that it receives provides an indication that the packet conforms to the protocol with which its respective child module is associated. If that child module determines that the packet information does correspond to the respective protocol, as will be described in connection with the IP module, operations con proceed down the graph as will also be described below. On the other hand, if that child module determines that the packet information does not correspond to the respective protocol indicated by the packet meta information, it can so notify the ROOT module, which, in turn, can distribute the packet information to its other child modules, which, in turn, can attempt to determine whether the packet information conforms to their respective protocols. If one of the ROOT module's child modules determines that the packet information is likely to conform to its respective protocol, that child module can so notify the ROOT module and operations can proceed down the graph as described below. If a plurality of the ROOT module's child modules determines that the packet information is likely to conform to their respective protocols, the ROOT module can select one of the protocols based on likelihood information provided by the child modules, after which operations can proceed down the graph. On the other hand, if all of the child modules determine that the packet information is not likely to conform to their respective protocols, the ROOT module can store an indication thereof in the analyzed packet database 26, and operations in connection with the packet information can terminate.
An IP message packet includes an IP header, for which a checksum is generated by the source device and included in a particular position, referred to as a "checksum" field, in the header portion of the message packet. In performing the protocol checking operations in connection with a message packet in the packet information provided by the ROOT module, the illustrative IP module can perform a checksum verification operation in connection with the portion of the message packet that, if it is an IP packet, would comprise the IP header to generate a checksum value. After the IP module generates the checksum, it will compare the generated checksum to the binary-encoded value represented by the bits of the processed message packet that are in the positions of the message packet in which the checksum value would be located if the message packet is an IP packet. If the IP module determines that the checksum value that it generates corresponds to the binary-encoded value represented by those bits of the processed message packet, it can determine that it is likely that the processed message packet is an IP packet. On the other hand, if the IP module determines that the checksum value that it generates does not correspond to the binary-encoded value represented by those bits of the processed message packet, it can determine either that it is unlikely that the message packet is an IP packet, or, if the message packet is an IP packet, that an error occurred in connection therewith. If the packet stream comprises a plurality of message packets, the IP module can perform these operations in connection with each message packet. If the IP module determines, for example, that the checksum values that it generates or some message packets correspond to the binary-encoded values represented by the bits of some of the respective message packets of the message stream, but not for others, the IP module may determine either
(i) that the message packets comprising the message stream are IP packets, but there is an error in connection with the message packets for which the checksum values generated by the IP module do not correspond to the binary-encoded values represented by the bits of those message packets, or
(ii) that the message packets comprising the message stream are not IP packets, based, for example, on the number of message packets for which the checksum values generated by the IP module correspond to the binary-encoded values represented by the bits of the respective message packets. The IP module may also perform other operations to determine whether the message packets comprising the message packet stream provided thereto by the ROOT module are IP packets.
If the IP module determines that the stream of message packets provided thereto by the ROOT module comprises IP message packets, it can enable information so indicating to be stored in the analyzed packet database 26. Other modules (not shown) to which the ROOT module provides the message packet stream may perform similar protocol checking operations in connection with their respective message transfer protocols.
If the IP module determines that the packet information provided thereto by the ROOT module comprises IP message packets, it can strip off the portions of the respective message packets that comprise the IP headers and provide the remaining portions of the packet information to one or more of its child modules, possibly along with packet meta information. In the illustrative graph 35 depicted in FIG. 2, the child modules of the IP module include a UDP module and a TCP module, each of which performs selected operations in connection with the packet stream provided thereto by the IP module to determine whether the packets' structures correspond to that defined by a UDP protocol (that is, a "UDP packet stream") or to that defined by a TCP protocol (a "TCP packet stream").
Similar to the ROOT module as described above, the IP module may initially direct the packet information to one child module or the other if, for example, packet meta information that it receives from the ROOT module provides an indication as to whether the packet information comprises a UDP packet stream or a TCP packet stream. The IP module may direct the packet information to the UDP module if, for example, packet meta information that it receives provides an indication that the packet information is a packet stream defined by the UDP protocol, which will be referred to herein as a UDP packet stream. Similarly, the IP module may direct the packet information to the TCP module if packet meta information provides an indication that the packet information is a packet stream defined by the TCP protocol, which will be referred to as a TCP packet stream. If the UDP module determines that the packet information is likely to be a UDP packet stream, and (if the IP module has also directed the packet information to the TCP module) if the TCP module determines that the packet information is not likely to be a TCP packet stream, the analyzer module graph 35 will determine that the packet information is a UDP packet stream. On the other hand, if the TCP module determines that the packet information is likely to be a TCP packet stream, and (if the IP module has also directed the packet information to the UDP module) if the UDP module determines that the packet information is not likely be a UDP packet stream, the analyzer module graph 35 will determine that the packet information is a TCP packet stream.
The analyzer module graph 35 can determine that packet information is a UDP packet stream or a TCP packet stream in any of a number of ways. For example, if, based on packet meta data that IP module receives, the IP module directs the packet information to, for example, the UDP module and not the TCP module, and if the UDP module determines that the packet information is a UDP packet stream beyond a predetermined likelihood, the UDP module can so notify the IP module. The UDP module, after receiving such a notification, can store an indication that the packet information is a UDP packet stream in the analyzed packet database 26. If, on the other hand, the UDP determines that the packet information is a UDP packet stream, but with a likelihood less that the predetermined likelihood, the IP module can also direct the packet information to the TCP module, which will determine the likelihood that the packet information is a TCP packet stream and provide an indication of the likelihood to the IP module. Based on the likelihood information that the IP module receives from the UDP and TCP packet streams, the IP module can determine that the packet information is to be considered one of the UDP packet stream the or TCP packet stream, and so notify the respective module. As another possibility, if the IP module does not receive or otherwise makes use of packet meta information in determining the child module to which it should initially direct the packet information, it can direct the packet information to both the UDP module and the TCP module, and determine that the packet information is to be considered one of the UDP packet stream or the TCP packet stream based on likelihood information that it receives from the respective child modules. In any case, after the IP module determines that the packet information is to be considered one of the UDP or TCP packet stream, it can so notify the respective UDP or TCP module, which, in turn, can store an indication thereof in the analyzed packet database 26, and transfer the packet information to one or more of its children for further analysis.
As a further possibility, if the IP module receives likelihood information from both of its child modules that is below a selected likelihood level, the IP module can determine that the packet information is neither a UDP packet stream nor a TCP packet stream. In that case, the IP module can store an indication thereof in the analyzed packet database 26, after which the analyzer module graph 35 may terminate processing operations by in connection with the packet information.
As with the IP module, the UDP and TCP modules can determine the likelihood as to whether the packet stream is a UDP packet stream or a TCP packet stream by performing, inter alia, checksum verification operations in connection with portions of the packet stream provided thereto by the IP module. Generally, if the packet stream is an IP packet stream, each message packet in the stream will have, in addition to the IP header, either a UDP header or a TCP header, or perhaps a header defined by another protocol, that is also protected by a checksum value that is provided in a predetermined portion of the message packet.
Accordingly, in the checksum verification operation, the UDP module will, for each message packet in the stream, perform operations similar to those described above in connection with the IP module to determine the likelihood that the respective message packet is a UDP message packet. If the UDP module determines that the checksum value that it generates corresponds to the binary-encoded value in the appropriate portion of the message packet, it may determine that the message packet is likely to be a UDP message packet. On the other hand, if the UDP module determines that the checksum value that it generates does not correspond to the binary-encoded value in that portion of the message packet, it may determine that the message packet is likely not a UDP packet, or, if it is a UDP packet, that the UDP packet was not correctly received. As with the IP module, the UDP module can make a determination as to whether the stream of message packets is likely to be a stream of UDP message packets based on the number or percentage of message packets in the stream for which the checksum value generated by the UDP module corresponds to the respective binary-encoded values in the appropriate portions of the respective message packets. The UDP module may also perform other protocol-check operations to determine the likelihood that the message packets are UDP packets.
The TCP module can perform similar checksum verification and, perhaps, other operations to determine the likelihood that the packet is a TCP packet. In addition, since TCP packets can arrive at a destination out of order, the TCP module can re-organize a series of TCP packets in a stream of message packets provided thereto by the IP module in the proper order.
As noted above, if it is determined that a packet stream comprises UDP packet stream, the UDP module can store information therefor in the analyzed packet database 26. In addition, the UDP module can strip the UDP header(s) off the packet information and provide the remaining portion(s) of the packet information to one or more of its child modules of processing. Similarly, if it is determined that packet information comprises TCP packet stream, the TCP module can store information therefor in the analyzed packet database 26. In addition, the TCP module can strip the TCP header off the message packets and provide the remaining portion(s) of the packet information to one or more of its child modules for processing. As with the ROOT and IP modules described above, the respective UDP or TCP module may provide the packet information to one of its children based on packet meta information, or to two or more of their respective children. In the illustrative analyzer module graph 35 depicted in FIG. 2, child modules of the UDP module include a DNS module, an NFS module, and a DEFAULT module, and child modules of the TCP module include the NFS module, the DEFAULT module and a STREAM module. The details as the child module(s) to which the respective UDP or TCP module provides the packet stream, and so forth, are similar to those described above in connection with the ROOT and IP modules, and will not be described in detail. As shown in the illustrative analyzer module graph 35 depicted in FIG. 2, the STREAM module may also be a child of other modules. In one embodiment, the STREAM module is shown as being a child of an IPX module, an APPLETALK module and a CHAOSNET module, each of which performs corresponding operations in connection with information from streams of message packets provided thereto by a respective parent (not shown) in the analyzer module graph 35 to determine whether they conform to the IPX, APPLETALK or CHAOSNET protocol.
The DNS module processes the packet information provided thereto by the UDP and TCP modules to determine the likelihood that the packet information corresponds to the DNS ("domain name server") protocol. Devices make use of packets transferred using the DNS protocol in connection with communicating with a domain name server device to determine a network address associated with a particular domain name. If it is determined that the packet information is sufficiently likely to correspond to the DNS protocol, the DNS module can store information so indicating in the analyzed packet database 26. In addition, the DNS module can store information from the packet information, including, for example, the association between the network address and the domain name, in the analyzed packet database 26.
The NFS module processes the packet information provided thereto by the UDP and TCP modules to determine whether the packet information corresponds to the NFS protocol. The NFS protocol is used to allow a device, such as source device 11 or destination device 12, to access information in files that may be stored on other devices, in substantially the same manner that it uses to access information in files that are stored on the respective device 11, 12. If it is determined that the packet information corresponds to the NFS protocol, the NFS module can store information relating to the packet stream, which may include, for example, the identification of the web site and the files that are to be accessed, in the analyzed packet database 26.
Generally, the DNS module will be a child of only the UDP and TCP modules in the graph 35, and not also a child of other modules such as the IPX modules, because packet information corresponding to the DNS protocol will only be transferred over communication link 13 using message packets that conform to the UDP and TCP protocols, and not message packets that correspond to the IPX module. Similarly, the NFS module will be a child of only the UDP and TCP modules, and not of other modules, because packet information corresponding to the NFS protocol will only be transferred over communication link 13 using message packets that conform to the UDP or TCP protocol. Generally, it will be appreciated that the modules at the levels of the graph 35 above the DNS and NFS modules, in particular the IP, UDP and TCP modules, are associated with protocols that are used to transfer message packets over the communication link 13 between the communication source 11 and the communication destination 12. Accordingly, the information processed by the IP, UDP and TCP modules relate to information that would generally be included in the header portion(s) of the message packet(s) comprising the packet stream. On the other hand, the information processed by the DNS and NFS modules would generally be included in the payload portion(s) of the message packets comprising the packet stream.
The STREAM module is essentially the central point for handling all byte-stream oriented protocols. In that function, the STREAM module essentially couples packet information stream that it receive from its parent modules, namely the TCP module and perhaps other protocol recognition modules in the analyzer graph module 35 depicted in FIG. 2, to one or more child modules that can determine whether the packet information is in a respective one of plurality of byte-stream oriented protocols. Child modules of the STREAM module in the illustrative analyzer module graph 35 depicted in FIG. 2 include an IRC module, an HTTP module, an SMTP module, and NNTP module, a TELNET module, an FTP/CTRL module, an FTP/DATA module, an SSH module and an SSL module. These modules, along with the STREAM module, performs operations similar to those described above in connection with in connection with the IP, UDP and TCP module, in connection with a respective one of a plurality of byte-stream oriented protocols, to determine whether the packet information received thereby corresponds to the respective byte-stream oriented protocol. In particular, the IRC module determines the likelihood as to whether the packet information corresponds to the well-known IRC ("Internet relay chat") protocol, which is used in connection with real-time communication between operators operating respective ones of a plurality of devices such and devices 11 and 12, typically in textual form. If it is determined that the packet information corresponds to the IRC protocol, the IRC module can store an indication thereof in the analyzed packet database 26. In addition, the IRC module can store other information, such as the text comprising the communication in the respective packet information, in the analyzed packet database 26.
The HTTP module determines the likelihood as to whether the packet information corresponds to the HTTP ("HyperText Transfer Protocol") protocol, which is used in connection with the transfer of objects comprising Web pages in the HTML ("HyperText Markup Language") language. If it is determined that the packet information corresponds to the HTTP protocol, the HTTP module can store an indication thereof in the analyzed packet database. In addition, since a communication session involving a transfer of various objects comprising a Web page may involve a plurality of packet streams, each of which can be associated with packet information that will be separately processed and analyzed by the analyzer module graph, if the HTTP module determines that the packet information corresponds to the HTTP protocol, it will determine whether a "meet point" for the Web page has previously been established in the analyzed packet database 26. The HTTP module will establish a "meet point" to provide a point at which information identifying packet information associated with various objects comprising a multiple-object entity such as a Web page can be aggregated. If the HTTP module determines that no meet point exists in the analyzed packet database 26 for the Web page, it can establish a meet point for the Web page. After establishing the meet point, or if the HTTP module determines that a meet point for the Web page had already been established, the HTTP module can store information identifying the packet information in the meet point. Generally, all of the various objects associated with a Web page will be transferred using the HTTP protocol, and so the meet point associated with a web page can be used to identify the particular sets of packet information that are associated with the respective web page.
The SMTP module determines the likelihood as to whether the message packet information stream conforms to the SMTP ("Simple Mail Transfer Protocol") protocol, which is used in connection with transfer of electronic mail ("Email") . The NNTP module determines the likelihood as to whether the packet stream provided thereto conforms to the Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP), which is used in connection with transfer of news information over the Internet. Generally, the SMTP protocol is used in connection with transfer of Email messages over the Internet, and the NNTP protocol is used in connection with transfer of network news messages over the Internet among members of so-called "news groups." Typically, when someone wishes to send an Email message to one or more recipients, he or she will provide an Email message including an Email address for each of the recipients; in that case, the Email message would be delivered to those recipients whose Email addresses are specified. The packet intercept and processing system 10 can intercept Email messages that are both transmitted and received by the respective device that is being wiretapped by the system 10. On the other hand, when someone wishes to send a network news message to a news group, he or she will provide an identifier for the news group, and the message will be distributed over the Internet associated with the identified news group. When someone wishes to review and possibly receive news messages associated with a news group, he or she can initially retrieve subject matter headers for the news messages that are associated with the respective news group, and selected therefrom news messages for retrieval. The packet intercept and processing system 10 can intercept network news messages that are both transmitted and received by the respective device is being wiretapped by the system 10, as well as the subject matter headers of the news messages associated with the news group(s) received by the respective device.
If it is determined that the packet information corresponds to the SMTP or NNTP protocol, the respective SMTP or NNTP module can store an indication thereof in the analyzed packet database 26. In addition, since, as with Web pages, Email message and network news messages can comprise a plurality of objects, including, for example, at least one text object, and perhaps one or more image and audio objects, the SMTP and NNTP modules can establish and make use of meet points in a manner similar to that described above in connection with the HTTP module.
