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This number, in the form of /020 or /T20, shows the station number and its order (accuracy). A straight / and number show the station was a secondary station. A /T and a number shows the station was fixed as a tertiary or fourth-order station. A station number preceded by /H show the station was emplaced by the UK Hydrographic Office and fixed to fourth-order standards.
A station number preceded by /DM show the station was a 'distomat' observed station, fixed to fourth-order standards. The distomat stations were only fixed by observing distances and not angles, unlike other stations that were fixed by angle and distance methods. There are stations that have combinations of these numbers, for example, HU22/DM/T012. |
Texts by: Debora Ferrari, Luca Traini, Andrea Ferrari, Elena Di Raddo, Ambra Bonaiuto, Salvatore Mica and Salvatore Fallica, Alessandra Coppa, Matteo Bittanti, Domenico Quaranta, Mauro Nicolini, Eleonora Charans, Chiara Di Stefano, Cristina Casero, Federico Salerno, Kevin McManus, Margherita Balzerani, Jaime d'Alessandro.
Works by: Samuele Arcangioli, Marco Cadioli, Federico Castronuovo, Mauro Ceolin, Damiano Colacito, Paolo Della Corte, Massimo Giuntoli, Auriea Harvey & Michael Samyn, IOCOSE, Lorne Lanning and Sherry McKenna, Les Liens Invisibles, Miltos Manetas, Eva and Franco Mattes aka 0100101110101101.org, Molleindustria, Mikayel Ohanjanyan, Gabriella Parisi, Antonio Riello, Alessandra Rigano, Santa Ragione, Marianna Santoni, Federico Solmi, Stefano Spera, Tonylight, VjVISUALOOP, Jan Vormann, TIBE, Carlo Zanni, and many more.
NEOLUDICA. ART IS A GAME (Extended) from VjVISUALOOP on Vimeo.
Neoludica. Art is a game. Biennale Venezia from VjVISUALOOP on Vimeo.
Da martedì a domenica, dalle 12.00 alle 18.00.
Chiusura estiva dall'8 al 17 agosto 2011.
In August, the show at the Sala dei Laneri can be visited from Tuesday to Sunday, 12.00 – 18.00. The show will be closed from August 8 to August 17, 2011.
FOTONICA from Santa Ragione on Vimeo.
"Fotonica Is the Best Flash Game You Haven't Played…Yet" è il titolo dell'articolo che Emerson Rosenthal dedica a Fotonica sul blog di The Creators Project, il sito frutto della partnership tra Vice Magazine e Intel. Italians Do It Better!!… o no?!? Qui sotto il seguito dell'articolo.
Holy father of first-person computer gaming, Italian game design team Santa Ragione just released the full version of their lo-fi, hi-fun flash runner, Fotonica. Best of all, it's a "pay what you want" download available on their site!
The game features an incredibly intuitive single-button playing system (jokes!) that allows you to run, run faster, jump up, and land, as well as five strikingly beautiful vector/wireframe levels, each with their own respective themes and strategies. While the duotone graphics and "one button interface" err on the simpler side of things (even for a Flash game), it's the smoothness, pacing, and immersive nature of full-screened first person that makes Fotonica a veritable black hole to lose yourself in. The game even features a sixth, procedurally generated level that theoretically won't end until you do, which, let me just say, is perfect for in-office productivity (sorry, Vice!).
If the trailer doesn't have you convinced, download Fotonica and kick it around. If you enjoy it, feel free to donate the recommended $1.75. Or you can just pass the link on to a friend—their boss will be really glad you did.
Santa Ragione is a 'micro-game design' team based in Milan.
Stefano Mazzoni, "Quando il gioco si fa arte", in Artribune, 4 luglio 2011.
Pau Waelder on Italians Do It Better!!
Spanish art critic Pau Waelder just posted a long review on Italians Do It Better!! on the blog Arte, Cultura y Innovacion, supported by the LABoral Centro de Arte and the Universidad Oberta de Catalunya. In Spanish. |
Just finished Paul Tremblay's "The Cabin at the End of the World". The basic story of a male gay couple and their adopted daughter being held hostage by four mysterious intruders makes this a spine-tingling thriller read. I won't spoil that ensues but I will warn you not to expect a satisfying ending. The novel is beautifully written, constructed and well worth your time. The vivid descriptions are terrifying. Don't be surprised if you have a restless nightmare fueled sleep while reading. |
Local government communicators can use this page to share ideas and best practice with their colleagues across the sector.
Our communications support case studies resource is constantly updated. Check here regularly to see what is new.
We aim to host the very best innovative approaches to communications. If you are interested in sharing a case study, please email [email protected]. |
Are you Greenwin's Next East-Coast Property Manager?
Dog Day's of Summer - 59 Isabella.
Tenant BBQ at 51 Trailridge Cr.
LIGHTS, SIRENS, ACTION at Craigton Dr.
Tenants Go Ballooning at 59, 81-83 Isabella and 60 Gloucester Sts. |
Today I reprised a bit of what we discussed yesterday – how Jared, seeing the fragmenting of his society's language, implores his brother to ask the Lord that at least the two of them will retain understanding of each other. The brother of Jared does so and the Lord says yes, due to his goodness.
Then Jared, thinking about their friends, requests that his brother implore the Lord that their language not be scrambled, either. The brother of Jared asks and the Lord bequeaths.
Jared, ever insightful, would like to know if they are going to be scattered and asks his brother to find out. And then here is where Jared is so visionary. He suggest that his brother request that IF they are going to be scattered, why not be scattered to the most blest of all places?
The Lord says yes and then tops that, saying He'll make of Jared's people the greatest of all civilizations. And the kicker? This is where I reminded the kids of the final question from yesterday's "Spiritual Midterm": Does the Lord get tired of our prayers?
I reminded the students that the final sentence in Ether 1 answers that question. The Lord does NOT get tired of our petitions. In fact, we are taught TO pray. I shared with the class several of the quotes in the manual and bore testimony as to the importance of praying for help.
Then I passed out popsicle sticks, some long, some short. I asked the class to think. If they had the same opportunity (which they do – thus, the purpose of this whole activity) to approach the Lord to petition for their greatest desires, what would be their requests? Jared had three requests; I wanted them to think of six (for the purpose of the activity, I needed them to come up with six to match the 2nd half of the activity).
They wrote each of their requests, in pen, on one of the popsicle sticks.
Then we looked at Ether 2. We noticed that the first three verses were all about "Preparation." I had them write that word out to the side of those three verses. Then next four verses were about "obedience," as we read that the families were obedient in gathering to the "quarter where there never had man been" (vs 5) as asked by the Lord. I asked the kids to write "Obedience" to the side of these verses.
They looked and quickly saw that the Lord had vowed to sweep off any unrighteous inhabitants from the promised land. We saw this as a class during our previous study of Mormon, in the destruction of the Nephites, and I told the class we would be seeing this by the end of the Jaredites' history.
Therefore, I asked them to write "Caution" to the side of the promised-wrath verses.
Then we saw how in vss. 14-15 how the Lord chastened the brother of Jared, and how beautifully Jared's brother responded to the admonition of the Lord (as opposed, say, to the response of Laman and Lemuel).
We discussed how when we repent, we then receive further light and knowledge from the Lord, just as Jared's brother did (in the second half of vs 15). The class wrote "Repent" to the side of vss. 14-15.
Then we noticed the Lord told Jared's people to build the barges in a certain way, as found in vss. 16-17. We wrote "Trust" by the side of these verses, noting the trust these people had by eventually committing themselves into these barges.
And finally, we wrote "Ask" by the side of vss. 18-19, where the discourse begins again with the brother of Jared petitioning the Lord regarding certain issues with the barges.
I wanted the students to see that in this example, as with all examples, when the Lord gives a blessing, that is NOT all that needs to happen. Just as Lehi had received the promised land prior to ever arriving, but needed to work really hard to bring it about – so, too, did the brother of Jared receive a promise. But his people also had to go through many steps to bring it to pass.
I wanted the students to think on this. That's why our next step included writing each of the six summary words (Prepare, Obedience, Caution, Repent, Trust, Ask) on the flip side of their sticks (where they'd written their desires of the Lord).
Then I suggested they were ready to build their own spiritual barges. We had initially started off class today by looking at a newspaper report of the very sad bombing in Iraq yesterday. We talked living in the last days and about how going through life will require complete trust in the Lord, and that as we build our own spiritual barges to travel to our personal promised lands, we will be found capable and eternally successful of receiving the Lord's blessings – because of our willing obedience and hearkening ear.
I bore my testimony as to the power of prayer and how much Heavenly Father loves us. He desires us to think for ourselves and to come to Him as we have needs. For after all, as we read in the scriptures, what father would give his son a snake or a stick if his son asked for a fish?
But I shared that as we come to the Lord and receive promised blessings, we're not done! The brother of Jared received affirmation as to Jared's original petitions. But all was not done. They had seeds and animals to gather, they had barges to build, and they had a journey of effort yet to undertake to then receive those promised blessings.
I promised the students that as they "prepared", "obeyed," were "cautious" as they went through life, "trusted", "repented", and "asked", that the Lord would bring them also to their promised blessings.
We closed by having them create their own personal barges of faith by arranging their petition sticks on the paper and gluing them in place. The kids could choose whether they wanted to place their petitions right-side up or the obedience-reminder sides right-side up for their barges – whichever felt the most important to remember for them.
Hopefully as we went through this activity, they had the opportunity to personally apply this ancient record in a deeper way to their own life, with their own current needs. For truly the Lord is a Lord of goodness. We read in D&C 111:11 that He stands to bless us with the richest of blessings AS SOON as we are ready to receive them.