The FTP/CTRL and FTP/DATA modules determines the likelihood that packet information provided thereto by the STREAM module corresponds to the control and data portions, respectively, of the FTP ("File Transfer Protocol") protocol. The FTP protocol is used to facilitate retrieval of files from a server, and includes a control portion and a data portion. The data portion comprises the data that is to be retrieved using the FTP protocol, under control of control information that is transferred using the control portion of the FTP protocol. The FTP/CTRL module determines the likelihood that packet information provided thereto by the STREAM module corresponds to the control portion of the FTP protocol, and the FTP/DATA module determines the likelihood that packet information provided thereto by the STREAM module corresponds to the data portion of the FTP protocol. If it is determined that the packet information corresponds to the control or data portion of the FTP protocol, the respective FTP/CTRL or FDTP/DATA module will store an indication thereof in the analyzed packet database 26. Since the FTP protocol induces a plurality of portions, each of which involves a respective packet stream, the FTP/CTRL and FTP/DATA modules establish and otherwise make use of meet points, similar to those described above in connection with the HTTP module, that the respective modules can make use of to provide a point at which information identifying packet information associated with various portions can be aggregated.
The TELNET module determines the likelihood that packet information provided thereto by the STREAM module corresponds to the well-known TELNET protocol. If it is determined that the packet information corresponds to the TELNET protocol, the TELNET module will store an indication thereof in the analyzed packet database 26.
The SSH module determines the likelihood that packet information provided thereto by the STREAM module corresponds to the well-known Secure SHell protocol. The SSL module determines the likelihood that packet information provided thereto by the STREAM module corresponds to the well-known Secure Socket Layer protocol. IF SSH or SSL module recognizes the packet stream provided thereto, it will store information so indicating in the analyzed packet database 26. In addition, packet streams transferred using the SSH and SSL protocols are encrypted, and the SSH and SSL modules can also attempt to decrypt them. Generally, during an interchange of message packets pursuant to the SSH protocol, the decryption keys will be provided, and the SSH module can use the decryption keys to decrypt the packet streams. After the SSH module has decrypted a packet stream, it will provide the decrypted packet stream to the STREAM module. The decryption key for use by the SSL module can be obtained by another methodology and provided to the SSL module. One illustrative methodology by which a decryption key can be obtained for use by the SSL module is described in the Garfinkel II patent application. After the SSL module has been provided with the appropriate decryption key, it will be able to decrypt the packet information provided thereto and provide the decrypted packet stream to the STREAM module.
In each case, the respective module can perform the respective operation by inspecting the byte stream comprising the message packet information stream provided thereto by the STREAM module to determine whether it contains certain artifacts that are unique to message packet information stream in the respective protocol.
In addition, if the respective module has one or more child modules, it can transfer the packet information thereto. As noted above, if it is determined that a packet stream corresponds to the SSH or SSL protocol, and if the respective SSH or SSL module successfully decrypts the packet stream, that module will provide the decrypted packet stream to the STREAM module as a child module. The STREAM module, in turn, can operate to distribute the decrypted packet stream to one or more of the others of its child modules for subsequent processing. For example, the SSL protocol may be used to transfer packet information that may be associated with a Web page, which, in turn, are transferred using the HTTP protocol within the SSL protocol. In that case, after the SSL module has decrypted a packet stream and provided the decrypted packet stream to the STREAM module, the packet stream may be directed to the HTTP module for processing, in which case it will typically be expected that the HTTP module will determine that the decrypted packet stream is likely to correspond to the HTTP protocol.
The HTTP, SMTP, NNTP, TELNET and FTP/DATA modules in the illustrative analyzer module graph 35 depicted in FIG. 2 have child modules other than the STREAM module, and so each module will, if it is determined that the packet stream conforms to the respective protocol, strip off the respective protocol information and provide the remaining portion(s) to one or more of its respective child module(s). In the illustrative graph 35 depicted in FIG. 2, the HTTP module has one child module, namely, a MEDIA module, the SMTP and NNTP modules both have the same child module, namely, a MAIL module.
The MAIL module is a child of both the SMTP module and the NNTP module, since Email and network news messages have similar structures. For packet information received from the SMTP module, the MAIL module determines the likelihood that the packet information corresponds to the format defined by the SMTP protocol for an Email message. Similarly, for packet stream received from the NNTP module, the MAIL module determines the likelihood that the packet information corresponds to the format at defined by the NNTP protocol for a network news message. If it is determined that the packet information corresponds to the format defined by the SMTP protocol for an Email message, the MAIL module stores information so indicating in the analyzed packet database 26. Similarly, if it is determined that the packet information corresponds to the format defined by the NNTP protocol for a network news message, the MAIL module stores information so indicating in the analyzed packet database 26. In addition, the MAIL module will strip protocol information associated with the Email or network news message, which may include, for example, in the case of an Email message, names or other identifiers of the sender and recipient, in the case of a network news message, the sender and network news group, in either case, a subject description provided by the sender, and the like, and provide the rest of the packet information to one or more of its child modules.
In the illustrative analyzer module graph 35 depicted in FIG. 2, the MAIL module has two child modules, namely, the MEDIA module and a MIME module. The MAIL module can determine whether the information that it receives from the SMTP or NNTP module includes or comprises one or more object(s) that is/are encoded using one of the well-known MIME encoding methodologies. If the MAIL module determines that the object(s) is/are encoded using one of the MIME encoding methodologies, it will provide the MIME-encoded object(s) to the MIME module. On the other hand, if the MAIL module determines that the object(s) is/are not encoded using one of the MIME encoding methodologies, it will provide the object(s) to the MEDIA module.
If the MIME module receives information from the MAIL module, the MIME module will initially attempt to verify that the information provided thereto by the MAIL module is encoded using one of the well-known MIME encoding methodologies, If the MIME module does determine that the object(s) is/are encoded using one of the MIME encoding methodologies, it will also decode the information, store an indication therefor in the analyzed packet database 26, and provide the decoded information to the MEDIA module. In addition, the MIME module can store the a copy of the decoded information in the analyzed packet database 26.
The MEDIA module, which is a child module of the HTTP, MAIL and MIME modules, is essentially a central point for handling information that is associated with various types of media, which may comprise various types of text, image, and audio media, and other types of media as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art. The information that is provided by the HTTP, MAIL and MIME modules to the MEDIA module will comprise objects, without the protocol information for the message packets(s) that contained the object information. For each object that the MEDIA module receives from the respective HTTP, MAIL or MIME module, the MEDIA module transfer the object one or more of a plurality of child modules to enable them to analyze the respective object to determine the likelihood that the respective object corresponds to the respective type of media and store information relative thereto in the analyzed packet database 26.
In the illustrative analyzer module graph 35, child modules of the MEDIA module include an IMAGE/GIF module, an IMAGE/JPEG module, a TEXT/HTML, module, an APPLICATION/X-MSWORD module, a GZIP module, a UUDECODE module and a TEXT/PLAIN module. The IMAGE/GIF module, after receiving an object from the MEDIA module, determines the likelihood that the object is an object of the GIF media type, that is, that it is an image that is encoded using the well-known GIF (graphics interchange format) encoding methodology. In addition, the IMAGE/GIF module will store information as to its determination in the analyzed packet database 26. The IMAGE/JPEG module, after receiving message packet information stream, determines the likelihood that the object is an object of the JPEG media type, that is, that it is an image that is encoded using the well-known JPEG (joint photographic experts group) encoding methodology. In addition, the IMAGE/JPEG module will store information as to its determination in the analyzed packet database 26.
The TEXT/HTML module determines the likelihood that the object is an object of the HTML type, that is, that it is encoded in the well-known HTML (HyperText Markup Language), which, as noted above, is typically used to define the structure of and provide at least some of the text for Web pages, and stores information as to its determination in the analyzed packet database 26. In addition, if the TEXT/HTML module determines that the object is an object of the HTML type, it can extract text that is contained in the object in a selected form, such as ASCII, and also store the extracted text in the analyzed packet database 26. In addition, the TEXT/HTML module can provide the extracted text, as one or more objects, to the MEDIA module for further analysis as described above. Similarly, the APPLICATION/X-MSWORD module determines the likelihood that the object is an object of the MS Word type, that is, that it is a document in a format that is used by one of the various versions of the Microsoft Word word processor program, and stores information as to its determination in the analyzed packet database 26. In addition, if the APPLICATION/X-MSWORD module determines that the object is an object of the MS Word type, it can extract text that is contained in the object in a selected form, such as ASCII, and also store the extracted text in the analyzed packet database 26, and provide the extracted text to the MEDIA module as one or more objects. If the object of the MS Word type includes other types of information than text, such as graphical information, the APPLICATION/X-MSWORD module can also extract that information and store it in the analyzed packet database 26 and provide the information to the MEDIA module as one or more objects.
The GZIP module determines the likelihood that the object is compressed using the well-known Gnu "ZIP" compression methodology or a similar compression methodology. The UUDECODE module determines the likelihood that the object is encoded using the well-known UUENCODE encoding methodology. If the respective module determines that the object as provided by the MEDIA module is an object that has been compressed or encoded using the respective methodology, the respective module can store information so indicating in the analyzed packet database 26. In addition, the GZIP module can decompress the object and store the decompressed object in the analyzed packet database 26, and provide the decompressed object to the MEDIA module. Similarly, the UUDECODE module can decode the UUENCODEd object and store the decoded object in the analyzed packet database 26, and provide the decoded object to the MEDIA module.
Similarly, the TEXT/PLAIN module determines the likelihood that the object is an object of the ASCII type, that is, that it is a plain ASCII text object, and store information as to its determination in the analyzed packet database 26. In addition, if the TEXT/PLAIN module determines that the object is a plain ASCII text object, it will provide the object to a CONTENT module for processing as described below.
The MEDIA module can direct an object that it receives from the HTTP, MAIL or MIME module to one of its child modules described above based on packet meta information that it may receive from the respective HTTP, MAIL or MIME module, or based on packet meta information that it may itself generate after it receives the respective object. If the MEDIA module generates packet meta information, the packet meta information will reflect an initial assessment that the MEDIA module may make as to the object's media type or as to whether the object is compressed or UUENCODEd. At this point in the analyzer module graph 35, the packet meta information, if it is provided or generated, will generally provide information as to the object's media type, or whether it is compressed or UUENCODEd, as presumed by the source of the packet meta information. If the MEDIA module does not receive packet meta information for an object, and if it is unable to make an initial assessment as to the object's media type or whether the object is compressed or UUENCODEd, the MEDIA module can direct the object to one or more of the child modules described above to enable them to generate likelihood information indicating the likelihood that the object is of the respective object type, and make an assessment as to the likely object type based on the likelihood information generated by the respective child modules, and thereafter enable the child module that is associated with the assessed object type to perform its respective processing operations as described above.
In the illustrative analyzer module graph 35, the IMAGE/GIF module and IMAGE/JPEG module do not have children. However, the TEXT/HTML module, APPLICATION/X-MSWORD module, GZIP module, and the UUDECODE module all have the same child module, namely, the MEDIA module. The respective TEXT/HTML module, APPLICATION/X-MSWORD module, UUDECODE module and GZIP module that receives the object from the MEDIA module may provide the objects that they generate to the MEDIA module for further analysis. Since the object may be compressed and/or encoded several times, the decompressed or decoded object may still be compressed and/or encoded, and so the MEDIA module may provide the decompressed or decoded object that it receives from the GZIP or UUDECODE module, to the GZIP or UUDECODE module for further decompression or decoding. When the MEDIA module receives a fully decoded and/or decompressed object, it will provide the object to one of its other child modules for analysis as described above.
As noted above, the TEXT/PLAIN module has, as its child module, a CONTENT module. The CONTENT module is essentially a central point for facilitating certain types of processing operation in connection with the contents of the objects that are in ASCII text form that may be extracted by various ones of the children of the MEDIA module. In the illustrative analyzer module graph 35, the CONTENT module has two children, namely, a CREDIT CARD CHECKER module and a KNOWN CONTENT module. The CREDIT CARD CHECKER module performs a check to determine whether the message packet information stream is in a predetermined form that indicates that it may correspond to credit card information. The CREDIT CARD CHECKER module can determine whether the message packet information stream contains credit card information, by determining whether, for example, it contains a bit string that identifies, in ASCII form, one of a number of credit card providers, and that contains bit strings that, in ASCII form, comprises a number comprising a predetermined number of digits that may comprise an account number and a second number comprising a predetermined number of digits that may comprise an expiration date. If the CREDIT CARD CHECKER module determines that the message packet information stream provided thereto by the CONTENT module contains this information, it can recognize the information and store information associated therewith in the analyzed packet database 26. It will be appreciated that the credit card information as intercepted by the packet intercept and processing system 10 may be in encrypted form, transferred using the SSH or SSL protocols. In that case, the encrypted credit card information would be decrypted by the SSH module or the SSL module prior to being provided to the CREDIT CARD CHECKER module.
The KNOWN CONTENT module scans the ASCII text object provided thereto by the CONTENT module to determine whether it contains selected keywords or phrases. If the KNOWN CONTENT module determines that an object contains one or more of the selected keywords or phrases, it can store information therefor in the analyzed packet database 26.
Accordingly, it will be apparent that, for objects containing text information, but which may originally be in, for example, HTML format, the format used by the Microsoft Word word processing program, or other formats for which analyzer modules (not shown) may also be provided in the analyzer module graph 35, the object may sequence through various portions of the graph 35 several times.
(a) at least one time using, for example, the TEXT/HTML module, APPLICATION/X-MSWORD module, or other module as appropriate, to extract the ASCII text, and
(b) at least one time using, for example, the TEXT/PLAIN module to verify that the text object extracted in (a) is in ASCII text form,
after which the text object will be provided to the CONTENT module for provision to its children. In addition, prior to being provided to the TEXT/HTML module, the APPLICATION/X-MSWORD module, or other appropriate module, the object may be provided to the GZIP module and/or the UUDECODE module one or more times to facilitate decompression and/or decoding of the object.
The analyzer module graph 35 can ensure that the object does not loop endlessly among the various analyzer modules by ensuring that there is a transformation of the data stream comprising the object during processing by the respective analyzer module, and terminating if there is no such transformation. Thus, for example, as noted above if the TEXT/HTML or APPLICATION/X-MSWORD module determines that it is likely that an object provided thereto by the MEDIA module has the respective HTML or Microsoft Word format it will extract the text therefrom, which extracted text reflects a transformation from the object that the MEDIA module provided. to the respective module. In that case, the respective module will provide the extracted text, as an object, to the MEDIA module for further processing. On the other hand, if the TEXT/HTML or APPLICATION/X-MSWORD determines that it is unlikely that the object provided thereto by the MEDIA module is in the respective HTML. or Microsoft Word format, it will not extract the text therefrom. Accordingly, there will be no transformation, and the respective module will not provide an object to the MEDIA module.
Similarly, if the GZIP or UUDECODE module determines that it is likely that an object provided thereto by the MEDIA module is compressed or encoded it will perform a decompression or decoding operation, which results in a transformation from the object that the MEDIA module provided. to the respective module. In that case, the respective module will provide the decompressed or decoded object to the MEDIA module for further processing. On the other hand, if the GZIP or UUDECODE module determines that it is unlikely that the object provided thereto by the MEDIA module is compressed or encoded, it will not decompress or decode the object. Accordingly, there will be no transformation, and the respective module will not provide an object to the MEDIA module.
Accordingly, in the cases of the TEXT/HTM., APPLICATION/X-MSWORD, GZIP and UUDECODE modules, all of which would allow an object to loop through the portion of the analyzer module graph 35 headed by the MEDIA module, the object will loop as long as at least one of the TEXT/HTM., APPLICATION/X-MSWORD, GZIP or UUDECODE modules performs a transformation of the object. If none of the modules performs a transformation of the respective object, which will be the case if none of the modules determines that the object is in the respective form, there will be no transformation and the traversal of the object through at least that looping portion of the analyzer module graph 35 will terminate.
As noted above, the TEXT/PLAIN module determines the likelihood that the object provided thereto is plain ASCII text. In its processing, the TEXT/PLAIN module will not do a transformation of the object, but instead, if it determines that the object provided thereto is likely to be in plain ASCII text, it will provide the object to the CONTENT module for further processing by that modules children. If the TEXT/PLAIN module determines that it is not likely that the object is not likely to be in plain ASCII text, it will not provide the object to the CONTENT module; in that case, the traversal of the object through that portion of the analyzer module graph will terminate.
A number of other types of modules (none of which are shown) may also be provided for use in the illustrative analyzer module graph 35, including, but not limited to
(i) a BINHEX module, which can be provided as a child of the MEDIA module to determine the likelihood that an object is encoded using the well-known Macintosh BINHEX encoding methodology; if it is determined that an object is encoded using the BINHEX encoding methodology the, the BINHEX module can store information therefor in the analyzed packet database 26, decode the object and provide the decoded object to the CONTENT module;
(ii) an RPC module, which can be provided as a child of the UDP and TCP modules to determine the likelihood that the packet information that it receives therefrom comprises a remote procedure call ("RPC"); if it is determined that the packet information comprises a remote procedure call, the RPC module can store information therefor in the analyzed packet database 26, which may include the identification of the procedure being called;
(iii) a TFTP module, which can be provided as a child of the UDP module to recognize message packet information stream in the Trivial File Transfer Protocol ("TFTP"); the TFTP module is also a parent of the MEDIA module and, if it is determines that the packet information is in the TFTP protocol, it can store information therefor in the analyzed packet database 26 and provide the file that was transferred to the MEDIA module as an object for further analysis;
(iv) an ETCPWD module, which can be provided as a child of the CONTENT module to determine the likelihood that an object provided thereto is an object in the Unix/etc/passwd (Unix password) format;
(v) a DHCP module, which can be provided as a child of the UDP module to determine the likelihood that the packet information provide thereto is in the dynamic host configuration protocol ("DHCP"), pursuant to which a device dynamically provides an Internet protocol ("IP") address, which is used in connection with transmission of message packets over a network such as the Internet, to a device, which is typically identified by a fixed identifier such as an Ethernet address; if it is determined that the packet information is in the DHCP protocol, the DHCP module can store information therefor in the analyzed packet database 26, which can include the associated between the IP address and the Ethernet address;
(vi) a FINGER module, which can be provided as a child of the TCP and STREAM modules to determine the likelihood that the packet information provided thereto comprises a FINGER request or a response to a FINGER request; if it is determined that the packet information comprises a FINGER request or a response to a FINGER request, the FINGER module can store information so indicating in the analyzed packet database 26; if it is determined that the packet information comprises a response to a FINGER request, the FINGER module can also provide packet information to a PLAN module as a child module thereof;
(vii) a PLAN module, which can be provided as a child of the FINGER module to determine the likelihood that the packet information provided thereto comprises a plan or calendar (a response to a FINGER request can include a plan or calendar for the person who was identified in the FINGER request); if it is determined that the packet information comprises a plan or calendar, the PLAN module can store information so indicating in the analyzed packet database 26, along with the plan or calendar;
(viii) an NTP module, which can be provided as a child of the UDP module to determine the likelihood that packet information provided thereto in the Network Time Protocol, which is used to distribute current time information over a network such as the Internet; if it is determined that the packet information is in NTP protocol, the NTP will store information so indicating in the analyzed packet database 26, which information may include a current network time value;
(ix) a PDF module, which can be provided as a child of the MEDIA module and perhaps also the CONTENT module to determine the likelihood that the object provided thereto is in the Adobe Acrobat format; if it is determined that the object is in the PDF format, the PDF module will store information so indicating in the analyzed packet database 26; in addition, the CONTENT module can convert the object to, for information in textual form, a selected text format, and for information in image form, a selected image format, both for storage in the analyzed packet database 26, and, if the PDF module is a child of the CONTENT module, it can provide the converted information to the CONTENT module; the converted message packet information stream can be analyzed by other modules that are children of the CONTENT module for processing as described above;
(x) a TIME module, which can be provided as a child of the UDP and TCP modules to determine the likelihood that packet information provided thereto is in the well-known RFC 868 time protocol format; if it is determined that the packet information is in the RFC 868 format, the TIME module will store information so indicating in the analyzed packet database 26, including time information from the packet information; and
(xi) an UNKNOWN module, which can be provided as a child of the UDP and STREAM modules, and which generates an indication it is determined that the packet information is not likely to conform to any of the protocols handled by the UDP or STREAM module's children for storage in the analyzed packet database 26.
Modules for recognizing other types of packet information, which may form part of the analyzer module graph 35, may also be provided, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art.
The analyzer control module 36, in addition to controlling operations of the various modules comprising the analyzer module graph 35, also loads and initializes the various modules when the packet interception and processing system 10 is started. When a module is initialized, as part of the module's initialization procedure, the respective module attempts to register itself with one or more other modules that may comprise its parent(s) or child(ren). The analyzer module graph 35 is provided with an module list 40 and a module relationship table 41. The module list 40 includes a plurality of entries, each of which is associated with and identifies a module that forms part of the analyzer module graph 35. The module relationship table 41 includes a plurality of entries, each entry associated with a connection linking a respective set of parent and child modules.
Each module that may be linked into and comprise part of the analyzer module graph 35 is identified by a module identifier, and also is aware of the module identifier(s) of the module(s) that may comprise its parent module(s) (if any) and the module identifier(s) of the module(s) that may comprise its child module(s). As part of a module's initialization procedure, the module initially loads its identifier into the module list 40, thereby indicating that it is available to be linked to by another module. In addition, the module searches the module list 40 to identify those modules, if any, that are identified therein for which it may be parent module or a child module. If the module determines that another module is identified in the module list 40 for which it is required to be a parent module, the module adds an entry to the module relationship table 41, and loads into the entry its identification as the parent module and the identification of the other module as its child module. Similarly, if the module determines that another module is identified in the module list 40 for which it is required to be a child module, the module adds an entry to the module relationship table 41, and loads into the entry its identification as the child module and the identification of the other module as its parent module. After the module performs these operations, it will have registered in the analyzer module graph 35.
A flow chart in FIG. 3 describe operations performed by a module in connection with initialization and registration. The operations described in the flow chart will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the above description, and will not be described further herein.
The invention provides a number of advantages. In particular, the invention provides an arrangement for efficiently recognizing and analyzing message packet information streams intercepted over a communication link, which may comprise, for example, a network link over which a device transmits and/or receives message packets received and/or transmitted by one or more other devices, and for generating reports that describe the information streams that were received and/or transmitted.
In addition, in the arrangement, recognition and analysis is performed by modules that are connected in an analyzer module graph. Each module comprising the analyzer module graph, when it is initialized, can register itself with other modules in the graph as parent and/or child, which can simplify construction of the analyzer module graph.
It will be appreciated that a number of changes and modification may be made to the packet intercept and processing system 10. For example, although the system has been described as providing authentication by cryptographically signing the message packets as they are intercepted, along with a time stamp associated with the time at which the packet interception and processing system 10 receive the message packet, and, perhaps, other identifying information, it will be appreciated that the system may make use of elements other than cryptographic signatures to facilitate authentication. Alternatively, the system may not provide authentication, in which case it may not provide any such elements.
In addition, although the system has been described as making use of methodology described in Garfinkel II patent application to obtain a descryption key for use by the SSL module, it will be appreciated that other methodologies may be used.
Furthermore, although the system has been described as making use of a report generator 27 that makes use of templates stored in a template store 30, it will be appreciated that other mechanisms may be provided to facilitate generation of reports.
In addition, although the system has been described as making use of analyzer modules of particular types, it will be appreciated that other types of analyzer modules may be provided. Generally, analyzer modules may be provided for ones of the various layers of protocols that may be used in connection with transfer of message packets and packet streams over the communication link 13, as well as for ones of the types of information that may comprise objects that are transported by the message packets and packet streams, such as audio objects, as well as for methodologies by which the various objects may be encoded, encrypted, compress, and so forth.
It will be appreciated that a system in accordance with the invention can be constructed in whole or in part from special purpose hardware or a general purpose computer system, or any combination thereof, any portion of which may be controlled by a suitable program. Any program may in whole or in part comprise part of or be stored on the system in a conventional manner, or it may in whole or in part be provided in to the system over a network or other mechanism for transferring information in a conventional manner. In addition, it will be appreciated that the system may be operated and/or otherwise controlled by means of information provided by an operator using operator input elements (not shown) which may be connected directly to the system or which may transfer the information to the system over a network or other mechanism for transferring information in a conventional manner.
The foregoing description has been limited to a specific embodiment of this invention. It will be apparent, however, that various variations and modifications may be made to the invention, with the attainment of some or all of the advantages of the invention. It is the object of the appended claims to cover these and such other variations and modifications as come with the true spirit and scope of the invention.
1. A system for analyzing and automatically recognizing content of packet streams intercepted over a communication link, the system comprising:
an interface configured to receive packets over the communication link and assemble the received packets into one or more packet streams;
a packet stream analyzer configured to receive respective packet steams from said interface and analyze each packet stream to generate selected types of information regarding the packet stream, the packet stream analyzer comprising an analyzer module graph comprising a plurality of analyzer modules interconnected in a graph, respective ones of the analyzer modules being configured to perform at least one analysis operation in connection with at least a portion of a packet stream provided thereto to determine the likelihood that the packet stream is of one of a plurality of predetermined types, and generate at least one selected type of information in relation thereto to an output.
2. A system as defined in claim 1 in which the respective analyzer modules are configured to store the information that they generate in a database module.
3. A system as defined in claim 2 further comprising a report generator configured to generate a report based on at least some of the information stored in the database module.
4. A system as defined in claim 3 further comprising a template store configured to store at least one report template, the report generator further being configured to use the at least one report template in generating the report.
5. A system as defined in claim 1 in which each packet stream comprises one or more message packets, the interface comprising:
a link interface configured to intercept respective message packets from the communication link; and
a packet demultiplexer configured to assemble the respective message packets into a packet stream.
6. A system as defined in claim 5 in which the interface further comprises a packet processor configured to perform at least one processing operation in connection with respective message packets that it receives.
7. A system as defined in claim 6 in which said at least one processing operation includes associating each received message packet with a time stamp to identify the time at which the message packet is received.
8. A system as defined in claim 6 in which the at least one processing operation includes associating each received message packet with a tag that facilitates authenticating contents of the respective received message packet.
9. A system as defined in claim 1, at least some of the respective packets streams including protocol information and an object, the analyzer module graph including at least one analyzer module configured to perform at least one processing operation in connection with the protocol information and at least one analyzer module configured to perform at least one processing operation in connection with the object.
10. A system as defined in claim 9 in which the protocol information in respective ones of said packet streams is associated with one of a plurality of types of protocols, said at least one analyzer module that is configured to perform said at least one processing operation in connection with the protocol information being configured to perform said at least one processing operation in connection with protocol information associated with one of said plurality of types of protocols.
11. A system as defined in claim 10 in which said analyzer module graph includes a plurality of analyzer modules that are configured to perform said at least one processing operation in connection with the protocol information, each such analyzer module being configured to perform said at least one processing operation in connection with protocol information of a particular type.
12. A system as defined in claim 10 in which at least one type of protocol defines a plurality of protocol layers, each protocol layer being associated with protocol information of a particular layer type, the analyzer module graph including a plurality of analyzer modules connected in series, each such analyzer module being configured to perform said at least one processing operation in connection with protocol information of a particular layer type.
13. A system as defined in claim 9 in which the object in a respective one of said packet streams is associated with one of a plurality of object types, said at least one analyzer module that is configured to perform said at least one processing operation in connection with the object being configured to perform said at least one processing operation in connection with an object associated with one of said plurality of object types.
14. A system as defined in claim 13 in which said analyzer module graph includes a plurality of analyzer modules that are configured to perform said at least one processing output in connection with the objects, each such analyzer module being configured to perform said at least one processing operation in connection with objects of a particular type.
15. A system as defined in claim 13 in which said analyzer module graph includes a plurality of analyzer modules, including the at least one analyzer module that is configured to perform said at least one processing operation in connection with an object associated with one of said plurality of object types, and further includes an analyzer module configured to perform a decoding operation in connection with the object, thereby to generate a decoded object, the decoded object being provided to the at least one analyzer module that is configured to perform said at least one processing operation in connection with an object associated with one of said plurality of object types, thereby to enable the at least one analyzer module that is configured to perform said at least one processing operation in connection with an object associated with one of said plurality of object types to perform said at least one processing operation in connection with a decoded object.
16. A system as defined in claim 13 in which said analyzer module graph includes a plurality of analyzer modules, including the at least one analyzer module that is configured to perform said at least one processing operation in connection with an object associated with one of said plurality of object types, and further includes an analyzer module configured to perform a decompression operation in connection with the object, thereby to generate a decompressed object, the decompressed object being provided to the at least one analyzer module that is configured to perform said at least one processing operation in connection with an object associated with one of said plurality of object types, thereby to enable the at least one analyzer module that is configured to perform said at least one processing operation in connection with an object associated with one of said plurality of object types to perform said at least one processing operation in connection with a decompressed object.
17. A system as defined in claim 9 in which:
the protocol information in respective ones of said packet streams is associated with one of a plurality of types of protocols, said analyzer module graph including a plurality of analyzer modules that are configured to perform said at least one processing operation in connection with the protocol information, each such analyzer module being configured to perform said at least one processing operation in connection with protocol information of a particular type; and
the object in a respective one of said packet streams is associated with one of a plurality of object types, said analyzer module graph including a plurality of analyzer modules that are configured to perform said at least one processing output in connection with the objects, each such analyzer module being configured to perform said at least one processing operation in connection with objects of a particular type;
the analyzer module graph further including an analyzer module configured to operate as a central point for objects of respective object types, such analyzer module being configured to receive objects from analyzer modules that are configured to performs said at least one processing operation in connection with the protocol information and provide the object to one or more of the analyzer modules that are configured to perform said at least one processing operation in connection with the object.
18. A system as defined in claim 17 in which the analyzer module that is configured to operate as the central point for objects of respective object types is configured to utilize object type information associated with at least one object in connection with determining the one or more of the analyzer modules that are configured to perform said at least one processing operation in connection with the object to which it will provide the at least one object.
19. A system as defined in claim 17 in which, after one of the analyzer modules that is configured to perform at least one processing operation in connection with an object receives an object from the analyzer module that is configured to operate as a central point for objects of respective types, the one of the analyzer modules that is configured to perform at least one processing operation in connection with an object is configured to determine the likelihood that the object is of the associated type and condition performance of the processing operation on the likelihood determination.
20. A system as defined in claim 19 in which, after at least one of the analyzer modules that is configured to perform at least one processing operation in connection with an object performs a processing operation that results in a transformation of the object into a transformed object, that processor module provides the transformed object to the analyzer module that is configured to operate as a central point for objects of respective types.
21. A system as defined in claim 1 in which at least one packet stream is associated with a communication session, at least one analyzer module being configured to, while performing the at least one processing operation in connection with the at least one packet stream, determine whether a meet point has been established for the communication session and, if not, establish the meet point and associate the at least one packet stream with the meet point.
22. A system as defined in claim 21 in which the at least one analyzer module is further configured to, if, while performing the at least one processing operation in connection with the at least one packet stream, it determines that a meet point has been established for the communication session, it will associate the at least one packet stream with that meet point.