All we need to do is ready ourselves, ask, and then prepare and work in many ways to receive them. By so doing, we can walk in the same footsteps that the brother of Jared did. That's a pretty good path!
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just another early-morning-seminary-teacher mom! :0)Free resources for the LDS seminary teacher. |
Desire to quit drinking, willingness to listen to suggestions and help yourself.
Delta Intergroup of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) provides all the necessary information on meetings, times and places for AA in the area. Various meetings are available including open meetings, closed meeting for alcoholics only, men only and women only. Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women of all ages, creeds, races and socioeconomic backgrounds, who share their experience with each other to recover from alcoholism. AA is available to provide help to alcoholics 24-hours per day, 7 days per week, by using the hotline number. AA also provides presentations on its program of recovery to public or professional groups. Please call hotline for dates, additional sites and times of meetings throughout San Joaquin County.
Office hours: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Hotline available 24-hours per day, 7 days per week. |
Macrohyliota spinicollis is een keversoort uit de familie spitshalskevers (Silvanidae). De wetenschappelijke naam van de soort werd in 1829 gepubliceerd door Hippolyte Louis Gory.
Spitshalskevers |
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Please feel free to contact a member of friendly and helpful team for advice should you wish to apply for a Tier 2 (Sportsperson) visa. |
Month / March 2008
March 31, 2008 March 31, 2008 by Edward Champion
Apologies for the slack content here. It's been busy. But things should be more or less back to regular prolificity tomorrow. Four more podcasts have been released at The Bat Segundo Show, including a return appearance by LBC-nominated author Jeffrey Ford that pertains to his latest book, The Shadow Year. Three more podcasts are forthcoming in a few days, all of them return appearances — including two authors who were nominated by the LBC. As time permits, I'm hoping to check in with many of the authors who the LBC once championed as they put out more books and come through New York, while also keeping the floodgates open for emerging and overlooked literary talents.
There are also some lengthy FH pieces coming from other authors. Keep watching the skies.
Meta Meta Meta
Darby Dixon points to a troubling new trend among today's cultural tastemakers. Today, a professional writer can now be employed to write about reading about writing or reading about writing about reading, with several nots thrown in at random intervals, if we assume the writers to be keeping track. I must confess that all this gives me a headache. The silence is not pillowy exactly. But it is certainly quite silly and possibly Freudian.
I feel that I have contributed to this atmosphere with lengthy blog posts responding to reviews of books, and therefore exhort all to point to my culpability in the matter. In my defense, I should note that I never suggested to an editor that I should collect a check for writing such a piece. But now I am writing about writing about writing about reading, thereby adding a fourth layer of self-reference. And should you, dear readers, decide to comment upon this post, you will be writing about writing about writing about writing about reading. And how then can we live with ourselves?
All this sets a bad precedent for meta, dutifully putting the Quine in quinine. (Quite literally.) Or does it? Is there no limit to the onion?
Of the three paragraphs I have now written, I think the first one is probably the best, although I'll probably change my mind when I approach this sentence's period.
I am still unaware of how one "stabs over" to an online bookstore. This suggests that the online bookstore is a carapace to be pierced. And perhaps it is, assuming that it possesses the corporeal qualities of reference. Perhaps the preposition is the dagger I see before me or just a creepy beast caught in the morphological undertow. So I'll see your self-reference and raise you with evidence to the contrary:
The Early Films of Jim Henson
Film, henson-jim, Media, Television
films, jim henson, Media, Television
Before the days of Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, Jim Henson was an independent filmmaker in New York, making experimental films between commercial gigs. It was the mid-sixties. According to John Bell's Strings, Hands, Shadows: A Modern Puppet History, Henson was sharing a workshop space for a few months in the basement of a New York City library with a German sculptor and choreographer named Peter Schumann. Schumann specialized in avant-garde performances, entertaining crowds with masks, puppets, and postmodern dance, often employing these for political demonstrations.
In watching 1965's "Time Piece," seen above and recently unearthed by Metafilter, it's difficult to consider it without Schumann in mind. The film played in New York theaters on a double bill with Claude Lelouch's A Man and a Woman and concerns itself with a man (played by Henson) being examined in a hospital. As the clock ticks away, a grand surrealistic array of experiential memories overtakes his existence. Gorillas bounce on pogo sticks. There is the quiet Kermit-like plea of "Help!" Chickens emerge in strip clubs. And all this is intercut with optically printed pixellated squares.
The film is set to a intermittent drum rhythm that echoes the heartbeat of time. What's particularly intriguing is that, according to David P. Campbell's The Complete Inklings, "Time Piece" so captured Campbell's imagination that the film was shown at an a seminar at the Minnesota Statewide Testing Program annual conference, with Henson's film projected on one screen and the test results of a random individual projected on another. The idea was to show Henson's film, with Campbell announcing to the students, "We should always remember that there is a person behind each of these test scores; to make that point dramatically, here is one person's test scores and here is a product of his considerable imagination."
This permissive cultural climate permitted Henson to make "The Cube" in 1969, a teleplay that independent filmmaker Vincenzo Natali appears to have handily pilfered from.
A protagonist, known only as "The Man in the Cube," is trapped inside a cube of white rectangular panels, with strange individuals who enter and exit through other doors. This premise gave Henson the opportunity to explore a wide variety of topics: racism, sexism, the realm between reality and fantasy. There is even reference to the fourth wall. At one point, a professor addresses the man, pointing out that he is in a television play.
Believe it or not, "The Cube" was commissioned for a television series called Experiment in Television, a now forgotten program that aired on NBC between 1968 and 1971. This series came about because NBC needed filler material to provide late Sunday afternoon programming when the football season had ended. And they decided, quite amazingly, to provide a venue without commercials for documentaries and experimental films.
In the end, it was public television that secured Henson's rise to fame. But today, unless you're as squeaky-clean as Ken Burns, your prospects for national exposure are slim. Now that the first season of Sesame Street has been issued on DVD, it's been issued with a parental advisory reading, "These early 'Sesame Street' episodes are intended for grown-ups, and may not suit the needs of today's preschool child." The idea of children running around an inner city, looking to learning as a way out, is apparently too threatening a concept.
Given this drastic shift in priorities — the unusual idea of commissioning an experimental film for a testing conference, the now antediluvian notion of creating a space on national television where filmmakers can pursue alternative ideas, and the censure on anything slightly offensive to "suit the needs" of children — one is forced to contemplate the current media atmosphere. Certainly, there is YouTube and the Internet. But this online landscape increasingly values views — and thereby advertising revenue — over notions that are not popular or lucrative, and one wonders just how tomorrow's Hensons will thrive. Of course, any artist who feels compelled to create will not let any obstacle stop him. But by hindering the spectrum of expression with our priorities (what sells, what's safe, et al.), I'm wondering if we're closing the floodgates to those who might have new and innovative ways to get a mass audience excited about the world around us.
David Kamp, Blog Snob
Book Reviewing, Music, New York Times, Tanenhaus, Sam
david kamp, dwight garner, New York Times, new york times book review, Sam Tanenhaus
Ten years from now, we'll all be inured to David Kamp. A whole generation will have grown up as his book, The United States of Arugula, has been long forgotten — the remaining copies pulped or perhaps used as oversized skeet shooting pellets, because they couldn't even sell as remainders. For what imagination can one expect from a hack writer whose grand contributions to letters include The Food Snob's Dictionary, The Film Snob's Dictionary, The Rock Snob's Dictionary, and The Wine Snob's Dictionary? (One senses a trend. A writer so content to plant the word "snob" to his contributions in four different terrains, even satirically, must truly be an insufferable asshole.)
Right now, this great parvenu David Kamp has turned the prick of his pen to blogs. Using the finest epithets that 1999 had to offer, Kamp rails against the "untamed blogosphere" and the "Wild Web." He displays his considerable ignorance in suggesting that the Smoking Gun is merely a place "best known for the documents it unearths via the Freedom of Information Act," failing to understand that it was indeed the Smoking Gun that broke the James Frey scandal. This was the kind of lengthy investigative journalism that the New York Times once practiced, before it turned its resources to the women who New York governors were schtupping. (There's also this neat little thing called the Internet Archive! Wow! That's even better than the brand new 56k modem I bought last month from a guy on the street who said that it was "cutting edge.")
He is content to cast aspersions about specific blogs based entirely on their titles ("cutesie-poo," "mock-suave," et al.), without bothering to cite any specific examples as to how the content lives up to these modifiers. (Look, I think the name "David Kamp" sounds like some cult member waiting for the big day when his shaky pyrotechnics knowledge will be enlisted in the jihad, or, failing that, the sad and klutzy moment when he accidentally blows off his hands and it's all settled up as a dutiful sacrifice to The Leader. But you won't see me belittling the man's three syllables. Particularly when his piss-poor argument is so patently ridiculous.)
Indeed, Kamp appears so deaf to the idea of text that he compares Sarah Boxer's post-excerpt pages to Johnny Carson. In this age of Quark and word processors, Kamp can't seem to wrap his head around the concept of text being read on an LCD screen and later transposed to book form. It's certainly bad enough that Kamp can't even get his medium right. But in citing Johnny Carson, a dead talk show host who has been rotting under the earth quite well for three years and who hasn't aired on a regular basis in sixteen years, Kamp demonstrates that he is as culturally au courant as a Deadhead who doesn't quite understand that Jerry Garcia's fat ass has been long chewed up by the maggots.
In Kamp's view, a blogger cannot just have an "esoteric interest." He feels compelled to add the word "obsessive," as if those who compose their words for a screen are no different from Branch Davidians. He is quick to tell us that "[i]n the case of the blogger Benjamin Zimmer, a linguistic anthropologist, it's language that turns him on." That reminds me of the case of the quantum physicist who was turned on by quantum physics. Or David Kamp, the dumbass book critic who was turned on by dumbass observations.