5905713 May 18, 1999 Anderson et al.
6678270 January 13, 2004 Garfinkel
6950447 September 27, 2005 Dieterich et al.
Date of Patent: Jul 10, 2007
Assignee: Sandstorm Enterprises, Inc. (Malden, MA)
Inventors: James B. Van Bokkelen (South Hampton, NH), Michael A. Patton (Whitingham, VT)
Primary Examiner: Wellington Chin
Assistant Examiner: Phuc Tran
Attorney: Rudoler & DeRosa LLC
Current U.S. Class: Switching A Message Which Includes An Address Header (370/389); Assembly Or Disassembly Of Messages Having Address Headers (370/474) |
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Released in 1963, "Dementia 13" served as the film debut for celebrated director/producer, Francis "Ford" Coppola. Coppola began his studies in theatre at Hofstra University, a private university located in Long Island, New York, prior to studying film at UCLA. Coppola made his entrance into filmmaking by making low budget films with Roger Corman, and writing screenplays. Coppola, who is perhaps most notably recognized for directing the Oscar winning "The Godfather" films and "Apocalypse Now", was only twenty four when he directed "Dementia 13".
To make the film, Coppola borrowed $20,000 from renowned Horror producer, Roger Corman, who in turn produced the film for Coppola. Money to pay for the costs of the film was not the only favor that Coppola asked of Corman. At the time of the film's production, Coppola was in Ireland working in a variety of capacities for Corman. In working on the set of one of Corman's Horror films, Coppola expressed the desire to borrow not only Corman's set, but some of his actors as well. Corman permitted the young director to use his set as long as Coppola could work around Corman's schedule. Corman's generosity enabled Coppola to produce a film that is valued and recognized today as being a precursor to the "slasher" phenomenon.
"Dementia 13", which was released in the United Kingdom under the title, "The Haunted and the Hunted", features a variety of actors who have starred in numerous films. The first victim of the film, Louise Haloran, is played by Luana Anders, an actress who starred in over thirty films, and made over three hundred television appearances throughout the course of her career.
Anders served as a common presence within the realm of B-movies, appearing in a number of Roger Corman films. It was during her time spent acting for Corman that Anders met both Jack Nicholson and Dennis Hopper. As a result, Anders was featured in a number of films that were directed by the individual actors. In addition, Anders was called on many occasions to act alongside both Nicholson and Hopper. Anders maintained contact with Roger Corman as she eased out of B-movie roles and began acting on television and making appearances in other genres of films. She wrote the screenplay for the 1989 film, "Limit Up" under the name. "Lu Anders", and in 1991, Anders wrote for the Roger Corman production of "Fire on the Amazon", starring Sandra Bullock. Luana Anders earned a name for herself in Hollywood due to her many connections and constant presence within the entertainment industry. In his book, "Stephen King: On Writing", Stephen King cited Anders as one of his movie matinee idols. In 1998, Jack Nicholson remembered Anders, who died from breast cancer in 1996, in his Academy Award acceptance speech for Best Actor in "As Good as It Gets".
William Campbell plays the role of Richard Haloran, the eldest brother and talented artist who tends to take his bitterness and resentment towards the history of his family out on his sculptures. Campbell acted in over forty films and made over fifty television appearances. He is perhaps most celebrated for his participation in early "Star Trek" productions. Campbell is one of only 32 actors or actresses to have starred in both the original "Star Trek" movie in 1966, and the 1991 film, "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country". Campbell later appeared in one of the "Star Trek" spin-offs. Campbell is also remembered for his on-screen appearance with Elvis Presley in the 1956 film, "Love Me Tender". Campbell's participation in this film made him the first actor to ever sing with Elvis Presley in a motion picture.
Bart Patton plays the role of Billy Haloran, the youngest son harboring a dark secret, who refuses to stand up to or rebel against his mother. Though Patton gives a haunting performance as the psychologically imbalanced Billy, he appeared in very few films throughout his career. Patton chose to move behind the camera in 1965, working as the producer for "Beach Ball" and in 1969, when he produced "The Rain People". In 2000, Patton directed "Unshackled" and served as the Production Manager for "Ready to Rumble".
Theatre enthusiast, Patrick Magee, plays the role of Dr. Justin Caleb in "Dementia 13". A talented actor who lived for theatre, Magee considered film and TV nothing more than a job to earn a living, and worked in films to finance his distinguished stage work. Magee began his career in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, where he attended St. Patrick's Roman Catholic College. His first stage experience was in Ireland with Anew McMaster's company. He then traveled to London where he began gracing the stage in 1958. In 1966, Magee won Broadway's Tony Award as Best Supporting or Featured Actor in a Dramatic production, for playing the Marquis de Sade in Peter Weiss' "Marat/Sade". When it comes to film, Magee is probably most notably recognized for his performance as the nightmarish, crippled writer, Mr. Alexander, in Stanley Kubrick's 1971 film, "A Clockwork Orange".
With an array of characters that each seems to be hiding something in their own right, "Dementia 13" works just as well as a psychological thriller as it does a horror film. Many critics have noted that the film has more of a mystery feel to it, but the murder scenes, which are noted to be quite gory for the time, are what allow the film to fit into the Horror genre. The film is successful in its depiction of the madness that is driven by the guilt of the family members. This combined with the individual characters' inability to accept reality makes for an interesting story line that eventually makes sense to the viewer. Coppola keeps the viewer interested, if for nothing more than to find out which character participates in the heinous crimes, and through their actions, reveals dark secrets that result in a behavioral pattern that goes well beyond the point of absurdity.
Dr. James L. Poulton
Clinical Psychologist Dr. James L. Poulton discusses appropriate ways to treat someone with a mental illness.
More Science to go with the Show
James L. Poulton
Intl. Psychotherapy Institute
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Home World The Liberian referendum could pave the way for the controversial third term...
The Liberian referendum could pave the way for the controversial third term for President Weah
Liberians will vote on Tuesday in a referendum on shortened presidential terms, a change that some members of the opposition fear President George Weah will use to extend his term in office.
The ballot papers will also ask voters whether to lift a ban on dual nationality, a divisive issue in the poor West African nation that was founded as a haven for liberated American slaves in the 19th century.
Weah, a former football icon, wants to cut presidents and lawmakers from six to five years; and from nine to seven for senators.
"I strongly believe that this is not the way to keep anyone in power for long," the 54-year-old told supporters during a meeting in the northwestern city of Tubmanburg last week.
Lowering the time limits is a relative novelty for the region, where aging presidents have followed a pattern of sticking to the office with the help of constitutional changes.
In Guinea, for example, 82-year-old President Alpha Conde won a controversial third term in October after pushing through a new constitution that allowed him to circumvent a two-time limit.
That same month, Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara, 78, was elected for an equally controversial third term after revising the country's constitution.
Weah's critics fear the president is pursuing the same goal.
"President Weah will seek a third term only because the first six years would be under (a) another constitutional arrangement," said opposition senator Darius Dillon.
A "yes" vote would be a mistake, he said.
Bellwether in support of Weah?
Growing up in the capital Monrovia slums before moving on to a glittering football career with AC Milan and Paris St Germain, Weah was an idol for Liberia's poor when he was elected in 2018.
But the former striker's popularity has waned, given the continuing poor standard of living in the nation of 4.8 million people.
Some see the referendum – as well as simultaneous senatorial senate elections – as a wake-up call for support for the president.
Still only during his first term in office, Weah firmly denies that the referendum is designed to keep him in power.
Liberia is one of the poorest countries in the world and is still recovering from back-to-back civil wars from 1989 to 2003 and West Africa's Ebola crisis in 2014-16.
Weah has faced protests over ongoing economic problems, which include soaring inflation and regular shortages of cash and fuel.
But the president has tried to counter the impression that the referendum is a verdict on his rule. The constitutional changes "benefit all Liberians," he said in a statement in November.
The Cooperative Political Parties (CPP), a leading opposition coalition, claims to understand the referendum and has called on its supporters to boycott the vote.
"We do not even know what the consequences are when you vote 'yes' or you vote 'no'," CPP Secretary-General Mohammed Aly told AFP, warning that Weah could seek further terms.
Acarus Gray, a lower house lawmaker from the Weah Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) party, said rumors in the third term amounted to "political games".
Prohibition of dual voting with dual nationalities
Liberians are also voting on whether to lift a ban on dual nationality from 1973, a move that any hope can be an economic blessing.
The ban has long been seen as hypocrisy in some quarters, as many members of the US-Liberian elite secretly hold US citizenship and are accused of transferring money abroad.
Hundreds of thousands of other Liberians are also considered to be living abroad after fleeing war and poverty.
Weah's office said in a November statement that nationality restrictions – which include a ban on property ownership for non-Liberians – are "unthinkable" and "unfair".
"This administration has decided that once you were born a Liberian, you must always remain a Liberian," said CDC legislator Acarus Gray, adding that dual nationality would "boost our economy."
Edward Gayflor, a 48-year-old Liberian who fled to the United States during the Civil War and acquired U.S. citizenship, agreed.
"I think it is time for Liberians to say yes to dual citizenship so that we can have the opportunity to contribute to the development of the motherland," he said.
But there are fears that rich diaspora members could exert a major influence in Liberia.
If the referendum lifts the ban on dual nationalities, Liberians with two passports will still remain from the elected office.
About 2.5 million people are registered to vote, according to the country's national election committee.
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By Tsvetana Paraskova - Jan 13, 2021, 1:30 PM CST
Global oil demand is expected to grow by 5.6 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2021 compared to the 2020 low of 92.2 million bpd, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its latest estimate, with the growth forecast now around 200,000 bpd lower compared to last month's outlook.
In its January Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), the EIA expects global consumption of petroleum and liquid fuels to average 97.77 million bpd this year, down from the December STEO estimate of 98 million bpd.
For 2020, global oil demand averaged 92.2 million bpd, down by 9.0 million bpd from 2019. The 2020 estimate is also lower compared to EIA's December forecast of 92.38 million bpd.
According to EIA's latest estimates published in the January STEO this week, global oil demand will return to the pre-pandemic level in the second half of 2022, with the average 2022 demand at 101.08 million bpd, which would be growth of 3.3 million bpd compared to this year.
While the EIA cut its global oil demand forecast for 2021, it raised by $4 per barrel its average Brent Crude forecast for this year. The EIA now expects Brent crude oil spot prices to average $53 per barrel in both 2021 and 2022 compared with an average of $42 a barrel in 2020. In the December STEO, the EIA expected Brent prices to average $49 a barrel in 2021.
WTI Crude oil prices will average about $3 a barrel less than Brent prices in 2021 and $4 per barrel less than Brent in 2022, according to the EIA.
For U.S. crude oil production, EIA expects output to have declined from the record level of 12.2 million bpd in 2019 to 11.3 million bpd in 2020. Average annual production is seen further down to 11.1 million bpd this year, before rising to 11.5 million bpd in 2022.
OPEC and the International Energy Agency (IEA) will publish their first monthly reports for this year with their latest oil demand and production forecasts on January 14 and January 19, respectively.
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[50] M. R. Long, J. L. Reed, "Improving Flux Predictions by Integrating Data from Multiple Strains.", Bioinformatics (Oxford, England), dec 2016, pp. btw706. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: MOTIVATION Incorporating experimental data into constraint-based models can improve the quality and accuracy of their metabolic flux predictions. Unfortunately, routinely and easily measured experimental data such as growth rates, extracellular fluxes, transcriptomics, and even proteomics are not always sufficient to significantly improve metabolic flux predictions. RESULTS We developed a new method (called REPPS) for incorporating experimental measurements of growth rates and extracellular fluxes from a set of perturbed reference strains (RSs) and a parental strain (PS) to substantially improve the predicted flux distribution of the parental strain. Using data from five single gene knockouts and the wild type strain, we decrease the mean squared error of predicted central metabolic fluxes by \~47% compared to parsimonious flux balance analysis (pFBA). This decrease in error further improves flux predictions for new knockout strains. Furthermore, REPPS is less sensitive to the completeness of the metabolic network than pFBA. CONTACT [email protected] SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
[49] X. Zhang, C. J. Tervo and J. L. Reed, "Metabolic Assessment of E. coli as a Biofactory for Commercial Products", Metabolic Engineering, vol. 35, feb 2016, pp. 64–74. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: Metabolic engineering uses microorganisms to synthesize chemicals from renewable resources. Given the thousands of known metabolites, it is unclear what valuable chemicals could be produced by a microorganism and what native and heterologous reactions are needed for their synthesis. To answer these questions, a systematic computational assessment of Escherichia coli's potential ability to produce different chemicals was performed using an integrated metabolic model that included native E.coli reactions and known heterologous reactions. By adding heterologous reactions, a total of 1777 non-native products could theoretically be produced in E. coli under glucose minimal medium conditions, of which 279 non-native products have commercial applications. Synthesis pathways involving native and heterologous reactions were identified from eight central metabolic precursors to the 279 non-native commercial products. These pathways were used to evaluate the dependence on, and diversity of, native and heterologous reactions to produce each non-native commercial product, as well as to identify each product׳s closest central metabolic precursor. Analysis of the synthesis pathways (with 5 or fewer reaction steps) to non-native commercial products revealed that isopentenyl diphosphate, pyruvate, and oxaloacetate are the closest central metabolic precursors to the most non-native commercial products. Additionally, 4-hydroxybenzoate, tyrosine, and phenylalanine were found to be common precursors to a large number of non-native commercial products. Strains capable of producing high levels of these precursors could be further engineered to create strains capable of producing a variety of commercial non-native chemicals.
[48] C. J. Tervo, J. L. Reed, "MapMaker and PathTracer for tracking carbon in genome-scale metabolic models.", Biotechnology journal, 2016. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: Constraint-based reconstruction and analysis (COBRA) modeling results can be difficult to interpret given the large numbers of reactions in genome-scale models. While paths in metabolic networks can be found, existing methods are not easily combined with constraint-based approaches. To address this limitation, two tools (MapMaker and PathTracer) were developed to find paths (including cycles) between metabolites, where each step transfers carbon from reactant to product. MapMaker predicts carbon transfer maps (CTMs) between metabolites using only information on molecular formulae and reaction stoichiometry, effectively determining which reactants and products share carbon atoms. MapMaker correctly assigned CTMs for over 97% of the 2,251 reactions in an Escherichia coli metabolic model (iJO1366). Using CTMs as inputs, PathTracer finds paths between two metabolites. PathTracer was applied to iJO1366 to investigate the importance of using CTMs and COBRA constraints when enumerating paths, to find active and high flux paths in flux balance analysis (FBA) solutions, to identify paths for putrescine utilization, and to elucidate a potential CO2 fixation pathway in E. coli. These results illustrate how MapMaker and PathTracer can be used in combination with constraint-based models to identify feasible, active, and high flux paths between metabolites.
[47] C. Cotten, J. L. Reed, "Applications of Constraint-Based Models for Biochemical Production", in Biotechnology for Biofuel Production and Optimization, 1 ed. C. Eckert, C. T. Trinh, Eds., Elsevier, 2016, pp. 201–226.
[46] M. R. Long, W. K. Ong and J. L. Reed, "Computational methods in metabolic engineering for strain design", Current Opinion in Biotechnology, vol. 34, aug 2015, pp. 135–141. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: Metabolic engineering uses genetic approaches to control microbial metabolism to produce desired compounds. Computational tools can identify new biological routes to chemicals and the changes needed in host metabolism to improve chemical production. Recent computational efforts have focused on exploring what compounds can be made biologically using native, heterologous, and/or enzymes with broad specificity. Additionally, computational methods have been developed to suggest different types of genetic modifications (e.g. gene deletion/addition or up/down regulation), as well as suggest strategies meeting different criteria (e.g. high yield, high productivity, or substrate co-utilization). Strategies to improve the runtime performances have also been developed, which allow for more complex metabolic engineering strategies to be identified. Future incorporation of kinetic considerations will further improve strain design algorithms.
[45] J. J. Hamilton, M. Calixto Contreras and J. L. Reed, "Thermodynamics and H2 Transfer in a Methanogenic, Syntrophic Community", PLOS Computational Biology, vol. 11, no. 7, jul 2015, pp. e1004364. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: Microorganisms in nature do not exist in isolation but rather interact with other species in their environment. Some microbes interact via syntrophic associations, in which the metabolic by-products of one species serve as nutrients for another. These associations sustain a variety of natural communities, including those involved in methanogenesis. In anaerobic syntrophic communities, energy is transferred from one species to another, either through direct contact and exchange of electrons, or through small molecule diffusion. Thermodynamics plays an important role in governing these interactions, as the oxidation reactions carried out by the first community member are only possible because degradation products are consumed by the second community member. This work presents the development and analysis of genome-scale network reconstructions of the bacterium Syntrophobacter fumaroxidans and the methanogenic archaeon Methanospirillum hungatei. The models were used to verify proposed mechanisms of ATP production within each species. We then identified additional constraints and the cellular objective function required to match experimental observations. The thermodynamic S. fumaroxidans model could not explain why S. fumaroxidans does not produce H2 in monoculture, indicating that current methods might not adequately estimate the thermodynamics, or that other cellular processes (e.g., regulation) play a role. We also developed a thermodynamic coculture model of the association between the organisms. The coculture model correctly predicted the exchange of both H2 and formate between the two species and suggested conditions under which H2 and formate produced by S. fumaroxidans would be fully consumed by M. hungatei.
[44] C. J. Tervo, J. L. Reed, "Expanding metabolic engineering algorithms using feasible space and shadow price constraint modules", Metabolic Engineering Communications, vol. 1, dec 2014, pp. 1–11. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: While numerous computational methods have been developed that use genome-scale models to propose mutants for the purpose of metabolic engineering, they generally compare mutants based on a single criteria (e.g., production rate at a mutant's maximum growth rate). As such, these approaches remain limited in their ability to include multiple complex engineering constraints. To address this shortcoming, we have developed feasible space and shadow price constraint (FaceCon and ShadowCon) modules that can be added to existing mixed integer linear adaptive evolution metabolic engineering algorithms, such as OptKnock and OptORF. These modules allow strain designs to be identified amongst a set of multiple metabolic engineering algorithm solutions that are capable of high chemical production while also satisfying additional design criteria. We describe the various module implementations and their potential applications to the field of metabolic engineering. We then incorporated these modules into the OptORF metabolic engineering algorithm. Using an Escherichia coli genome-scale model (iJO1366), we generated different strain designs for the anaerobic production of ethanol from glucose, thus demonstrating the tractability and potential utility of these modules in metabolic engineering algorithms.
[43] X. Zhang, J. L. Reed, "Adaptive Evolution of Synthetic Cooperating Communities Improves Growth Performance", PLoS ONE, vol. 9, no. 10, jan 2014, pp. e108297. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: Symbiotic interactions between organisms are important for human health and biotechnological applications. Microbial mutualism is a widespread phenomenon and is important in maintaining natural microbial communities. Although cooperative interactions are prevalent in nature, little is known about the processes that allow their initial establishment, govern population dynamics and affect evolutionary processes. To investigate cooperative interactions between bacteria, we constructed, characterized, and adaptively evolved a synthetic community comprised of leucine and lysine Escherichia coli auxotrophs. The co-culture can grow in glucose minimal medium only if the two auxotrophs exchange essential metabolites - lysine and leucine (or its precursors). Our experiments showed that a viable co-culture using these two auxotrophs could be established and adaptively evolved to increase growth rates (by ∼3 fold) and optical densities. While independently evolved co-cultures achieved similar improvements in growth, they took different evolutionary trajectories leading to different community compositions. Experiments with individual isolates from these evolved co-cultures showed that changes in both the leucine and lysine auxotrophs improved growth of the co-culture. Interestingly, while evolved isolates increased growth of co-cultures, they exhibited decreased growth in mono-culture (in the presence of leucine or lysine). A genome-scale metabolic model of the co-culture was also constructed and used to investigate the effects of amino acid (leucine or lysine) release and uptake rates on growth and composition of the co-culture. When the metabolic model was constrained by the estimated leucine and lysine release rates, the model predictions agreed well with experimental growth rates and composition measurements. While this study and others have focused on cooperative interactions amongst community members, the adaptive evolution of communities with other types of interactions (e.g., commensalism, ammensalism or parasitism) would also be of interest.
[42] W. K. Ong, T. T. Vu, K. N. Lovendahl, J. M. Llull, M. H. Serres, M. F. Romine, J. L. Reed, "Comparisons of Shewanella strains based on genome annotations, modeling, and experiments", BMC Systems Biology, vol. 8, no. 1, jan 2014, pp. 31. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: Shewanella is a genus of facultatively anaerobic, Gram-negative bacteria that have highly adaptable metabolism which allows them to thrive in diverse environments. This quality makes them an attractive bacterial target for research in bioremediation and microbial fuel cell applications. Constraint-based modeling is a useful tool for helping researchers gain insights into the metabolic capabilities of these bacteria. However, Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 is the only strain with a genome-scale metabolic model constructed out of 21 sequenced Shewanella strains.$\backslash$nPMID: 24621294
[41] J. J. Hamilton, J. L. Reed, "Software platforms to facilitate reconstructing genome-scale metabolic networks", Environmental Microbiology, vol. 16, no. 1, 2014, pp. 49–59. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: System-level analyses of microbial metabolism are facilitated by genome-scale reconstructions of microbial biochemical networks. A reconstruction provides a structured representation of the biochemical transformations occurring within an organism, as well as the genes necessary to carry out these transformations, as determined by the annotated genome sequence and experimental data. Network reconstructions also serve as platforms for constraint-based computational techniques, which facilitate biological studies in a variety of applications, including evaluation of network properties, metabolic engineering and drug discovery. Bottom-up metabolic network reconstructions have been developed for dozens of organisms, but until recently, the pace of reconstruction has failed to keep up with advances in genome sequencing. To address this problem, a number of software platforms have been developed to automate parts of the reconstruction process, thereby alleviating much of the manual effort previously required. Here, we review four such platforms in the context of established guidelines for network reconstruction. While many steps of the reconstruction process have been successfully automated, some manual evaluation of the results is still required to ensure a high-quality reconstruction. Widespread adoption of these platforms by the scientific community is underway and will be further enabled by exchangeable formats across platforms.
[40] T. T. Vu, E. a. Hill, L. a. Kucek, A. E. Konopka, A. S. Beliaev, J. L. Reed, "Computational evaluation of Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002 metabolism for chemical production", Biotechnology Journal, vol. 8, no. 5, 2013, pp. 619–630. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: Cyanobacteria are ideal metabolic engineering platforms for carbon-neutral biotechnology because they directly convert CO2 to a range of valuable products. In this study, we present a computational assessment of biochemical production in Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002 (Synechococcus 7002), a fast growing cyanobacterium whose genome has been sequenced, and for which genetic modification methods have been developed. We evaluated the maximum theoretical yields (mol product per mol CO2 or mol photon) of producing various chemicals under photoautotrophic and dark conditions using a genome-scale metabolic model of Synechococcus 7002. We found that the yields were lower under dark conditions, compared to photoautotrophic conditions, due to the limited amount of energy and reductant generated from glycogen. We also examined the effects of photon and CO2 limitations on chemical production under photoautotrophic conditions. In addition, using various computational methods such as minimization of metabolic adjustment (MOMA), relative metabolic change (RELATCH), and OptORF, we identified gene-knockout mutants that are predicted to improve chemical production under photoautotrophic and/or dark anoxic conditions. These computational results are useful for metabolic engineering of cyanobacteria to synthesize value-added products.
[39] C. J. Tervo, J. L. Reed, "BioMog: A computational framework for the de novo generation or modification of essential biomass components", PLoS ONE, vol. 8, no. 12, 2013. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: The success of genome-scale metabolic modeling is contingent on a model's ability to accurately predict growth and metabolic behaviors. To date, little focus has been directed towards developing systematic methods of proposing, modifying and interrogating an organism's biomass requirements that are used in constraint-based models. To address this gap, the biomass modification and generation (BioMog) framework was created and used to generate lists of biomass components de novo, as well as to modify predefined biomass component lists, for models of Escherichia coli (iJO1366) and of Shewanella oneidensis (iSO783) from high-throughput growth phenotype and fitness datasets. BioMog's de novo biomass component lists included, either implicitly or explicitly, up to seventy percent of the components included in the predefined biomass equations, and the resulting de novo biomass equations outperformed the predefined biomass equations at qualitatively predicting mutant growth phenotypes by up to five percent. Additionally, the BioMog procedure can quantify how many experiments support or refute a particular metabolite's essentiality to a cell, and it facilitates the determination of inconsistent experiments and inaccurate reaction and/or gene to reaction associations. To further interrogate metabolite essentiality, the BioMog framework includes an experiment generation algorithm that allows for the design of experiments to test whether a metabolite is essential. Using BioMog, we correct experimental results relating to the essentiality of thyA gene in E. coli, as well as perform knockout experiments supporting the essentiality of protoheme. With these capabilities, BioMog can be a valuable resource for analyzing growth phenotyping data and component of a model developer's toolbox.
[38] J. J. Hamilton, V. Dwivedi and J. L. Reed, "Quantitative assessment of thermodynamic constraints on the solution space of genome-scale metabolic models", Biophysical Journal, vol. 105, no. 2, 2013, pp. 512–522. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: Constraint-based methods provide powerful computational techniques to allow understanding and prediction of cellular behavior. These methods rely on physiochemical constraints to eliminate infeasible behaviors from the space of available behaviors. One such constraint is thermodynamic feasibility, the requirement that intracellular flux distributions obey the laws of thermodynamics. The past decade has seen several constraint-based methods that interpret this constraint in different ways, including those that are limited to small networks, rely on predefined reaction directions, and/or neglect the relationship between reaction free energies and metabolite concentrations. In this work, we utilize one such approach, thermodynamics-based metabolic flux analysis (TMFA), to make genome-scale, quantitative predictions about metabolite concentrations and reaction free energies in the absence of prior knowledge of reaction directions, while accounting for uncertainties in thermodynamic estimates. We applied TMFA to a genome-scale network reconstruction of Escherichia coli and examined the effect of thermodynamic constraints on the flux space. We also assessed the predictive performance of TMFA against gene essentiality and quantitative metabolomics data, under both aerobic and anaerobic, and optimal and suboptimal growth conditions. Based on these results, we propose that TMFA is a useful tool for validating phenotypes and generating hypotheses, and that additional types of data and constraints can improve predictions of metabolite concentrations. © 2013 Biophysical Society.
[37] C. Cotten, J. L. Reed, "Constraint-based strain design using continuous modifications (CosMos) of flux bounds finds new strategies for metabolic engineering", Biotechnology Journal, vol. 8, no. 5, 2013, pp. 595–604. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: In recent years, a growing number of metabolic engineering strain design techniques have employed constraint-based modeling to determine metabolic and regulatory network changes which are needed to improve chemical production. These methods use systems-level analysis of metabolism to help guide experimental efforts by identifying deletions, additions, downregulations, and upregulations of metabolic genes that will increase biological production of a desired metabolic product. In this work, we propose a new strain design method with continuous modifications (CosMos) that provides strategies for deletions, downregulations, and upregulations of fluxes that will lead to the production of the desired products. The method is conceptually simple and easy to implement, and can provide additional strategies over current approaches. We found that the method was able to find strain design strategies that required fewer modifications and had larger predicted yields than strategies from previous methods in example and genome-scale networks. Using CosMos, we identified modification strategies for producing a variety of metabolic products, compared strategies derived from Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae metabolic models, and examined how imperfect implementation may affect experimental outcomes. This study gives a powerful and flexible technique for strain engineering and examines some of the unexpected outcomes that may arise when strategies are implemented experimentally.
[36] C. Cotten, J. L. Reed, "Mechanistic analysis of multi-omics datasets to generate kinetic parameters for constraint-based metabolic models.", BMC bioinformatics, vol. 14, no. 1, 2013, pp. 32. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Constraint-based modeling uses mass balances, flux capacity, and reaction directionality constraints to predict fluxes through metabolism. Although transcriptional regulation and thermodynamic constraints have been integrated into constraint-based modeling, kinetic rate laws have not been extensively used.$\backslash$n$\backslash$nRESULTS: In this study, an in vivo kinetic parameter estimation problem was formulated and solved using multi-omic data sets for Escherichia coli. To narrow the confidence intervals for kinetic parameters, a series of kinetic model simplifications were made, resulting in fewer kinetic parameters than the full kinetic model. These new parameter values are able to account for flux and concentration data from 20 different experimental conditions used in our training dataset. Concentration estimates from the simplified kinetic model were within one standard deviation for 92.7% of the 790 experimental measurements in the training set. Gibbs free energy changes of reaction were calculated to identify reactions that were often operating close to or far from equilibrium. In addition, enzymes whose activities were positively or negatively influenced by metabolite concentrations were also identified. The kinetic model was then used to calculate the maximum and minimum possible flux values for individual reactions from independent metabolite and enzyme concentration data that were not used to estimate parameter values. Incorporating these kinetically-derived flux limits into the constraint-based metabolic model improved predictions for uptake and secretion rates and intracellular fluxes in constraint-based models of central metabolism.$\backslash$n$\backslash$nCONCLUSIONS: This study has produced a method for in vivo kinetic parameter estimation and identified strategies and outcomes of kinetic model simplification. We also have illustrated how kinetic constraints can be used to improve constraint-based model predictions for intracellular fluxes and biomass yield and identify potential metabolic limitations through the integrated analysis of multi-omics datasets.
[35] T. T. Vu, S. M. Stolyar, G. E. Pinchuk, E. a. Hill, L. a. Kucek, R. N. Brown, M. S. Lipton, A. Osterman, J. K. Fredrickson, A. E. Konopka, A. S. Beliaev, J. L. Reed, "Genome-scale modeling of light-driven reductant partitioning and carbon fluxes in diazotrophic unicellular cyanobacterium Cyanothece sp. ATCC 51142", PLoS Computational Biology, vol. 8, no. 4, 2012. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: Genome-scale metabolic models have proven useful for answering fundamental questions about metabolic capabilities of a variety of microorganisms, as well as informing their metabolic engineering. However, only a few models are available for oxygenic photosynthetic microorganisms, particularly in cyanobacteria in which photosynthetic and respiratory electron transport chains (ETC) share components. We addressed the complexity of cyanobacterial ETC by developing a genome-scale model for the diazotrophic cyanobacterium, Cyanothece sp. ATCC 51142. The resulting metabolic reconstruction, iCce806, consists of 806 genes associated with 667 metabolic reactions and includes a detailed representation of the ETC and a biomass equation based on experimental measurements. Both computational and experimental approaches were used to investigate light-driven metabolism in Cyanothece sp. ATCC 51142, with a particular focus on reductant production and partitioning within the ETC. The simulation results suggest that growth and metabolic flux distributions are substantially impacted by the relative amounts of light going into the individual photosystems. When growth is limited by the flux through photosystem I, terminal respiratory oxidases are predicted to be an important mechanism for removing excess reductant. Similarly, under photosystem II flux limitation, excess electron carriers must be removed via cyclic electron transport. Furthermore, in silico calculations were in good quantitative agreement with the measured growth rates whereas predictions of reaction usage were qualitatively consistent with protein and mRNA expression data, which we used to further improve the resolution of intracellular flux values.