Of course, reading sections of a 368 page book — composed of speedy prose, no less — was "a chore" for poor David Kamp. Kamp doesn't report if he's ever done a day of hard labor in his life, something like working on a farm or in a warehouse that might offer a sufficient comparative basis. (I'll take a wild guess: no.) He doesn't say what or why. That, of course, would involve actual thought. He merely says that what David Byrne does on his blog is a thousand times better than what Momus does on his. When Kamp resorts to ratios like this, he demonstrates that the true soporific wonkery on display here is not found within blogs, but in Kamp's utter failure to provide any substantive analysis.
Leafing through much of David Kamp's indolent and hastily assembled review — lightweight thought, lack of curiosity, comic misfires, recountings of personal travail (i.e., the "chore") — I was reminded less of a book review than of a dreary speech delivered by a doddering conspiracy theorist for a Rotary International chapter. Sure, you want to encourage the man. But you would never expect his ramblings to be published in The New York Times Book Review. Not without a team of editors to rival a junta. And even then, there's the old adage about cooks and broth.
And who is Kamp to speculate about Boxer's vacillating motivations in writing the book? Can't Boxer change her mind?
A thoughtful, and even critical, review of blog writing is by no means a dreadful idea for a newspaper piece. But this particular review goes well beyond a missed opportunity. If the NYTBR has any good sense, it will have a team of security guards punch David Kamp in the face if he ever tries to set up a lunch meeting with Sam Tanenhaus or Dwight Garner again.
NYPL: Nicholson Baker & Simon Winchester
Baker, Nicholson, Human Smoke, winchester-simon
Human Smoke, New York, new york public library, nicholson baker, simon winchester
On Thursday night, a crowd congregated into a subterranean hall of the New York Public Library to listen to Simon Winchester interview Nicholson Baker. Mr. Baker wore a green vest and a low-key suit. Mr. Winchester was dressed in a gaudy blue pinstriped suit and a yellow shirt, with a dark red handkerchief drifting out of his outer pocket like a haphazard eleventh-hour accessory.
Baker was soft-spoken, effusive with his hands, and sometimes quietly gushed, particularly when talking about the "lush, colorful" nature of the New York World, one of the early 20th century newspapers that had been in his prodigious collection. Winchester was often sharp and crisp with his questioning, exuding the aura of a fussy countertenor waiting for a cadre choristers to marvel upon his ostensible magnificence, but he was good enough to point out that it was "Nick's night." At one point, Winchester poured water only into his glass. Baker, by contrast, filled both his own glass and Winchester's. Winchester kept his gaze upon Baker throughout the conversation, rarely glancing to the audience. Baker, by contrast, regularly opened himself to the audience when expressing himself.
Shortly after sitting in his seat, Winchester announced to the crowd, "This is not going to be a lovefest." But despite this pledge of pugilism, Winchester played it relatively safe. He had snide comments pertaining to Adam Kirsch's review. Contra Kirsch, he pointed out that "stupid, but scary" seemed an appropriate line to discuss war.
Alluding to Checkpoint, Baker observed that his purpose in writing that novel was to ask a simple question: "If you think that your single action can solve the problem, is there a way that someone can talk you out of the problem?" But Baker pointed to Emily Dickinson's maxim about telling all the truth but telling it slant. Fiction could only go so far. And thus, Human Smoke emerged from these meditations.
Baker pointed out that for every book he has written, he would generally get one third of the way into it before "something goes wrong." Then, he sets it aside. But he had been working on a book-length history of the Library of Congress, dwelling in particular upon Archibald MacLeish, who was the Librarian of Congress in 1939. MacLeish would go onto become a key propaganda figure during the war. And thus Baker found himself immersed in "an interpretive problem." He had to understand World War II. So he put aside this project and Human Smoke began to take shape.
In discussing the difference between his fiction and nonfiction, Baker noted, "Fear plays a large part in all this. You want to avoid exposing himself." It was with this attitude that he tackled the more elaborate project of Human Smoke, of which he pointed out that he couldn't do justice to the full experience of the war.
Winchester asked Baker about whether it was reasonable to rely almost exclusively on newspapers — the so-called first draft of history — for his book at the expense of historians who came later. Baker pointed out that the reporter who wrote about a major event he experienced "had the balance of things in his mind that brings you to the moment." He cited the exploding soup cans during the bombing of Coventry — a detail that seemed particularly apposite to his framing of history. He pointed out that newspapers would reprint the entire text of a radio speech and noted that, within the letters to the editor section, one could find a great array of voices.
In dwelling upon Human Smoke's cast of characters, Baker expressed great curiosity about Herbert Hoover and pointed out that Victor Klemperer was "an interesting man, a sad man." But he pointed out that just because he put a quote into the book, this did not mean that he necessarily believed in it. Of Gandhi, he observed, "Sometimes there's a coldness that's very disturbing."
Baker appeared deeply troubled by World War II priorities. He said, "It was easier to fight a war against Germans than it was to allow Jewish refugees." But he pointed out that he was not qualified. On the question of whether America knew about the Pearl Harbor invasion in advance, Baker opted to "defer to the experts." Later in the evening, Baker said, "Who were the people who came out of the war with greatness and nobility? The Jews." And there was an uncomfortable silence from the audience, who began to grow a bit restless.
When I interviewed Mr. Winchester in late 2006, he insisted to me that he was a historian, not a journalist, and expressed umbrage at my notion that he was "covering" the 1906 earthquake, pointing out that historians look back on events with "perspective." This perspective, however, was not particularly evident last night.
Four of his questions pilfered very specific points that were presented during the Human Smoke roundtable discussion — all, of course, without reference. Not only did Winchester read aloud the exact same section from Checkpoint that was referenced on these pages, but he also brought up Jeanette Rankin, the controversy involving the Treaty of Versailles (raised by Colleen Mondor), and the efforts by Cardinal Clemens von Galen to suspend the T-4 program. I wondered if Winchester had spent that afternoon Googling to prepare for a book that had slipped his mind since he blurbed it many months ago.
There was a telling indicator of this propensity during the post-discussion Q&A. Asked about Human Smoke, Mr. Winchester pointed out that he had problems with Baker's book, but that he would defend his right to write it. The delightful and quick-thinking Paul Holdengräber pointed out that Winchester's line had originated from Voltaire.
Despite these quibbles, I actually liked Winchester. He was dry and mostly unsmiling, save through a few belabored grimaces that seemed more directed at the CSPAN cameras dutifully videotaping this conversation for Book TV than the audience who had shelled out $15 a head to see this. But he was quite entertaining as a Jeremy Paxman-style interviewer. At one point, he asked Baker point blank about the apparently unquestionable natural impulses that cause people and creatures to kill, citing a gorilla video that had been emailed to him, and some incident involving chickens on his cozy farm in Connecticut as evidence of these apparent impulses. He even managed to find a way to name drop Tom Brokaw — "who is a friend and who I like." Winchester was an enjoyable blowhard, more Phineas Barnum than Phineas Finn. And juxtaposing his blustery presence with the more empathic Baker worked quite well.
Despite revealing himself later to be a dedicated Malthusian (and this charge seemed more a piece of contrarian theater than bona-fide ideology), Mr. Winchester partially acquitted himself when he bailed Baker out as he was responding to a question from the audience about whether America should now begin negotiating with Islamic fundamentalists. As Baker fumbled for an answer, Winchester quickly pointed out that the Northern Ireland crisis was resolved by talking the issue out through back doors.
As the crowd dissembled, Winchester ran up and down the signing line, balancing books like a juggler signed on for a circus at the last minute. I kept wondering whether he was carrying out some intriguing one-man dramatization of a Tom and Jerry cartoon, but this was not the case. He asked a few folks in the queue if anyone else wanted him to sign his book so that he could go home.
Baker appeared a bit worn out by all the publicity he's been doing for Human Smoke. But despite his energies waning near the end, he maintained a great humility and offered some lively remarks for a book that is likely to keep fanning the flames of controversy for quite some time.
Growing Pains for the Litblog
Litblogs
As observed yesterday by Dan Green, the Litblog Co-Op is shutting down. This is a pity, because the LBC was a remarkable conduit for many overlooked authors to receive dutiful attention often denied them by more traditional outlets. (To get a sense of perspective on what this means, as observed last week by The Book Publicity Blog, collectively, all of the national NPR programs interview a mere 600 authors a year. Thus, there can never be enough conduits for long-form discussions and interviews with authors. The world needs more litblogs, more literary podcasts, and more literary teleprojects, however clumsily executed.)
Thankfully, none of this has stopped litbloggers from committing these energies on their own sites — see, for example, Colleen Mondor's invaluable roundtable discussions of YA and genre authors, aptly demonstrating that there remains plenty of room for community left in litblogs. But litblogging itself, as Dan quite rightly observes, has become more decentralized, with the litbloggers themselves becoming immersed in the great demands of their own projects. (Mark Sarvas has written a novel, Dan Wickett has formed a publishing company, many litbloggers have become regular print critics, while others have become dedicated bloggers for newspapers.) While I had a long run with the LBC, I was forced to back out for similar reasons. There were too many nights mastering podcasts until 3:30 AM when I had to wake up only a few hours later. I love literature as much as anybody. But it became necessary to step away, if only to ensure my own sanity. I didn't want to become jaded or indolent about the authors I devoted time, thought, and attention to. (And, in fact, a number of forthcoming Segundo podcasts will feature return appearances by authors featured by the LBC.)
Stepping down from the LBC saw much of this approach shifted over to this site. While I have attempted to go out of my way to involve other voices in generating content and to include authors that Sam Tanenhaus would never devote even a column inch to, I nevertheless contemplate my own culpability in "doing my own thing." If litblogging is galvanized by community, then does doing one's own thing run counter to this medium's strengths?
I find myself somewhat troubled by where litblogs are now heading. I certainly don't exonerate myself from these developments. To use a pop cultural metaphor, it is as if the Beatles have broken up, with all of us pursuing our metaphorical solo albums. The early energy of individual projects is certainly there, but let's not forget that John Lennon followed up his classic album, Plastic Ono Band, with the decidedly spotty Mind Games. But the communal DIY punk rock ethos that was once an inseparable component from what litblogging was about has been replaced by a competitive streak of who gets the story first. (Indeed, Galleycat's tagline is "the first word on the book publishing industry," when being "first" doesn't always mean that you're going to write something sufficiently purposeful.) Litblogs have been redesigned to accommodate advertising — in some cases, with intrusive graphics embedded within posts that detract from the thoughtful content. (What next? Newspaper-style pop ups and registration?) Some bloggers have even taken money from publishers and have flown, Harry Knowles-style, around the globe. Meanwhile, other voices are ignored because of personal differences, with variegated parties not understanding that this runs counter to the great neural network that litbloggers laid down. (And why can't there be civil disagreement as well as lively fireworks?)
So what makes this fragmentation any less different from the tendentious gatekeeping one sometimes sees in newspapers? I think it's safe to say that the print vs. online debate is more or less moot. Litblogging is here to stay. And while I certainly can't speak for other bloggers, I believe the early passion that drove litbloggers to create a fantastic medium has been partially replaced by an obligation to put something up on a daily basis.
If bloggers are to hold themselves up to the same standards with which they frequently (and justifiably) savage newspaper critics, then the time has come to look inward and consider the things they may be doing wrong. The time has come to be humble and inclusive towards the community. Bud Parr had this idea very much in mind with Metaxucafe. Bud dutifully (and remarkably) tracked all the known litblogs and united them under one umbrella. But what was once a centralized site with considerable discussion has regrettably become less vociferous. This may be because the spirit of interconnectedness starts from individual litblogs, however "clubby" it may be (as once described by Jennifer Howard in November 2003; in a troubling indicator of online newspaper impermanence, her article has regrettably been removed from the Washington Post site).
The bloggers who best accomplish this interconnectedness are Maud Newton and Frank Wilson. Maud is perhaps the most concise of all litbloggers, and is very good about acknowledging where she has located her links (a basic courtesy that seems to be falling out of practice and that, oddly enough, was the subject of a controversy in the early days of litblogging.) Frank often links to litblogs that I haven't heard of, and which I frequently add to my RSS feeds.
But I don't know if these individual efforts really go far enough. If litblogging is becoming exclusively about promoting one's own personal connection to books, at the expense of other personal connections, the litblog, as we once knew it, is dead. The Internet, lest we forget, has a very important prefix that caused this marvelous literary community to propagate. And when projects like the LBC die, I can't help but wonder if we're all just as incorrigible as the print critics we once railed against.
RIP Arthur C. Clarke
Nobody will replace Arthur C. Clarke. Not by a long shot. The inner cylindrical mysteries of Rama. The monolith concocted in collaboration with Stanley Kubrick. The sad calculated way in which aliens conquered the human race in the unforgettable Childhood's End.
He was one of the last of the Golden Age giants. Born close to the end of one world war and becoming a man in the middle of another war, where he served with the Royal Air Force, Clarke looked to the stars and to his imagination, creating a body of work that will live on for decades to come.
I was a scrawny and curious kid who found him on the rackety stacks of an underfunded public library. My mother had gone through her second divorce. There wasn't a lot of food in the house. There were holes in my T-shirts, and no money. But then one Saturday afternoon in the library, I opened up a musty volume and discovered these amazing words:
The next time you see the full Moon high in the south, look carefully at its right-hand edge and let your eye travel upward along the curve of the disk. Round about two o'clock you will notice a small, dark oval: anyone with normal eyesight can find it quite easily. It is the greatest walled plain, one of the finest on the Moon, known as the Mare Crisium — the Sea of Crises. Three hundred miles in diameter, and almost completely surrounded by a ring of magnificent mountains, it had never been explored until we entered it in the late summer of 1996.
The story, of course, was "The Sentinel." And I read it all in one gulp. I took to craning my head out the window late at night when nobody was looking, spying during hours when nobody knew I was awake. And I did catch a pockmarked indentation, wondering if this was indeed the Mare Crisium. (A later look at a picture book on the moon confirmed that this wasn't quite the case. But I took to calling any detail I could see a Sea of Crises, for reasons that were comical to me.)
And I became indebted to Mr. Clarke for granting me a grand galaxy of awe, intrigue, and possibility. This was needed. Because at the time, my universe was quite limited.
So Clarke's death came as a tremendous blow to me. I never got to meet him. Never got to thank him. Never got to tell him that he helped some kid get through a turbulent time.
And I really have nothing more to say.
Arthur C. Clarke, thanks for being there when I needed you.
March 18, 2008 by Edward Champion
Obligatory Rickroll
Deadlines and other obligations are keeping me busy. Therefore, I hereby acknowledge the effective protests by Anonymous with a homegrown rickroll.
How Drugged is That Doggie in the Window?
Book Review, Dogs, Drugs, Ellen Palestrant, Eric Rosenfield, Pets, Prozac
Dogs, Drugs, Ellen Palestrant, Pets, pretzels on prozac, Prozac
Pretzel on Prozac
By Ellen Palestrant, Elusive Press, 124pp., $12.95
It's become pretty hip these days to put the hate on Prozac. The drug has been accused of causing suicides, bringing about violence, of being ineffective and, most damningly, of making hipsters unable to love. Yet, even as Prozac-hating becomes a cause célèbre, it and and other antidepressants in the SSRI class are being prescribed in record numbers — and not just to humans, but to their pets. And what could be a surer sign of a decadent, wasteful and solipsistic society than putting your dog on an antidepressant?
Unfortunately, this question isn't asked by Pretzel on Prozac: The Story of an Immigrant Dog, a book the bills itself as an "autobiodography"—a particularly weird neologism since "auto" makes me picture this dog hunched over a typewriter, wagging his angst-ridden tail between cigarettes and shots of Jim Beam. In this slim, self-published memoir, the only introspective hint on the value of giving a dog Prozac is a moment where the author hopes that the pharmacist doesn't call out her name too loudly when he dispenses the medication; the author is clearly insecure about being judged by others on what she's doing, but a discussion exploring why is conspicuously absent.
Pretzel, the titular dog, is described as being "neurotic" after being shuttled from South Africa to Arizona by his owners. Does Pretzel actually need Prozac? As portrayed, the dog has problems which the drug seems to diminish, problems that another dog owned by the author doesn't have. (The other dog merely acts like a spoiled brat.) After witnessing a dish breaking, Pretzel runs scared any time the dishwasher is being unloaded. He digs holes in the backyard and refuses to come out of them. He refuses to eat whenever guests come to the house. But it's suspicious that Palestrant (the author) spends no time at all discussing nature versus nurture. Pretzel is "just like this." And it's hard to overstate just how spoiled this dog is. When Pretzel runs into the bedroom at the sound of a dishwasher being unloaded, Palestrant stuffs a towel under the bedroom door to help muffle this din. When Pretzel is finicky about his food, she starts leaving five different bowls of food out every night, so Pretzel can have his fill. (If the other dog eats all of Pretzel's food first, then five more bowls are set out.) Whenever Pretzel refuses to eat altogether for a night, Palestrant takes it to the vet to be fed intravenously. When Pretzel will not use the doggie door, instead of simply letting the dog in and out every once and a while, she is forced "to keep the doggie door permanently open for Pretzel—and for all the mosquitos, cockroaches, crickets, spiders, and scorpions wishing to enter our house. Because we allow the hot air in summer and cold in winter, we can't conserve energy. Instead we increase the load on the heating and cooling systems and on our bank account."
It's hard to trust the author when she talks about Pretzel's problems because there are levels upon levels to the anthropomorphism involved in her idea of him and of animals in general. The dog doesn't just dig a hole and sit in it. He "wants to disappear into it and die." After the dogs get off the plane, "immigrating" from South Africa along with the author, we learn:
They jumped and jumped and jumped and continued jumping the next day when we arrived. They were trying to tell us they'd been flying.
A cat who falls off a table is "embarrassed" afterward. A dog seeks the "respect" of other dogs. One dog assigns blame to another dog for actions beyond their control. A dog who is dying is described: "He'd had a long life and in the end dwelled more frequently outside his body than in it. But now his re-entry visa has expired." How, exactly, is the dog dwelling outside of its body? We are told no more.
Palestrant enjoys "mentally instructing" Pretzel: "Be receptive to new ideas, Pretzel. Transcend boundaries. Try this new doggie biscuit." At first I thought maybe the author was intentionally using Pretzel as a lens to examine her own thoughts and fears about immigrating. But nothing so subtle is going on; she is doing exactly what she says she's doing: mentally instructing her dog. And the author appears to be writing with complete seriousness, "I enjoy communicating with Pretzel because he is a listener."
A minor crisis comes about when the author, who had been told Pretzel was a Maltese, instead discovers he's a Bichon. "Pretzel, I'm sorry, sorry, sorry," Palestrant writes, talking to the dog, "I know you've been deprived of your essence. You've been what you're not for far too long. … At least you know what you are: a Bichon and not a Maltese. Forget the past. Give yourself a second chance. Take charge of your salvation. Don't be a Dodo-dog, Pretzel. Learn to fly. … We'll stop encouraging you to wade in the lake, Pretzel, or cool yourself under the sprinklers."