[34] C. J. Tervo, J. L. Reed, "FOCAL: an experimental design tool for systematizing metabolic discoveries and model development.", Genome Biology, vol. 13, no. 12, 2012, pp. R116. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: ABSTRACT: Current computational tools can generate and improve genome-scale models based on existing data; however, for many organisms, the data needed to test and refine such models is not available. To facilitate model development, we created the forced coupling algorithm, FOCAL, to identify genetic and environmental conditions such that a reaction becomes essential for an experimentally measurable phenotype. This reaction's conditional essentiality can then be tested experimentally to evaluate whether network connections occur or to create strains with desirable phenotypes. FOCAL allows network connections to be queried, which improves our understanding of metabolism and accuracy of developed models.
[33] M. S. Schwalbach, D. H. Keating, M. Tremaine, W. D. Marner, Y. Zhang, W. Bothfeld, A. Higbee, J. a. Grass, C. Cotten, J. L. Reed, L. D. C. Sousa, M. Jin, V. Balan, J. Ellinger, B. Dale, P. J. Kiley, R. Landick, "Complex physiology and compound stress responses during fermentation of alkali-pretreated corn stover hydrolysate by an Escherichia coli ethanologen", Applied and Environmental Microbiology, vol. 78, no. 9, 2012, pp. 3442–3457. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: The physiology of ethanologenic Escherichia coli grown anaerobically in alkali-pretreated plant hydrolysates is complex and not well studied. To gain insight into how E. coli responds to such hydrolysates, we studied an E. coli K-12 ethanologen fermenting a hydrolysate prepared from corn stover pretreated by ammonia fiber expansion. Despite the high sugar content (∼6% glucose, 3% xylose) and relatively low toxicity of this hydrolysate, E. coli ceased growth long before glucose was depleted. Nevertheless, the cells remained metabolically active and continued conversion of glucose to ethanol until all glucose was consumed. Gene expression profiling revealed complex and changing patterns of metabolic physiology and cellular stress responses during an exponential growth phase, a transition phase, and the glycolytically active stationary phase. During the exponential and transition phases, high cell maintenance and stress response costs were mitigated, in part, by free amino acids available in the hydrolysate. However, after the majority of amino acids were depleted, the cells entered stationary phase, and ATP derived from glucose fermentation was consumed entirely by the demands of cell maintenance in the hydrolysate. Comparative gene expression profiling and metabolic modeling of the ethanologen suggested that the high energetic cost of mitigating osmotic, lignotoxin, and ethanol stress collectively limits growth, sugar utilization rates, and ethanol yields in alkali-pretreated lignocellulosic hydrolysates.
[32] J. Schellenberger, D. C. Zielinski, W. Choi, S. Madireddi, V. Portnoy, D. a. Scott, J. L. Reed, A. L. Osterman, B. O. Palsson, "Predicting outcomes of steady-state 13C isotope tracing experiments using Monte Carlo sampling", BMC Systems Biology, vol. 6, no. 1, 2012, pp. 9. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Carbon-13 (13C) analysis is a commonly used method for estimating reaction rates in biochemical networks. The choice of carbon labeling pattern is an important consideration when designing these experiments. We present a novel Monte Carlo algorithm for finding the optimal substrate input label for a particular experimental objective (flux or flux ratio). Unlike previous work, this method does not require assumption of the flux distribution beforehand. RESULTS: Using a large E. coli isotopomer model, different commercially available substrate labeling patterns were tested computationally for their ability to determine reaction fluxes. The choice of optimal labeled substrate was found to be dependent upon the desired experimental objective. Many commercially available labels are predicted to be outperformed by complex labeling patterns. Based on Monte Carlo Sampling, the dimensionality of experimental data was found to be considerably less than anticipated, suggesting that effectiveness of 13C experiments for determining reaction fluxes across a large-scale metabolic network is less than previously believed. CONCLUSIONS: While 13C analysis is a useful tool in systems biology, high redundancy in measurements limits the information that can be obtained from each experiment. It is however possible to compute potential limitations before an experiment is run and predict whether, and to what degree, the rate of each reaction can be resolved.
[31] J. L. Reed, "Shrinking the Metabolic Solution Space Using Experimental Datasets", PLoS Computational Biology, vol. 8, no. 8, 2012. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: Constraint-based models of metabolism have been used in a variety of studies on drug discovery, metabolic engineering, evolution, and multi-species interactions. These genome-scale models can be generated for any sequenced organism since their main parameters (i.e., reaction stoichiometry) are highly conserved. Their relatively low parameter requirement makes these models easy to develop; however, these models often result in a solution space with multiple possible flux distributions, making it difficult to determine the precise flux state in the cell. Recent research efforts in this modeling field have investigated how additional experimental data, including gene expression, protein expression, metabolite concentrations, and kinetic parameters, can be used to reduce the solution space. This mini-review provides a summary of the data-driven computational approaches that are available for reducing the solution space and thereby improve predictions of intracellular fluxes by constraint-based models.
[30] J. Kim, J. L. Reed, "RELATCH: relative optimality in metabolic networks explains robust metabolic and regulatory responses to perturbations", Genome Biology, vol. 13, no. 9, 2012, pp. R78. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: Predicting cellular responses to perturbations is an important task in systems biology. We report a new approach, RELATCH, which uses flux and gene expression data from a reference state to predict metabolic responses in a genetically or environmentally perturbed state. Using the concept of relative optimality, which considers relative flux changes from a reference state, we hypothesize a relative metabolic flux pattern is maintained from one state to another, and that cells adapt to perturbations using metabolic and regulatory reprogramming to preserve this relative flux pattern. This constraint-based approach will have broad utility where predictions of metabolic responses are needed.
[29] J. Hamilton, J. Reed, "Identification of Functional Differences in Metabolic Networks Using Comparative Genomics and Constraint-Based Models", PLoS ONE, vol. 7, no. 4, 2012, pp. e34670. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: Genome-scale network reconstructions are useful tools for understanding cellular metabolism, and comparisons of such reconstructions can provide insight into metabolic differences between organisms. Recent efforts toward comparing genome-scale models have focused primarily on aligning metabolic networks at the reaction level and then looking at differences and similarities in reaction and gene content. However, these reaction comparison approaches are time-consuming and do not identify the effect network differences have on the functional states of the network. We have developed a bilevel mixed-integer programming approach, CONGA, to identify functional differences between metabolic networks by comparing network reconstructions aligned at the gene level. We first identify orthologous genes across two reconstructions and then use CONGA to identify conditions under which differences in gene content give rise to differences in metabolic capabilities. By seeking genes whose deletion in one or both models disproportionately changes flux through a selected reaction (e.g., growth or by-product secretion) in one model over another, we are able to identify structural metabolic network differences enabling unique metabolic capabilities. Using CONGA, we explore functional differences between two metabolic reconstructions of Escherichia coli and identify a set of reactions responsible for chemical production differences between the two models. We also use this approach to aid in the development of a genome-scale model of Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002. Finally, we propose potential antimicrobial targets in Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Staphylococcus aureus based on differences in their metabolic capabilities. Through these examples, we demonstrate that a gene-centric approach to comparing metabolic networks allows for a rapid comparison of metabolic models at a functional level. Using CONGA, we can identify differences in reaction and gene content which give rise to different functional predictions. Because CONGA provides a general framework, it can be applied to find functional differences across models and biological systems beyond those presented here.
[28] S. Imam, S. Yilmaz, U. Sohmen, A. S. Gorzalski, J. L. Reed, D. R. Noguera, T. J. Donohue, "iRsp1095: a genome-scale reconstruction of the Rhodobacter sphaeroides metabolic network.", BMC systems biology, vol. 5, no. 1, jan 2011, pp. 116. [abstract]
ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Rhodobacter sphaeroides is one of the best studied purple non-sulfur photosynthetic bacteria and serves as an excellent model for the study of photosynthesis and the metabolic capabilities of this and related facultative organisms. The ability of R. sphaeroides to produce hydrogen (H₂), polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) or other hydrocarbons, as well as its ability to utilize atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) as a carbon source under defined conditions, make it an excellent candidate for use in a wide variety of biotechnological applications. A genome-level understanding of its metabolic capabilities should help realize this biotechnological potential. RESULTS: Here we present a genome-scale metabolic network model for R. sphaeroides strain 2.4.1, designated iRsp1095, consisting of 1,095 genes, 796 metabolites and 1158 reactions, including R. sphaeroides-specific biomass reactions developed in this study. Constraint-based analysis showed that iRsp1095 agreed well with experimental observations when modeling growth under respiratory and phototrophic conditions. Genes essential for phototrophic growth were predicted by single gene deletion analysis. During pathway-level analyses of R. sphaeroides metabolism, an alternative route for CO₂ assimilation was identified. Evaluation of photoheterotrophic H2 production using iRsp1095 indicated that maximal yield would be obtained from growing cells, with this predicted maximum \~50% higher than that observed experimentally from wild type cells. Competing pathways that might prevent the achievement of this theoretical maximum were identified to guide future genetic studies. CONCLUSIONS: iRsp1095 provides a robust framework for future metabolic engineering efforts to optimize the solar- and nutrient-powered production of biofuels and other valuable products by R. sphaeroides and closely related organisms.
[27] I. Thiele, D. R. Hyduke, B. Steeb, G. Fankam, D. K. Allen, S. Bazzani, P. Charusanti, F. Chen, R. M. T. Fleming, C. a. Hsiung, S. C. J. De Keersmaecker, Y. Liao, K. Marchal, M. L. Mo, E. Özdemir, A. Raghunathan, J. L. Reed, S. Shin, S. Sigurbjörnsdóttir, J. Steinmann, S. Sudarsan, N. Swainston, I. M. Thijs, K. Zengler, B. O. Palsson, J. N. Adkins, D. Bumann, "A community effort towards a knowledge-base and mathematical model of the human pathogen Salmonella Typhimurium LT2.", BMC systems biology, vol. 5, 2011, pp. 8. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: Metabolic reconstructions (MRs) are common denominators in systems biology and represent biochemical, genetic, and genomic (BiGG) knowledge-bases for target organisms by capturing currently available information in a consistent, structured manner. Salmonella enterica subspecies I serovar Typhimurium is a human pathogen, causes various diseases and its increasing antibiotic resistance poses a public health problem.
[26] J. Kim, J. L. Reed and C. T. Maravelias, "Large-Scale Bi-Level strain design approaches and Mixed-Integer programming solution techniques", PLoS ONE, vol. 6, no. 9, 2011. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: The use of computational models in metabolic engineering has been increasing as more genome-scale metabolic models and computational approaches become available. Various computational approaches have been developed to predict how genetic perturbations affect metabolic behavior at a systems level, and have been successfully used to engineer microbial strains with improved primary or secondary metabolite production. However, identification of metabolic engineering strategies involving a large number of perturbations is currently limited by computational resources due to the size of genome-scale models and the combinatorial nature of the problem. In this study, we present (i) two new bi-level strain design approaches using mixed-integer programming (MIP), and (ii) general solution techniques that improve the performance of MIP-based bi-level approaches. The first approach (SimOptStrain) simultaneously considers gene deletion and non-native reaction addition, while the second approach (BiMOMA) uses minimization of metabolic adjustment to predict knockout behavior in a MIP-based bi-level problem for the first time. Our general MIP solution techniques significantly reduced the CPU times needed to find optimal strategies when applied to an existing strain design approach (OptORF) (e.g., from ∼10 days to ∼5 minutes for metabolic engineering strategies with 4 gene deletions), and identified strategies for producing compounds where previous studies could not (e.g., malate and serine). Additionally, we found novel strategies using SimOptStrain with higher predicted production levels (for succinate and glycerol) than could have been found using an existing approach that considers network additions and deletions in sequential steps rather than simultaneously. Finally, using BiMOMA we found novel strategies involving large numbers of modifications (for pyruvate and glutamate), which sequential search and genetic algorithms were unable to find. The approaches and solution techniques developed here will facilitate the strain design process and extend the scope of its application to metabolic engineering.
[25] X. Chen, A. P. Alonso, D. K. Allen, J. L. Reed, Y. Shachar-Hill, "Synergy between 13C-metabolic flux analysis and flux balance analysis for understanding metabolic adaption to anaerobiosis in E. coli", Metabolic Engineering, vol. 13, no. 1, 2011, pp. 38–48. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: Genome-based Flux Balance Analysis (FBA) and steady-state isotopic-labeling-based Metabolic Flux Analysis (MFA) are complimentary approaches to predicting and measuring the operation and regulation of metabolic networks. Here, genome-derived models of Escherichia coli (E. coli) metabolism were used for FBA and 13C-MFA analyses of aerobic and anaerobic growths of wild-type E. coli (K-12 MG1655) cells. Validated MFA flux maps reveal that the fraction of maintenance ATP consumption in total ATP production is about 14% higher under anaerobic (51.1%) than aerobic conditions (37.2%). FBA revealed that an increased ATP utilization is consumed by ATP synthase to secrete protons from fermentation. The TCA cycle is shown to be incomplete in aerobically growing cells and submaximal growth is due to limited oxidative phosphorylation. An FBA was successful in predicting product secretion rates in aerobic culture if both glucose and oxygen uptake measurement were constrained, but the most-frequently predicted values of internal fluxes yielded from sampling the feasible space differ substantially from MFA-derived fluxes. © 2010 Elsevier Inc.
[24] D. J. Baumler, R. G. Peplinski, J. L. Reed, J. D. Glasner, N. T. Perna, "The evolution of metabolic networks of E. coli", BMC Systems Biology, vol. 5, no. 1, 2011, pp. 182. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Despite the availability of numerous complete genome sequences from E. coli strains, published genome-scale metabolic models exist only for two commensal E. coli strains. These models have proven useful for many applications, such as engineering strains for desired product formation, and we sought to explore how constructing and evaluating additional metabolic models for E. coli strains could enhance these efforts.$\backslash$n$\backslash$nRESULTS: We used the genomic information from 16 E. coli strains to generate an E. coli pangenome metabolic network by evaluating their collective 76,990 ORFs. Each of these ORFs was assigned to one of 17,647 ortholog groups including ORFs associated with reactions in the most recent metabolic model for E. coli K-12. For orthologous groups that contain an ORF already represented in the MG1655 model, the gene to protein to reaction associations represented in this model could then be easily propagated to other E. coli strain models. All remaining orthologous groups were evaluated to see if new metabolic reactions could be added to generate a pangenome-scale metabolic model (iEco1712_pan). The pangenome model included reactions from a metabolic model update for E. coli K-12 MG1655 (iEco1339_MG1655) and enabled development of five additional strain-specific genome-scale metabolic models. These additional models include a second K-12 strain (iEco1335_W3110) and four pathogenic strains (two enterohemorrhagic E. coli O157:H7 and two uropathogens). When compared to the E. coli K-12 models, the metabolic models for the enterohemorrhagic (iEco1344_EDL933 and iEco1345_Sakai) and uropathogenic strains (iEco1288_CFT073 and iEco1301_UTI89) contained numerous lineage-specific gene and reaction differences. All six E. coli models were evaluated by comparing model predictions to carbon source utilization measurements under aerobic and anaerobic conditions, and to batch growth profiles in minimal media with 0.2% (w/v) glucose. An ancestral genome-scale metabolic model based on conserved ortholog groups in all 16 E. coli genomes was also constructed, reflecting the conserved ancestral core of E. coli metabolism (iEco1053_core). Comparative analysis of all six strain-specific E. coli models revealed that some of the pathogenic E. coli strains possess reactions in their metabolic networks enabling higher biomass yields on glucose. Finally the lineage-specific metabolic traits were compared to the ancestral core model predictions to derive new insight into the evolution of metabolism within this species.$\backslash$n$\backslash$nCONCLUSION: Our findings demonstrate that a pangenome-scale metabolic model can be used to rapidly construct additional E. coli strain-specific models, and that quantitative models of different strains of E. coli can accurately predict strain-specific phenotypes. Such pangenome and strain-specific models can be further used to engineer metabolic phenotypes of interest, such as designing new industrial E. coli strains.