Pretzel is described repeatedly as being "confused about his identity" because of this.
But then, race is a very strange subject in Palestrant's hands. Much is made of the fact that the dog and author are coming from South Africa. Early on the author writes, "We feel guilty for having been born into a country that adheres to a system of separating groups according to race. We know we must leave." It's hard not to insert the word "white" in between "born" and "into", and it seems bizarre that the reason the author and her partner are leaving the country is simply "guilt". If one really felt guilty wouldn't one want to stay and try to make things better? If she had instead said (as I think is more likely) that they'd left the country because it was unpleasant for them to live in a place where their kind oppressed and was despised by the majority of the population, that at least would be more honest. Whatever the real reason, "guilt" doesn't make any sense in this context.
The author prides herself on being broadminded about race and knowing that things she'd been taught in school about it were lies. However, the irony that someone is leaving apartheid because of race guilt and yet only owns purebred dogs is completely unexplored. She does say, she's "never been dazzled by titles. Always felt that a dependency on family trees, designer labels, and on the broadcast of one's accomplishments … are [sic] signs of weakness. … So why now, do we have four pedigreed dogs?" The question is never answered.
Indeed, Palestrant has positively Lamarckian ideas of racial inheritance, at one point wondering if Pretzel might fear water because one of his ancestors had a near-drowning experience. At another point a look from the dog is interpreted like this:
Do you know how depressed I am? Do you have any idea of the burden I carry—the collective sufferings of my ancestors?
Things get weirder when she tries to contemplate the situation in South African in relation to her dogs. She writes, "Pretzel, glued to his neuroses, is poor immigrant material as he still lives in a past that wasn't that vast. Pretzel, accept change. Look, if your old government can finally reinvent itself, so can you." Yes, Pretzel, your plight is just like that of South Africa.
South African dogs dominated the sidewalks during apartheid. They had terrible attitudes. Attacked passersby. Having been brought up in a society where many of the laws were difficult to respect, some dogs, like their owners, broke them.
Now that the old laws in South Africa are obsolete are people free to stroll the sidewalks, while dogs are gated?
Many, many times while reading this book, I had to stop, read the sentences again and realize I still didn't have the foggiest idea what Palestrant was talking about. Is Palestrant actually suggesting that the dogs were biting people out of some kind of civil disobedience toward Apartheid? And now that Apartheid is over, she wonders if dogs are kept behind gates—it's suggested that they won't bite people in the name of Mandela?
Ultimately, Palestrant's anthropomorphism gets really batty, as when she buys a new dinner service and shoves it unsteadily in with an old one from South Africa. When the dishes burst out of the cupboard and smash all over the floor, she reads it as her old country's tableware physically fighting the American tableware. In reference to Pretzel's old fear of broken dishes, she says (in all apparent seriousness), "Had Pretzel, years ago, sensed the pent-up emotions of the dishes in our cupboard?"
The truth is, I know from personal experience that SSRI drugs have helped a lot of people, and I would have really liked to read a book which explored legitimate psychological disturbance in animals and the ability of Prozac to treat it. Such a book might be very interesting.
Pretzel on Prozac, on the other hand, is less about disturbed psychology than the product of it, and something that the Prozac-haters out there could easily hold up as a clear example of everything they are complaining about; someone using medication (in this case, on their dog) because of a clear inability to address their own problems. It is an extreme example of the way that many parents want to blame anything but themselves for their child's shortcomings; Pretzel is the way he is because he's a Bichon, an identity-confused Bichon, an identity-confused Bichon from South Africa, an identity-confused immigrant Bichon from South Africa. Anything but because he is Ellen Palestrant's dog. And clearly, he needs drugs.
Did Pretzel really need Prozac? Could Pretzel's problems have been solved by being given to another owner? Or by having been raised by a different owner? We'll never know the answer to these questions.
As for Prozac in general, one day a book will come out that neither vilifies nor glorifies it, that speaks compassionately about the people it's helped and looks carefully at those using it for the wrong reasons. That's a book I'm waiting for.
Human Smoke — Part Five
Baker, Nicholson, Human Smoke, Roundtable
Human Smoke, nicholson baker, Roundtable
(This concludes our roundtable discussion of Nicholson Baker's Human Smoke. For previous installments: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, and Part Four.
(Many thanks to Julia Prosser at Simon & Schuster, who was kind enough to go along with this crazy idea; Nicholson Baker, for taking the time out of his busy schedule to reply to these many thoughts; and, of course, to all the participants who offered provocative and interesting insights into the book. If you'd like to discuss the book further, feel free to hash it out in the comments. And for those craving more information, there will also be a future installment of The Bat Segundo Show featuring Mr. Baker.)
Edward Champion writes:
There have been so many interesting topics raised here that I feel a bit guilty for throwing a few more talking points into the mix. Nevertheless, since we're bringing this conversation to a close, I'm curious what you folks have to say about how Baker challenges our assumptions that World War II was the "good war" and thus the "good victory."
To my mind, this issue has been germinating in Baker's head for some time. Consider this excerpt from Baker's last novel, Checkpoint (from pp. 61-62 in my paperback edition):
JAY: I'm on a path, man.
BEN: Well, veer off it.
JAY: There will be no veering. We've lost every war we've fought. Winning is losing. We lost the Second World War.
BEN: I think it's widely agreed that we won World War II.
JAY: Well, we didn't. It was the beginning of the end.
BEN: In what way?
JAY: We bombed all those places — we bombed Japan, right down to the islands, cities turned into grave sites. The crime of it began to work on us afterward, it began chewing on our spleens and rotting us out inside.
BEN: Ugh.
JAY: The guilt of it squeezed us and it twisted us and made us need to keep more and more things secret that shouldn't have been kept secret. We tried to pretend that we were good midwestern folks, eating our church suppers — that we'd done the right thing over there. But it was so completely, shittingly false.
BEN: Yes, in a sense, but —
JAY: And so we lost that war. We didn't win it. We were corrupted by it, and we became more and more warlike and secretive, and we spent all our money building weaponry and subverting little governments, poking here and there and propping up loathsome people, United Fruit. And the gangrene spread through the whole loaf of cheese.
BEN: Oh, please.
JAY: And Japan couldn't do that. Their best people spent their days and nights thinking about how to make beautiful things, tools, machines that just felt good to hold. Which they did with such artistry. They couldn't make fighter planes, we didn't let them. And so they won the war. We lost.
Colleen raised some very valid points, which were followed up by others, about Baker taking certain liberties with military history. But I think that ultimately this book asks us, much as the second generation Holocaust historians have done, to seriously reconsider the notion of victory, as described above by Jay, the would-be assassin of President Bush. (And I also keep thinking of Clint Eastwood's pair of films released a few years ago, which likewise presented war as a scenario in which there were no clear winners or losers.) The fact that Jay is absolutist, even in his insistence that America has lost every war, is just as egregious as claiming that, outside of Vietnam, America has won every war. War is far too complicated a beast for anyone to draw an absolutist viewpoint. And what's more, Baker is insinuating — in both Checkpoint and Human Smoke — that this very absolutism leads quite naturally to the insanity of violence. Churchill, Roosevelt, and Hitler come off in Human Smoke as inherently absolutist and, as the closing moments of 1941 usher in further atrocities, we see that their stances become more all-or-nothing. (Likewise, this is the case with Lindbergh, whose anti-Semitism becomes more pronounced as he continues his efforts with America First, which we are reminded, on p. 348, are one of "two kinds of antiwar groups left — one on the left, and one on the right. One was made up of genuine pacifists — people from the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the Keep America out of War Congress, the Quakers, the peace ministers and rabbits, John Haynes Holmes and the Gandhians, and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. And one was made up of isolationists who, like Lindbergh and his crowds of America Firsters, liked big armies and fleets of warplanes, and who held — some of them — quasi-paranoid theories about Judeo-Bolshevik influence. They wanted the United States to lay off Germany because Germany was the bulwark that held back Stalin.")
So with war, we see that not only is the very scope of freedom of expression squandered, whether this involves standing firmly against the war or going to jail for "a year and a day" for refusing to join the draft, but that, in hindering free speech, the ideologies themselves begin to lose their gradients. Dissent and disagreement is very much the bedrock on which civilization rests upon. The League of American Writers is initially pacifist, only to become more militant and thus more in line with the expected national ideology. The protests against Lord Hallifax become more extreme, with the two womens' groups (on p. 425) that hold up over-the-top signs like REMEMBER THE BURNING OF THE CAPITOL IN THE WAR OF 1812 and proceed to throw an egg and tomato at him. Opportunities for peace are destroyed by fire and bombings, such as Quentin Reynolds's observations, on p. 323, that "[a]ll that day I sensed a new and intensified hatred of Germany in the people of London."
I'll leave the question of cyclical contemporary parallels to others for the time being (to my mind, the harsh assaults against Jeannette Rankin, who was the sole Congressional Representative to vote against going to war, eerily recalled the similar outcry towards Barbara Lee's stand in the days after September 11th), but I'm curious what your thoughts might be in relation to one remarkable moment on p. 373, in which Cardinal Clemens von Galen manages to persuade Hitler to suspend a program that had the Nazis killing off patients from mental asylums that had been viewed as ill and incurable. I was stunned by this moment. Because not only did this play with the commonplace perception of Hitler as an evil monster, but it brought to mind that, even within a totalitarian society, it is possible to invoke gradients through reason. So if this is naive thinking on Baker's thought, von Galen, without a doubt, succeeded in preventing atrocities on a small scale. It was possible to do something. Why then were so many people content not to make the sacrifice? Is it entirely fair to consider Nazism an endgame scenario (as we see in the fates of Stefan Zweig and his wife)? Or is there some slim glimmer of possibility within the deadliest of human systems?