[23] A. M. Wier, S. V. Nyholm, M. J. Mandel, R. P. Massengo-Tiassé, A. L. Schaefer, I. Koroleva, S. Splinter-Bondurant, B. Brown, L. Manzella, E. Snir, H. Almabrazi, T. E. Scheetz, M. D. F. Bonaldo, T. L. Casavant, M. B. Soares, J. E. Cronan, J. L. Reed, E. G. Ruby, M. J. McFall-Ngai, "Transcriptional patterns in both host and bacterium underlie a daily rhythm of anatomical and metabolic change in a beneficial symbiosis.", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 107, no. 5, 2010, pp. 2259–2264. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: Mechanisms for controlling symbiont populations are critical for maintaining the associations that exist between a host and its microbial partners. We describe here the transcriptional, metabolic, and ultrastructural characteristics of a diel rhythm that occurs in the symbiosis between the squid Euprymna scolopes and the luminous bacterium Vibrio fischeri. The rhythm is driven by the host's expulsion from its light-emitting organ of most of the symbiont population each day at dawn. The transcriptomes of both the host epithelium that supports the symbionts and the symbiont population itself were characterized and compared at four times over this daily cycle. The greatest fluctuation in gene expression of both partners occurred as the day began. Most notable was an up-regulation in the host of >50 cytoskeleton-related genes just before dawn and their subsequent down-regulation within 6 h. Examination of the epithelium by TEM revealed a corresponding restructuring, characterized by effacement and blebbing of its apical surface. After the dawn expulsion, the epithelium reestablished its polarity, and the residual symbionts began growing, repopulating the light organ. Analysis of the symbiont transcriptome suggested that the bacteria respond to the effacement by up-regulating genes associated with anaerobic respiration of glycerol; supporting this finding, lipid analysis of the symbionts' membranes indicated a direct incorporation of host-derived fatty acids. After 12 h, the metabolic signature of the symbiont population shifted to one characteristic of chitin fermentation, which continued until the following dawn. Thus, the persistent maintenance of the squid-vibrio symbiosis is tied to a dynamic diel rhythm that involves both partners.
[22] G. E. Pinchuk, E. a. Hill, O. V. Geydebrekht, J. de Ingeniis, X. Zhang, A. Osterman, J. H. Scott, S. B. Reed, M. F. Romine, A. E. Konopka, A. S. Beliaev, J. K. Fredrickson, J. L. Reed, "Constraint-based model of Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 metabolism: A tool for data analysis and hypothesis generation", PLoS Computational Biology, vol. 6, no. 6, 2010, pp. 1–8. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: Shewanellae are gram-negative facultatively anaerobic metal-reducing bacteria commonly found in chemically (i.e., redox) stratified environments. Occupying such niches requires the ability to rapidly acclimate to changes in electron donor/acceptor type and availability; hence, the ability to compete and thrive in such environments must ultimately be reflected in the organization and utilization of electron transfer networks, as well as central and peripheral carbon metabolism. To understand how Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 utilizes its resources, the metabolic network was reconstructed. The resulting network consists of 774 reactions, 783 genes, and 634 unique metabolites and contains biosynthesis pathways for all cell constituents. Using constraint-based modeling, we investigated aerobic growth of S. oneidensis MR-1 on numerous carbon sources. To achieve this, we (i) used experimental data to formulate a biomass equation and estimate cellular ATP requirements, (ii) developed an approach to identify cycles (such as futile cycles and circulations), (iii) classified how reaction usage affects cellular growth, (iv) predicted cellular biomass yields on different carbon sources and compared model predictions to experimental measurements, and (v) used experimental results to refine metabolic fluxes for growth on lactate. The results revealed that aerobic lactate-grown cells of S. oneidensis MR-1 used less efficient enzymes to couple electron transport to proton motive force generation, and possibly operated at least one futile cycle involving malic enzymes. Several examples are provided whereby model predictions were validated by experimental data, in particular the role of serine hydroxymethyltransferase and glycine cleavage system in the metabolism of one-carbon units, and growth on different sources of carbon and energy. This work illustrates how integration of computational and experimental efforts facilitates the understanding of microbial metabolism at a systems level.
[21] J. Kim, J. L. Reed, "OptORF: Optimal metabolic and regulatory perturbations for metabolic engineering of microbial strains.", BMC systems biology, vol. 4, 2010, pp. 53. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Computational modeling and analysis of metabolic networks has been successful in metabolic engineering of microbial strains for valuable biochemical production. Limitations of currently available computational methods for metabolic engineering are that they are often based on reaction deletions rather than gene deletions and do not consider the regulatory networks that control metabolism. Due to the presence of multi-functional enzymes and isozymes, computational designs based on reaction deletions can sometimes result in strategies that are genetically complicated or infeasible. Additionally, strains might not be able to grow initially due to regulatory restrictions. To overcome these limitations, we have developed a new approach (OptORF) for identifying metabolic engineering strategies based on gene deletion and overexpression. RESULTS: Here we propose an effective method to systematically integrate transcriptional regulatory networks and metabolic networks. This allows for the formulation of linear optimization problems that search for metabolic and/or regulatory perturbations that couple biomass and biochemical production, thus proposing adaptive evolutionary strain designs. Using genome-scale models of Escherichia coli, we have implemented the OptORF algorithm (which considers gene deletions and transcriptional regulation) and compared its metabolic engineering strategies for ethanol production to those found using OptKnock (which considers reaction deletions). Our results found that the reaction-based strategies often require more gene deletions to remove the identified reactions (2 more genes than reactions), and result in lethal growth phenotypes when transcriptional regulation is considered (162 out of 200 cases). Finally, we present metabolic engineering strategies for producing ethanol and higher alcohols (e.g. isobutanol) in E. coli using our OptORF approach. We have found common genetic modifications such as deletion of pgi and overexpression of edd, as well as chemical specific strategies for producing different alcohols. CONCLUSIONS: By taking regulatory effects into account, OptORF can propose changes such as the overexpression of metabolic genes or deletion of transcriptional factors, in addition to the deletion of metabolic genes, that may lead to faster evolutionary trajectories. While biofuel production in E. coli is evaluated here, the developed OptORF approach is general and can be applied to optimize the production of different compounds in other biological systems.
[20] D. Barua, J. Kim and J. L. Reed, "An automated phenotype-driven approach (GeneForce) for refining metabolic and regulatory models", PLoS Computational Biology, vol. 6, no. 10, 2010. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: Integrated constraint-based metabolic and regulatory models can accurately predict cellular growth phenotypes arising from genetic and environmental perturbations. Challenges in constructing such models involve the limited availability of information about transcription factor–gene target interactions and computational methods to quickly refine models based on additional datasets. In this study, we developed an algorithm, GeneForce, to identify incorrect regulatory rules and gene-protein-reaction associations in integrated metabolic and regulatory models. We applied the algorithm to refine integrated models of Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium, and experimentally validated some of the algorithm's suggested refinements. The adjusted E. coli model showed improved accuracy (∼80.0%) for predicting growth phenotypes for 50,557 cases (knockout mutants tested for growth in different environmental conditions). In addition to identifying needed model corrections, the algorithm was used to identify native E. coli genes that, if over-expressed, would allow E. coli to grow in new environments. We envision that this approach will enable the rapid development and assessment of genome-scale metabolic and regulatory network models for less characterized organisms, as such models can be constructed from genome annotations and cis-regulatory network predictions.
[19] J. L. Reed, "Descriptive and predictive applications of constraint-based metabolic models", Proceedings of the 31st Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society: Engineering the Future of Biomedicine, EMBC 2009, vol. 2009, 2009, pp. 5460–5463. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: Constraint-based models of metabolism are becoming available for an increasing number of organisms. These models can be used in combination with existing experimental data to describe the behavior of an organism and to analyze experimental observations in the context of a model. Such a descriptive application of the models can also allow for the integration of various types of data. Additionally, these models can be used in a predictive fashion to hypothesize the outcomes of new experiments. Comparing model predictions with experimental results allows for the iterative improvement of developed models and increases our understanding of the organism being studied. A number of recent examples of both descriptive and predictive applications of constraint-based models are discussed.
[18] A. Raghunathan, J. Reed, S. Shin, B. Palsson, S. Daefler, "Constraint-based analysis of metabolic capacity of Salmonella typhimurium during host-pathogen interaction.", BMC systems biology, vol. 3, 2009, pp. 38. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Infections with Salmonella cause significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. Replication of Salmonella typhimurium inside its host cell is a model system for studying the pathogenesis of intracellular bacterial infections. Genome-scale modeling of bacterial metabolic networks provides a powerful tool to identify and analyze pathways required for successful intracellular replication during host-pathogen interaction. RESULTS: We have developed and validated a genome-scale metabolic network of Salmonella typhimurium LT2 (iRR1083). This model accounts for 1,083 genes that encode proteins catalyzing 1,087 unique metabolic and transport reactions in the bacterium. We employed flux balance analysis and in silico gene essentiality analysis to investigate growth under a wide range of conditions that mimic in vitro and host cell environments. Gene expression profiling of S. typhimurium isolated from macrophage cell lines was used to constrain the model to predict metabolic pathways that are likely to be operational during infection. CONCLUSION: Our analysis suggests that there is a robust minimal set of metabolic pathways that is required for successful replication of Salmonella inside the host cell. This model also serves as platform for the integration of high-throughput data. Its computational power allows identification of networked metabolic pathways and generation of hypotheses about metabolism during infection, which might be used for the rational design of novel antibiotics or vaccine strains.
[17] A. M. Feist, M. J. Herrgå rd, I. Thiele, J. L. Reed, B. O. Palsson, "Reconstruction of biochemical networks in microorganisms.", Nature reviews. Microbiology, vol. 7, no. 2, 2009, pp. 129–143. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: Systems analysis of metabolic and growth functions in microbial organisms is rapidly developing and maturing. Such studies are enabled by reconstruction, at the genomic scale, of the biochemical reaction networks that underlie cellular processes. The network reconstruction process is organism specific and is based on an annotated genome sequence, high-throughput network-wide data sets and bibliomic data on the detailed properties of individual network components. Here we describe the process that is currently used to achieve comprehensive network reconstructions and discuss how these reconstructions are curated and validated. This review should aid the growing number of researchers who are carrying out reconstructions for particular target organisms.
[16] J. K. Fredrickson, M. F. Romine, A. S. Beliaev, J. M. Auchtung, M. E. Driscoll, T. S. Gardner, K. H. Nealson, A. L. Osterman, G. Pinchuk, J. L. Reed, D. a. Rodionov, J. L. M. Rodrigues, D. a. Saffarini, M. H. Serres, A. M. Spormann, I. B. Zhulin, J. M. Tiedje, "Towards environmental systems biology of Shewanella.", Nature reviews. Microbiology, vol. 6, no. 8, 2008, pp. 592–603. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: Bacteria of the genus Shewanella are known for their versatile electron-accepting capacities, which allow them to couple the decomposition of organic matter to the reduction of the various terminal electron acceptors that they encounter in their stratified environments. Owing to their diverse metabolic capabilities, shewanellae are important for carbon cycling and have considerable potential for the remediation of contaminated environments and use in microbial fuel cells. Systems-level analysis of the model species Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 and other members of this genus has provided new insights into the signal-transduction proteins, regulators, and metabolic and respiratory subsystems that govern the remarkable versatility of the shewanellae.
[15] O. Resendis-Antonio, J. L. Reed, S. Encarnación, J. Collado-Vides, B. Palsson, "Metabolic reconstruction and modeling of nitrogen fixation in Rhizobium etli", PLoS Computational Biology, vol. 3, no. 10, 2007, pp. 1887–1895. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: Rhizobiaceas are bacteria that fix nitrogen during symbiosis with plants. This symbiotic relationship is crucial for the nitrogen cycle, and understanding symbiotic mechanisms is a scientific challenge with direct applications in agronomy and plant development. Rhizobium etli is a bacteria which provides legumes with ammonia (among other chemical compounds), thereby stimulating plant growth. A genome-scale approach, integrating the biochemical information available for R. etli, constitutes an important step toward understanding the symbiotic relationship and its possible improvement. In this work we present a genome-scale metabolic reconstruction (iOR363) for R. etli CFN42, which includes 387 metabolic and transport reactions across 26 metabolic pathways. This model was used to analyze the physiological capabilities of R. etli during stages of nitrogen fixation. To study the physiological capacities in silico, an objective function was formulated to simulate symbiotic nitrogen fixation. Flux balance analysis (FBA) was performed, and the predicted active metabolic pathways agreed qualitatively with experimental observations. In addition, predictions for the effects of gene deletions during nitrogen fixation in Rhizobia in silico also agreed with reported experimental data. Overall, we present some evidence supporting that FBA of the reconstructed metabolic network for R. etli provides results that are in agreement with physiological observations. Thus, as for other organisms, the reconstructed genome-scale metabolic network provides an important framework which allows us to compare model predictions with experimental measurements and eventually generate hypotheses on ways to improve nitrogen fixation.
[14] A. M. Feist, C. S. Henry, J. L. Reed, M. Krummenacker, A. R. Joyce, P. D. Karp, L. J. Broadbelt, V. Hatzimanikatis, B. O. Palsson, "A genome-scale metabolic reconstruction for Escherichia coli K-12 MG1655 that accounts for 1260 ORFs and thermodynamic information.", Molecular systems biology, vol. 3, 2007, pp. 121. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: An updated genome-scale reconstruction of the metabolic network in Escherichia coli K-12 MG1655 is presented. This updated metabolic reconstruction includes: (1) an alignment with the latest genome annotation and the metabolic content of EcoCyc leading to the inclusion of the activities of 1260 ORFs, (2) characterization and quantification of the biomass components and maintenance requirements associated with growth of E. coli and (3) thermodynamic information for the included chemical reactions. The conversion of this metabolic network reconstruction into an in silico model is detailed. A new step in the metabolic reconstruction process, termed thermodynamic consistency analysis, is introduced, in which reactions were checked for consistency with thermodynamic reversibility estimates. Applications demonstrating the capabilities of the genome-scale metabolic model to predict high-throughput experimental growth and gene deletion phenotypic screens are presented. The increased scope and computational capability using this new reconstruction is expected to broaden the spectrum of both basic biology and applied systems biology studies of E. coli metabolism.
[13] J. L. Reed, T. R. Patel, K. H. Chen, A. R. Joyce, M. K. Applebee, C. D. Herring, O. T. Bui, E. M. Knight, S. S. Fong, B. O. Palsson, "Systems approach to refining genome annotation.", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 103, no. 46, 2006, pp. 17480–17484. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: Genome-scale models of Escherichia coli K-12 MG1655 metabolism have been able to predict growth phenotypes in most, but not all, defined growth environments. Here we introduce the use of an optimization-based algorithm that predicts the missing reactions that are required to reconcile computation and experiment when they disagree. The computer-generated hypotheses for missing reactions were verified experimentally in five cases, leading to the functional assignment of eight ORFs (yjjLMN, yeaTU, dctA, idnT, and putP) with two new enzymatic activities and four transport functions. This study thus demonstrates the use of systems analysis to discover metabolic and transport functions and their genetic basis by a combination of experimental and computational approaches.
[12] J. L. Reed, I. Famili, I. Thiele, B. O. Palsson, "Towards multidimensional genome annotation.", Nature reviews. Genetics, vol. 7, no. 2, 2006, pp. 130–141. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: Our information about the gene content of organisms continues to grow as more genomes are sequenced and gene products are characterized. Sequence-based annotation efforts have led to a list of cellular components, which can be thought of as a one-dimensional annotation. With growing information about component interactions, facilitated by the advancement of various high-throughput technologies, systemic, or two-dimensional, annotations can be generated. Knowledge about the physical arrangement of chromosomes will lead to a three-dimensional spatial annotation of the genome and a fourth dimension of annotation will arise from the study of changes in genome sequences that occur during adaptive evolution. Here we discuss all four levels of genome annotation, with specific emphasis on two-dimensional annotation methods.