There are two additional points that we haven't discussed yet: (1) the lend-lease agreement, which I think is quite important, and (2) the way that Baker juxtaposes the paucity of food given to those in Germany with the manner in which Churchill gorges on half a bottle of champagne and copious feasts on a near daily basis (and, again, the egg and tomato thrown at Hallifax suggests an almost absurdist failure on the protesters' parts to understand that an organic projectile of prodigious supply is indeed a commodity in Europe). To deal with the first point, I was struck by the way in which the verb "lend" is twisted so that Roosevelt can provide military aid to Britain by subterfuge. Is "lending" then, in this sense, the problem? The willful capitulation of "lending a hand" in favor of a more bureaucratic appropriation? Is Baker suggesting here that, had food, supplies, and even the fuel that is shipped by sea been more fairly allocated, that none of the conflict and violence that followed would have happened? And is this really a fair and valid position?
I'm wondering if you folks have, like me, viewed your perception of Human Smoke as "veering off a path," as reflected in the above excerpt from Checkpoint. Are humans hopelessly locked into natural cycles? And is it reasonable to assume that by considering the forgotten, the misunderstood, and indeed those who are damned for their unpopular positions — specifically, these ideological gradients — that we might reasonably prevent mass atrocities on a global scale? Naivete on Baker's part or something to seriously consider?
Eric Rosenfield writes:
I just want to make two things clear: I agree with Colleen on most points, and I want to emphasize again that, for me at least, if Baker's point was to convince us that the pacifists were right, he utterly failed. Let's imagine, for a moment the alternate history Baker envisions: Churchill never comes to power in Britain. Hitler marches into Poland and conquers it, and England does not declare war despite it's mutual defense treaty. Let's even buy that this leads Hitler to never invade France or Russia, despite his constant talk of a "Third Reich" to rival the former German Empire and the Holy Roman Empire. He starts sending all the Jews in the Reich to Madagascar. Except the Jews, who have already had all their assets liquidated, can't be allowed to create a powerful state there so they are carefully controlled, and Madagascar becomes something like a Jewish Indian reservation ala the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in Russia. Jews start dropping like flies from malaria and other diseases they have no defenses against, while the delighted Germans refuse them proper medical treatment or insect nets and watch the Jewish population dwindle. Perhaps there are even some rebellions and a massacre or ten.
Meanwhile, Hitler, Mussolini and Franco consolidate their power in Europe and create an oppressive, Fascist mainland that lasts for generations. Japan conquers China and completes their oppression and exploitation of the Chinese and Koreans. With these powers now entrenched the idea of toppling them through military or other means becomes less and less possible.
I still think Hitler would have moved on to France and then turned his attention and that of his allies to Russia to bring down the hated Communists, and once somebody finally developed nuclear weapons we would have had something of a Fascist-Communist Cold War, or perhaps simply Armageddon.
Either way, I don't think that's the world I'd want to live in. Yes, Churchill was a vicious bastard who approved of bombing and starving civilian populations. Yes many, many, people died in the course of the war. I still think it's better than the alternative. Hitler, Mussolini, Tojo and co. had to be stopped.
Dan Green writes:
Sorry for entering the conversation so late. I've only just finished the book.
Many intelligent things have been said here both about Baker's book and about WWII, so I'm not going to offer my own thoughts about all the points that have been made.
However, a few people have suggested that Human Smoke might also be about 9/11 and the Iraq War. It seems to me that it is mostly about 9/11 and the Iraq War. The negative portrayal of Churchill, for example, seems a direct response to the neocons' veneration of him. Not only does Baker show him to be indifferent in the extreme to the consequences of his war-making–particularly the bombing of civilian areas prior to the German bombings of London–but also he shows us just why the neocons invoked his name so often–his insane belief that bombing civilian areas would make the population rise up against Hitler directly parallels their belief that tearing the hell out of Iraq would have a similar effect on the people of Iraq (which also happens to parallel their belief that immiserating the Palestinians will someday, somehow, cause them to rise up against their leaders and agree to Israel's terms). The depiction of Churchill's (and to some degree FDR's) fondness for weapons of mass destruction seems a direct rebuke to the Bush administration's insistence that WMDs just can't be tolerated and their threatened use is a sign of "evil". Etc.
Part of the early discussion involved whether Baker was being sufficiently "objective," and much of the subsequent discussion has been about the degree to which Baker's information and emphasis are correct. I have to agree with Brian that objectivity was probably the farthest thing from Baker's mind while he was writing the book. It's an alternative history of the lead-up to WWII (one day there will be similar book about the lead-up to the Iraq War), and while it's important that his narrative be accurate–the people quoted actually said those things and the behavior described actually happened–it isn't necessary that it be objective. Indeed, it wouldn't be as good as it is (and I think it's quite good) if it were. He wants his readers to remember his book the next time Churchill and Roosevelt are nominated for sainthood and the next time WWII is described unambiguously as the "good war." To this extent, I think he will succeed admirably.
Brian Francis Slattery writes:
It's been fantastic being involved in this discussion — thanks, everyone.
Just two things:
1. A couple of us feel that Human Smoke is either commenting on our current administration or perhaps is explicitly about our current administration. This is one of those questions where, even though Barthes has killed the author, it would be great to hear Baker's own take on that question. To what extent is Baker encouraging us to think beyond the episode he describes? Another way to put it: If Baker wanted to write a book about the current administration, why didn't
he, you know, just write a book about the current administration?
2. Ed asked this question earlier:
"Is it reasonable to assume that by considering the forgotten, the misunderstood, and indeed those who are damned for their unpopular positions — specifically, these ideological gradients — that we might reasonably prevent mass atrocities on a global scale? Naivete on Baker's part or something to seriously consider?"
I would recommend to all of you an essay written by Richard Rorty called "Human Rights, Rationality, and Sentimentality," which takes up this point in a really precise, passionate, and (to me) compelling way. He's writing about human rights–and human rights law in particular–and the essay overflows with ideas, one after the other. But the jist of his argument (and Richard, RIP, please forgive me for this brutal summary) is that appeals to human rights grounded in rational thought don't really work, and therefore, the current legal and philosophical strategy of human rights has become outmoded, at least as far as preventing more violence. As Rorty writes, "it is of no use whatever to say, with Kant: Notice that what you have in common, your humanity, is more important that these trivial differences [in ethnicity, race, religion, sexual orientation, what have you]. For the people we are trying to convince will rejoin that they notice nothing of the sort."
Instead, Rorty argues, what changes minds are stories, stories that hit us emotionally, where it hurts. At the end of the essay, Rorty poses the question: "Why should I care about a stranger, a person who is no kin to me, a person whose habits I find disgusting?" For Rorty, rationality has no good answer. There is no real universality to which a moral question can appeal; philosophers after Kant, and especially Nietzsche, have seen to that. "A better sort of answer," Rorty writes, "is the sort of long, sad, sentimental story which begins, 'Because
this is what it is like to be in her situation–to be far from home, among strangers,' or 'Because she might become your daughter-in-law,' or 'Because her mother would grieve for her.' Such stories, repeated and varied over the centuries, have induced us, the rich, safe, powerful people, to tolerate, and even to cherish, powerless people… [The last two hundred years of moral progress] are most easily understood not as a period of deepening understanding of the nature of rationality or morality, but rather as one in which there occurred an astonishingly rapid progress of sentiments, in which it has become much easier for us to be moved to action by sad and sentimental stories."
This essay has kicked up a lot of dust since it was written, with people arguing for and against it. For my part, I don't know if he's right, but I hope he is.
Matt Cheney writes:
I'm still frantically reading the book, and am doing so while also teaching All Quiet on the Western Front to 10th graders, which is interesting to have going on in the background of my brain — but I wanted first to note that the Rorty article Brian cites is available online in the third issue of the Belgrade Circle Journal: here (the site uses frames; the direct link is here).
Also, an idea that popped into my head while reading Dan's response and then Brian's was: Brecht! Because this idea just occurred to me, I haven't thought it through at all, but the connection was this — Brecht's best and in many ways hardest-hitting plays are, I think, the ones that are set in his version of the past, not the ones that try to be contemporary. His attacks on the Nazis as Nazis were occasionally interesting, but they don't possess half the power of plays like Galileo, Mother Courage, Good Person of Sezuan and Caucasian Chalk Circle, which all get some distance from particular contemporary events. This helps reduce the didacticism by creating resonance and a certain ambiguity — the audience has more freedom to think. (Which sometimes drove Brecht crazy, as when people started feeling sorry for Mother Courage…) (And yes, the dormant playwright in me wants desperately to turn this book into a script.)
I don't think Baker is doing exactly that with Human Smoke, but I agree with pretty much everything Dan said about the book, and that agreement comes from feeling, as I read, that the book is a palimpsest — it wants to overlay ideas and images and words and facts onto the imagery already hardened in our brains, the stuff accumulated through years of watching TV, reading bits and pieces of articles and books, strolling through museums, etc. — so that when we encounter pictures of Churchill, for instance, or watch one of the ubiquitous WWII shows on the History Channel, we've got a few other particles of information rattling around in our memory, some sense that this is not all there is. Similarly, when John McCain starts comparing himself to ol' Winnie, that comparison becomes more complex than McCain or his packagers might like it to be. Which brings us to the now of present atrocities — the things we are willing to look past, the things we don't know, the things we assume. (Perhaps I shouldn't even say "we", because I expect we all look past, don't know, and assume different things. Which, too, seems to be part of Baker's point and technique.) All I know right now is I'm reading about the rejection of Jewish refugees, and though this is stuff I have known about for a long time, I've not *felt* it as vividly as I am feeling it now, here, reading Baker's book. There are many possible reasons for that, but one of them is how he has structured and written the book. Like bursts of stinging light, inducing flashburn.
Frank Wilson writes:
I have read what other have to say about Nicholson Baker's Human Smoke, but not before writing down my own impressions. I have no intention of doing any deep research into the history of World War II, but I have taken the trouble to make sure that my memory was sound regarding certain details. So here goes:
The material of the book is inherently interesting, though its presentation is not. Let us begin with the merely annoying — the repetition of phrases such as "It was March 14, 1935." Why not just date the entries? Actually, the litany of portentous date announcements served to underscore (for me at least) the eventual monotony of merely cataloging incidents.
Which brings me to what I think is a more substantial objection: Baker's book is a compendium of carefully cherry-picked anecdotal evidence. Having been born mere weeks before the attack on Pearl Harbor, I sort of grew up with World War II history, and I was increasingly struck, as I read Human Smoke, less by what was included — most of which I was actually familiar with — than with what was omitted. The Rape of Nanking by Japanese forces gets one entry, but the outbreak of the second Sino-Japanese War in 1937 isn't really gone into. Hitler's annexation of Austria and invasion of Czechoslovakia are not mentioned. Nor is the African Campaign. You would never know from this book that Germany bombed Britain for 57 straight days, starting on Sept. 7, 1940, and that the bombing continued into May of the following year. You would, on the other hand, get the distinct impression that Allied bombing of German cities left a reluctant Hitler no other choice than to bomb the hell out of Britain.
Again, no mention is made of the German-Soviet non-aggression pact, nor of the agreement between the Soviets and the Germans to partition Poland, nor of the Soviet invasion of Poland. Also unmentioned is the Tripartite Pact, according to which the Axis powers agreed that if any was attacked the others would declare war on the attacker. So we do not learn that it was Germany that declared war on the U.S., not the other way around, after the U.S. declared war on Japan following the attack on Pearl Harbor.
My point is that if you are going to let the evidence speak for itself, which I presume is the purpose of this 471-page sequence of index card-like entries, you have to present the evidence comprehensively, not so tendentiously as to render it mendacious.
Finally, there is the book's underlying logical problem. Its premise is a counterfactual conditional proposition — if things had been done differently, the war could have been averted. Readers of Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum may recall the character who points out that the problem with a counterfactual conditional proposition is that any conclusion derived from it is correct precisely because the premise is false. If I had not written the preceding sentence, I would have …? Written another? Or none at all? And if none at all, what would I have done instead? Who knows? But you can suggest anything.
The implication of the book is that a negotiated peace was possible — if only Churchill and Roosevelt had been more tractable. The good faith of Hitler and his associates seems to be taken for granted. While it is certainly true that more could have been done on behalf of the Jewish population, the probability that a foreign policy based on the principles of the American Friends Services Committee would have had the rosy outcome Baker imagines seems to me astronomically negative.
Colleen Mondor writes:
A couple of quick points to respond to your email, Ed:
First, I guess the characters in Checkpoint were willfully ignoring the Japanese Zero? (I realize it was a novel but still…) It was an amazing technological acheivement and far out performed US fighters – until one was found and taken apart by the US resulting in the design of the Corsair. (There have even been books written about that – "Koga's Zero" is one.) That passage raises yet another way of viewing WWII – as the Japanese as peaceful artistic people who fell prey to the bloodier crueler Western influence.
Maybe our mutual human need to see good and bad prevents us from ever considering that everybody is wrong, in one way or another, when it comes to war, period.
I think WWII is a "good" war only in a pop culture sort of way; in other words any serious study of history shows that good and bad are not words that apply to war. You can certainly find moments of "good" in any war – episodes on all sides of people going above and beyond to save others – but in terms of war itself, it is not an argument that stands up to serious scholarship. For me I was a bit perplexed by Baker's statement that the pacifists failed. I don't agree. I think the fact that they did speak out to such extents in WWII – when it was very difficult to do so – is impressive. They could not stop WWII – there were too many countries involved for too many different reasons – only a very strong League of Nations could have stopped it and the League was designed to be weak so it was useless. But the pacifist movement did continue to grow. Look at everything that followed – the anti war movement in the 1960s, the Civil Rights movement, the feminist movement, the marches for gay equality, etc. I think the pacifists in WWII created a map for others to follow and they deserve some credit for that. Trying to put the responsibility for the war proceeding on their backs makes as much sense as blaming it all on Churchill; and it's just not true.
But again, Baker seems to have come to his own conclusions and presses them in the face of any evidence to the contrary.
Levi Asher writes:
First, since I think this conversation *must* be winding down eventually, I just want to say that I've enjoyed sharing ideas with all of you. I hope we will get a chance to do other roundtables, though I doubt we'll often find books this incendiary (sorry) to discuss.
I wish I could respond to each person's comments, but as Nicholson Baker might ask, "would that actually help anybody who needed help?" I don't think it would.
I will respond to Frank's objections to the book, though. I agree that the book presents (in its indirect, deadpan way) a very particular point of view, and is not a work of balanced history. In this sense, I do think it helps to consider Baker's other experiments with form, like U and I, which also could not be easily categorized as any existing type of book. I think one of Baker's goals in writing Human Smoke was to lead readers out to the edge of uncertainty about what they are reading. This is a very audacious book, and as such it is a very opinionated book. It is absolutely not an objective presentation of history, but Baker and Simon and Schuster do not seem to be trying to pretend it is.
So, if Human Smoke is just one guy's (offensive) opinion, and if his opinions are no more persuasive than any others, then what the hell is this book good for? Well, I think Dan hits the nail on the head — I think the book is about Iraq and September 11, and about China and Darfur and Sri Lanka and Burma and Pakistan and Afghanistan. It's a warning about our current leaders among the "global powers", none of whom seem a whit smarter than the thugs who killed millions and millions and millions and millions in the 1940's. And our weapons are a whole lot bigger now, so the risks have only increased for peace-loving and life-loving people everywhere.
I think this book must be taken — in its own weird way, which is the only way any Nicholson Baker book can really be taken — as a hopeful book about the present and the future. Churchill and Roosevelt take a few punches, and they'll be fine. But this book is about the leaders we're suffering under now, and the ones coming in next.
Robert Birnbaum writes:
The diverse and divergent views expressed here are in themselves an example of how events gain their own momentum, spinning out of control beyond the expectations of their agents. I forget the exact quote but I believe any number of senior functionaries in the first Great War were sorrowfully puzzled as to how the hostilities ended up in armed conflict. Having experienced the unimaginable losses of the War to End all Wars, I have no doubt that Europeans of all stripes were not signing up for an encore. On the other hand the incantation, "Stabbed in the back" repeated in Germany for nearly a generation —well, we saw what happened
To quote Gil Scott Heron again, "… if everybody who said they were for peace worked for peace—we'd have peace. The trouble with peace is you can't make any money from it."
I am a little surprised at some of the vitriol aroused by Baker's book which I should repeat again is not a history text. That he paid scant attention to this facet of the run up or that doesn't really matter to me. And I would expect that readers of Human Smoke would have some knowledge of that history beyond the hagiography and mythologizing that stands for history pedagogy in American public schools. My most recent chat with Howard Zinn (soon to be published) contains this:
HZ:… I am waiting for somebody to write a book about the American Revolution questioning the justice of the American Revolution. In another words, asking, "Was this really a justified war? There are there holy wars in American History—the Revolutionary, the Civil War and World War II. People are willing to say that the Mexican War was imperialist—
RB: —now they are.
HZ: That's right. And the Spanish American War and Viet Nam. But there are holy wars. Untouchable… I think it is worth questioning the justice of those wars. It's a complicated moral issue. You might say Vietnam is easy. Iraq is easy. And the Mexican War is easy. And there are no wars which are more morally complicated [than the three holy wars]. But the fact that they re are morally complicated wars shouldn't stop us from examining them. The American Revolution, in terms of casualties, was the bloodiest of wars. A lot of people don't realize that. .. and the question is, as questions in all of these holy wars, could the same objective have been accomplished, independence from England, ending slavery, defeating Fascism—could those have been accomplished at less than the bloody toll that was taken and without corrupting the moral values of the victors in the war? And with better outcomes. Those are question worth asking. The American Revolution won independence from England at the expense of the Indians, at the expense of the native Americans. The English had set a line, by the Proclamation of 1763, you couldn't go beyond it into Indian territory. They didn't want trouble with the Indians. Independence from England takes place, the Proclamation of 1763 is wiped out. The settlers are free to move into Indian territory. Black People—most of them joined the British side rather than the American side. It was not a revolution for them. And the question I haven't seen asked. Canada won its independence from England without a bloody war. Conceivable? It's like asking the question about the nature for the Civil war. Slavery was abolished in all of the countries of Latin America by 1833. Without a bloody civil war. Now, of course, all those situations are different. And complicated. All that I am saying is that I think there are questions about history that so far have been untouched and untouchable and should. At least be opened up.
At the very least that's what Baker has done here—question the Good War. I don't think this is a brief for pacifism and I don't think this is vilification campaign directed at Roosevelt and Churchill. And it certainly doesn't sugar coat the Fascist menace (remember the origin of the title?) And, by the way, the Americans showed no hesitation in [fire]bombing Japanese cities [all of which comes after the purview of the book] led by the courageous Air Force (bomb 'em back to the Stone Age) officer Curtis Le May.
As a number of people have noted they are reading Baker's opus as a lens on our current imbroglio and, uh, leadership. Which, I think, is one of the reasons we study history. May be we will learn something from Baker's retrospective. Maybe.