[11] A. R. Joyce, J. L. Reed, A. White, R. Edwards, A. Osterman, T. Baba, H. Mori, S. a. Lesely, B. Palsson, S. Agarwalla, "Experimental and computational assessment of conditionally essential genes in Escherichia coli", Journal of Bacteriology, vol. 188, no. 23, 2006, pp. 8259–8271. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: Genome-wide gene essentiality data sets are becoming available for Escherichia coli, but these data sets have yet to be analyzed in the context of a genome scale model. Here, we present an integrative model-driven analysis of the Keio E. coli mutant collection screened in this study on glycerol-supplemented minimal medium. Out of 3,888 single-deletion mutants tested, 119 mutants were unable to grow on glycerol minimal medium. These conditionally essential genes were then evaluated using a genome scale metabolic and transcriptional-regulatory model of E. coli, and it was found that the model made the correct prediction in approximately 91% of the cases. The discrepancies between model predictions and experimental results were analyzed in detail to indicate where model improvements could be made or where the current literature lacks an explanation for the observed phenotypes. The identified set of essential genes and their model-based analysis indicates that our current understanding of the roles these essential genes play is relatively clear and complete. Furthermore, by analyzing the data set in terms of metabolic subsystems across multiple genomes, we can project which metabolic pathways are likely to play equally important roles in other organisms. Overall, this work establishes a paradigm that will drive model enhancement while simultaneously generating hypotheses that will ultimately lead to a better understanding of the organism.
[10] C. L. Barrett, C. D. Herring, J. L. Reed, B. O. Palsson, "The global transcriptional regulatory network for metabolism in Escherichia coli exhibits few dominant functional states.", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 102, no. 52, 2005, pp. 19103–19108. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: A principal aim of systems biology is to develop in silico models of whole cells or cellular processes that explain and predict observable cellular phenotypes. Here, we use a model of a genome-scale reconstruction of the integrated metabolic and transcriptional regulatory networks for Escherichia coli, composed of 1,010 gene products, to assess the properties of all functional states computed in 15,580 different growth environments. The set of all functional states of the integrated network exhibits a discernable structure that can be visualized in 3-dimensional space, showing that the transcriptional regulatory network governing metabolism in E. coli responds primarily to the available electron acceptor and the presence of glucose as the carbon source. This result is consistent with recently published experimental data. The observation that a complex network composed of 1,010 genes is organized to achieve few dominant modes demonstrates the utility of the systems approach for consolidating large amounts of genome-scale molecular information about a genome and its regulation to elucidate an organism's preferred environments and functional capabilities.
[9] J. L. Reed, B. Palsson, "Genome-scale in silico models of E. coli have multiple equivalent phenotypic states: Assessment of correlated reaction subsets that comprise network states", Genome Research, vol. 14, no. 9, 2004, pp. 1797–1805. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: The constraint-based analysis of genome-scale metabolic and regulatory networks has been successful in predicting phenotypes and useful for analyzing high-throughput data sets. Within this modeling framework, linear optimization has been used to study genome-scale metabolic models, resulting in the enumeration of single optimal solutions describing the best use of the network to support growth. Here mixed-integer linear programming was used to calculate and study a subset of the alternate optimal solutions for a genome-scale metabolic model of Escherichia coli (iJR904) under a wide variety of environmental conditions. Analysis of the calculated sets of optimal solutions found that: (1) only a small subset of reactions in the network have variable fluxes across optima; (2) sets of reactions that are always used together in optimal solutions, correlated reaction sets, showed moderate agreement with the currently known transcriptional regulatory structure in E. coli and available expression data, and (3) reactions that are used under certain environmental conditions can provide clues about network regulatory needs. In addition, calculation of suboptimal flux distributions, using flux variability analysis, identified reactions which are used under significantly more environmental conditions suboptimally than optimally. Together these results demonstrate the utilization of reactions in genome-scale models under a variety of different growth conditions.
[8] N. D. Price, J. L. Reed and B. O. Palsson, "Genome-scale models of microbial cells: evaluating the consequences of constraints.", Nature reviews. Microbiology, vol. 2, no. 11, 2004, pp. 886–897. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: Microbial cells operate under governing constraints that limit their range of possible functions. With the availability of annotated genome sequences, it has become possible to reconstruct genome-scale biochemical reaction networks for microorganisms. The imposition of governing constraints on a reconstructed biochemical network leads to the definition of achievable cellular functions. In recent years, a substantial and growing toolbox of computational analysis methods has been developed to study the characteristics and capabilities of microorganisms using a constraint-based reconstruction and analysis (COBRA) approach. This approach provides a biochemically and genetically consistent framework for the generation of hypotheses and the testing of functions of microbial cells.
[7] J. a. Papin, J. L. Reed and B. O. Palsson, "Hierarchical thinking in network biology: The unbiased modularization of biochemical networks", Trends in Biochemical Sciences, vol. 29, no. 12, 2004, pp. 641–647. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: As reconstructed biochemical reaction networks continue to grow in size and scope, there is a growing need to describe the functional modules within them. Such modules facilitate the study of biological processes by deconstructing complex biological networks into conceptually simple entities. The definition of network modules is often based on intuitive reasoning. As an alternative, methods are being developed for defining biochemical network modules in an unbiased fashion. These unbiased network modules are mathematically derived from the structure of the whole network under consideration.
[6] M. W. Covert, E. M. Knight, J. L. Reed, M. J. Herrgard, B. O. Palsson, "Integrating high-throughput and computational data elucidates bacterial networks.", Nature, vol. 429, no. 6987, 2004, pp. 92–96. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: The flood of high-throughput biological data has led to the expectation that computational (or in silico) models can be used to direct biological discovery, enabling biologists to reconcile heterogeneous data types, find inconsistencies and systematically generate hypotheses. Such a process is fundamentally iterative, where each iteration involves making model predictions, obtaining experimental data, reconciling the predicted outcomes with experimental ones, and using discrepancies to update the in silico model. Here we have reconstructed, on the basis of information derived from literature and databases, the first integrated genome-scale computational model of a transcriptional regulatory and metabolic network. The model accounts for 1,010 genes in Escherichia coli, including 104 regulatory genes whose products together with other stimuli regulate the expression of 479 of the 906 genes in the reconstructed metabolic network. This model is able not only to predict the outcomes of high-throughput growth phenotyping and gene expression experiments, but also to indicate knowledge gaps and identify previously unknown components and interactions in the regulatory and metabolic networks. We find that a systems biology approach that combines genome-scale experimentation and computation can systematically generate hypotheses on the basis of disparate data sources.
[5] J. L. Reed, B. O. Palsson, "Thirteen Years of Building Constraint-Based In Silico Models of Escherichia coli", Journal of Bacteriology, vol. 185, no. 9, may 2003, pp. 2692–2699.
[4] J. L. Reed, T. D. Vo, C. H. Schilling, B. O. Palsson, "An expanded genome-scale model of Escherichia coli K-12 (iJR904 GSM/GPR).", Genome biology, vol. 4, no. 9, jan 2003, pp. R54. [abstract]
ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Diverse datasets, including genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomic data, are becoming readily available for specific organisms. There is currently a need to integrate these datasets within an in silico modeling framework. Constraint-based models of Escherichia coli K-12 MG1655 have been developed and used to study the bacterium's metabolism and phenotypic behavior. The most comprehensive E. coli model to date (E. coli iJE660a GSM) accounts for 660 genes and includes 627 unique biochemical reactions. RESULTS: An expanded genome-scale metabolic model of E. coli (iJR904 GSM/GPR) has been reconstructed which includes 904 genes and 931 unique biochemical reactions. The reactions in the expanded model are both elementally and charge balanced. Network gap analysis led to putative assignments for 55 open reading frames (ORFs). Gene to protein to reaction associations (GPR) are now directly included in the model. Comparisons between predictions made by iJR904 and iJE660a models show that they are generally similar but differ under certain circumstances. Analysis of genome-scale proton balancing shows how the flux of protons into and out of the medium is important for maximizing cellular growth. CONCLUSIONS: E. coli iJR904 has improved capabilities over iJE660a. iJR904 is a more complete and chemically accurate description of E. coli metabolism than iJE660a. Perhaps most importantly, iJR904 can be used for analyzing and integrating the diverse datasets. iJR904 will help to outline the genotype-phenotype relationship for E. coli K-12, as it can account for genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic and fluxomic data simultaneously.
[3] J. L. Reed, B. O. Palsson, "Thirteen Years of Building Constraint-Based In Silico Models of Escherichia coli MINIREVIEW Thirteen Years of Building Constraint-Based In Silico Models of Escherichia coli", Society, vol. 185, no. 9, 2003. [doi]
[2] N. D. Price, J. L. Reed, J. a. Papin, I. Famili, B. O. Palsson, "Analysis of metabolic capabilities using singular value decomposition of extreme pathway matrices.", Biophysical journal, vol. 84, no. 2 Pt 1, 2003, pp. 794–804. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: It is now possible to construct genome-scale metabolic networks for particular microorganisms. Extreme pathway analysis is a useful method for analyzing the phenotypic capabilities of these networks. Many extreme pathways are needed to fully describe the functional capabilities of genome-scale metabolic networks, and therefore, a need exists to develop methods to study these large sets of extreme pathways. Singular value decomposition (SVD) of matrices of extreme pathways was used to develop a conceptual framework for the interpretation of large sets of extreme pathways and the steady-state flux solution space they define. The key results of this study were: 1), convex steady-state solution cones describing the potential functions of biochemical networks can be studied using the modes generated by SVD; 2), Helicobacter pylori has a more rigid metabolic network (i.e., a lower dimensional solution space and a more dominant first singular value) than Haemophilus influenzae for the production of amino acids; and 3), SVD allows for direct comparison of different solution cones resulting from the production of different amino acids. SVD was used to identify key network branch points that may identify key control points for regulation. Therefore, SVD of matrices of extreme pathways has proved to be a useful method for analyzing the steady-state solution space of genome-scale metabolic networks.
[1] N. D. Price, J. L. Reed, J. a. Papin, S. J. Wiback, B. O. Palsson, "Network-based analysis of metabolic regulation in the human red blood cell", Journal of Theoretical Biology, vol. 225, no. 2, 2003, pp. 185–194. [abstract] [doi]
ABSTRACT: Reconstruction of cell-scale metabolic networks is now possible. A description of allowable metabolic network functions can be obtained using extreme pathways, which are the convex basis vectors of the solution space containing all steady state flux distributions. However, only a portion of these allowable network functions are physiologically possible due to kinetic and regulatory constraints. Methods are now needed that enable us to take a defined metabolic network and deduce candidate regulatory structures that control the selection of these physiologically relevant states. One such approach is the singular value decomposition (SVD) of extreme pathway matrices (P), which allows for the characterization of steady state solution spaces. Eigenpathways, which are the left singular vectors from the SVD of P, can be described and categorized by their biochemical function. SVD of P for the human red blood cell showed that the first five eigenpathways, out of a total of 23, effectively characterize all the relevant physiological states of red blood cell metabolism calculated with a detailed kinetic model. Thus, with five degrees of freedom the magnitude and nature of the regulatory needs are defined. Additionally, the dominant features of these first five eigenpathways described key metabolic splits that are indeed regulated in the human red blood cell. The extreme pathway matrix is derived directly from network topology and only knowledge of Vmax values is needed to reach these conclusions. Thus, we have implemented a network-based analysis of regulation that complements the study of individual regulatory events. This topological approach may provide candidate regulatory structures for metabolic networks with known stoichiometry but poorly characterized regulation. © 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. |
Highlights: Visit West Point (West Point Military Academy), Woodbury.
Today we will drive north of the city. Our first stop will be the famous military academy, West Point, in the town of West Point, NY. Here, we will learn about the Unites States' military history. From there, we will make our way to Woodbury Commons Premium Outlets in Woodbury, NY for some bargain shopping. At the end of the day, we will head back to New York City . See "Departure and Return Details" for information.
We will arrange Military official guides to assist your visit at the academy, so you must prepare your effective ID card.
If you do not participate in the tour of West Point, shopping time will be more abundant.
Note: guests who depart from Brooklyn need a transfer to Woodbury at 8:30AM in Chinatown.
Return: Drop-off time is around 5:00pm to 7:00pm depend on the traffic.
A mandatory service fees for your tour guide and bus driver (Minimum $5.00/day per passenger ). This should be paid in cash.
This is a good tour. Heading to Westpoint before Woodbury is an excellent idea since Westpoint is very beautiful and only a short distance away from Woodbury. If you take the bus to Woodbury, you would miss Westpoint, so I would highly recommend this instead. |
Homage: AFI Fest Will Salute Sophia Loren
One of Italy's most premiere talents is stealing the spotlight at this year's American Film Institute Fest: Academy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA, Bambi, Cannes Film Festival, and César awards recipient Sophia Loren.
As part of its annual fête, the AFI Fest will pay tribute to Loren on November 12 with a 50th-anniversary screening of her 1964 film, Marriage Italian Style (Matrimonio all'italiana). Her portrayal of a shrewd mistress in the movie nabbed Loren her second Oscar nomination. She won the Best Actress award years earlier for Two Women (La ciociara), making her the first actress to win the category for a foreign-language film. Nearly 60 years—and 60 films—later, she represents what AFI deems staying power.
"Sophia Loren is a quintessential screen legend," said festival director Jacqueline Lyanga. "And it is a privilege to honor her with a tribute that showcases our appreciation of her six decades of influence and outstanding work."
AFI president and CEO Bob Gazzale echoes those sentiments.
"In a world where the daily obsession seems to be, 'What's next?' Sophia Loren is a rare and welcome reminder that true talent is timeless," Gazzale said in a statement. "It is AFI's honor to shine a proper light on all the gifts she's given the world across the years."
The AFI Fest will run November 6—13 in Los Angeles.
Sophia LorenAngel LeniseStar ScoopAmerican Film Instituteafi fest |
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Nokia Asha 500 and Asha 503 are set to launch in INDIA – Specs, Reviews and Price.
As we all know Nokia has added three new phones in its Asha series, they are Asha 500, Asha 502 and Asha 503. The Nokia Asha 502 is already launched in INDIA, and now the company has confirmed that the Nokia Asha 500 and Nokia Asha 503 will be available in the country very soon.
According to press release from Nokia, the Asha 500 will be launched later this month and the Asha 503 will be launched in early days of January 2014. The company has said that the Asha 500 will be available for Rs. 4,499 and the Asha 503 will be available for Rs. 6,799.
Nokia Asha 500 features a 2.8-inch QVGA screen with 64 MB of RAM. It supports up to 32GB microSD card and has other features like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, EDGE etc. The phone is packed with 2MP rear Camera with no LED flash and is powered by 1,200 mAh battery.
Display: 2.8 inch QVGA Display.
Connectivity: Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi, 2G.
SD card Slot: yes, supports up to 32GB microSD card.
Other Features: FM radio, social networking apps like Facebook, whatsApp etc.
Nokia Asha 503 on the other hand features a 3 inch QVGA display, little larger than Asha 500. Nokia Asha 500 and Asha 503 have almost similar specs, the differ only with Display and Camera. Nokia Asha 503 has 64MB RAM and 32GB microSD card support. It packs a 5MP rear Camera with LED Flash and is powered by the same 1200 mAh battery in Asha 500.
Display: 3 inch QVGA display.
Camera: 5MP rear Camera with LED flash.
Nokia claims that Asha 500 to be the lowest priced device to support WhatsApp, and Nokia has also introduced special plans for Tata Docomo subscribers. It has also claimed that Asha 503 is the first device to feature a scratch resistance, curved Corning Gorilla Glass protection in the affordable Asha series.
So among the above two devices which is your favourite device and why. Do let us know in the comment section. |
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