Nicholson Baker responds:
Dear Roundtablers– What's amazing to me is that all this explicative incandescence, this un-angry criticism, this enriching supplemental observation has gone on right at the very moment Human Smoke is published. This is better than any book review, and it's more than any writer deserves.
My hope in writing the book was that I could add–or overlay (as Matt Cheney puts it)–some constructive complications to our working knowledge of a disaster. It was a period that felt, to the people who were suffering through it, like the end of civilization. Stefan Zweig's hand trembled over the page when, at the end of 1941, he thought forward to 1942, 1943 and 1944. "The precious treasure of our civilization," wrote John Haynes Holmes just after Pearl Harbor, "is about to be swept away." All restraints, all laws, all gentleness, all compassion, all fair dealing, all honesty, disappeared, and for five years human beings did unimaginably awful things to each other.
So I had a very simple wish: I wanted to know what terrible things happened, and what good things happened, in what order, in the earliest phases of the war, before it supposedly got really bad. I pulled many events out of their larger national or international context and looked at them as separate human decisions–because that's what they were to their participants. That led me to what Levi Asher helpfully calls a "pointillism of fact," and to the avoidance of fancy theories. The evidence presented in the book (as Asher also observes) contradicts itself at every turn. The war is too big and too awful to allow for summation. The first step is to allow it to fill your mind with its cries of suffering. It has to make sense as something incomprehensible. As one event follows another, the reader and the writer must participate, weigh evidence, come up with a working interpretation, refine it, reject it, recall it again, and allow it to coexist with another contradictory interpretation. This provisional theorizing on the fly is the only way to arrive at a felt understanding of what happened.
On the other hand, I needed to have threads that the reader could follow. It had to seem organizedly chaotic, not numbingly miscellaneous. That's why I'm thrilled to read Sarah Weinman's judgment that out of the chaos I distilled a "clear signal." And she's certainly right, judging by some of the reviews, that the book is a 500-page Rorschach test.
I wrote the book in a simple style for several reasons. One is that it just came out that way. Another is that I'd been reading a lot of Churchill. He's a brilliantly florid late-night talker–full of appositions and alliterations and rhetorical figures–but all this verbal dexterity coexists with a manic bloodthirstiness of deed. The same man who can write "You do your worst, and we will do our best," can also joke, more than once, that the British weren't yet bombing women and children: "Business before pleasure." Churchill's endlessly flowing eloquence temporarily turned off my adjectival spigots, such as they are.
I did not explicitly state them in the book, but of course I have many questions and some uncomfortable (tentative) conclusions. I can't help wondering whether some sort of negotiated ceasefire late in 1939 or in mid-1940 might have reopened western escape routes for Jews (shut down by England and France as soon as war began) and even possibly allowed for the recrudescence of more moderate factions within Germany. (I keep remembering what pacifist Frederick Libby said in his congressional testimony: that the Jews stood "a better chance of winning their rights at the conference table with Great Britain and the United States as their champions than they do on the battlefield.") Also, I can't help suspecting that the stepped-up British bombing campaign of 1940 and 1941–"Keep the Germans out of bed, and keep the sirens blowing," as Lord Trenchard put it–was a gift outright to Hitler's government, in that it helped a rage-prone, mentally ill, murderous fanatic hold on to power through five years of hell. (That's why I quoted Shlomo Aronson, who said that the bombing offensive united Germany behind Hitler and helped him "justify further Nazi atrocities against the remaining Jews.")
Furthermore, I can't avoid the feeling that Herbert Hoover and his aide Alexander Lipsett were right in their charge that Churchill's tightening of the European food blockade made him a moral participant in the deaths by famine of thousands of Jews in Polish ghettoes.
I may well be naive–as Colleen Mondor observes–in fact, as a novelist, my naivete may be one of the few strengths I can bring to the doing of history. But I don't think that the pacifists of England and the United States were naive. I think they fully understood what was at risk. War is, as anti-interventionist Milton Mayer wrote, the essence and apotheosis of fascism. We now know that those who wanted to oppose the Hitler regime with nightly fleets of four-engine bombers were on the wrong track–the result was a very long war in which six million Jews died and the ancient cities of Europe were laid waste. The military option was tried and it worked out mind-bogglingly badly. Is it so naive to think that in 1939 and 1940 negotiation and ceasefire–a physical but not a mental capitulation to
Hitler's invading armies–might have saved an enormous number of lives?
I'm grateful to Ed Champion for setting up this roundtable, and to you all for giving my book such careful attention.
FRIDAY A.M. ADDENDUM:
Frank Wilson responds:
Hope I can get these some what random thoughts in under the wire.
First, I thought it really gracious of Baker himself to contribute and I have to say that I agree with him that this is better than any book review. Like the book or not, agree with it or not, you cannot deny that the book prompts reflection.
Next, I want to address a phrase that you used, Ed – "the insanity of violence." I'm not sure violence is necessarily insane, though you have to have direct experience of it to understand that. A person I was having a disagreement with and I once went crashing through a second-floor hallway banister onto the first floor below, just like in the Westerns. The actual, disturbing fact is that violence can be quite exhilarating. Thanks to the adrenaline rush, you don't really feel any pain until the next day and you're terrifically wide awake. In a way you feel more alive than at other times. This ought to be taken into into consideration when reading a book like Human Smoke, because one of the reasons WWII is thought have been a "good war" is that the well-nigh universal sense of urgency seemed to give everyone a heightened sense of purpose, something like the focusing of the mind that prospect of the hangman confers. Even as a small child I could sense this, and the years immediately following the war still have for me – as they do for others I know who were kids then – a brightness and optimism I have never noticed again.
As to whether a negotiated settlement would have had the salutary effect Baker thinks it might have, well, maybe if Hitler had been admitted to the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna everything would have turned out differently.
Thanks very much for extending to me the privilege of joining in on this discussion.
Human Smoke — Part Four
(This is the fourth of a five-part roundtable discussion of Nicholson Baker's Human Smoke. For additional installments: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Five.)
Jackson West writes:
I dithered on whether to bring the book with me on my trip, and decided to leave it at home, so I don't have the dog-eared page references handy. First with the quick thoughts, then with the rant:
— I hadn't read anything by Baker before, at least knowingly (I'm sure I've read his bylined work in the New Yorker without noting it as such). While my first impression on reading was that it worked as a people's history a la Howard Zinn, in retrospect, the focus on Hitler, Churchill and Roosevelt (not to mention speakers of the public conscience like Ghandi and Isherwood) is of the "great men" school of historical analysis, not the "collective action" school.
— Baker has probably written the only 500+ page popular history that's great for the bathroom library, which is a good thing. (You do have a bathroom library, don't you?) That said, the tragedy of the war is dimmed somewhat when confronted with the tragedy that is MUNI, but it's probably a great bus and subway read as well.
— I felt the note at the end should have been an introduction. I know that it would then color the rest of the book by declaring Baker's point of view from the start, but I'm a fan of owning up to one's biases. That said, Baker sums up the appeal of leftist politics for me in the final line — they were right.
— The research was exhaustive, if too reliant on exclusively Anglophonic sources, but the language and style I felt was a bit drab. One could argue that it's clear, direct and unadorned, but I often wanted to be alone with the primary materials as Baker's prose suffered when compared to the poetry of the quotes employed. Churchill's bloated, purple rhetoric reads like Evelyn Waugh when compared to Baker's workmanlike passages of paraphrase.
— I also wanted to make note on the quality of the printing, especially since we received real hardbacks and not proofs. I thought the font and typesetting were masterful, the heavy paper nicely textured, and the binding just felt solid compared to other contemporary hardbacks I've handled. The vellum dustcover was also a classy touch. It felt like a $30 book should.
While I'm trying not to get into the actual politics of the war in my analysis, since I'm much more comfortable reviewing a book than I am a war which happened before my time ("Hitler's deft touch with an armored unit puts his peers in contemporary warfare to shame…"), I thought that the most glaring omission was a thorough treatment of the Spanish Civil War — and not for want of English-language material on the subject. Hitler and Stalin's first battles were fought mainly on the plain through Fascist and Stalinist proxies, respectively (I prefer not to call Russia's regime at the time Communist, since, well, it wasn't).
Baker does right to point out that the central conflict between Churchill and Hitler was not one of ideology, but a clash of nationalists — because Churchill and Hitler were both, at their core, fascists. America's isolationism at the time seems quaintly preferable in its humility than the imperialism it picked up and ran with after the war, but remember that neutrality was favored because it allowed industrialists to profit off of both sides in a conflict. Non-intervention in Spain made it clear that Roosevelt's priorities were purely capitalistic, and he only comes off as some sort of welfare statist when seen in the light of the laissez-faire economic foundations the country was quick to return to, and quicker to stamp into the constitutions of the post-colonial third world.
Even Gandhi's great achievements with non-violence were undermined by nationalism, since nationalism represents religious and racial tribalism potentiated by an economy of scale. Baker makes the case for pacifism, but even when using examples of red dissent being stamped out by the Allied war-empowered plutocrats, he shorts the fact that what demagogues are more concerned about than the economic policies of socialism and communism is the call for a global class solidarity. Ahimsa would have been effective as a deterrent if the conflict wasn't between nations but between classes, because the hegemonic class can only convince soldiers to repress their working class brothers and sisters for so long.
Ultimately, Baker's argument for pacifism founders on the question of great men versus collective action I brought up before. Giving private individuals the credit for turning the wheel of history is propagandizing an ideology that gives demagogues their power over a national tribe, and undermines class consciousness. I came across a quote from W.H. Auden in a recent Harper's that I think sums it up: "Propaganda is the use of magic by those who no longer believe in it against those who still do." In sculpting a narrative of venal supermen at war into bite-sized, easily digested anecdotes, he's capitulating to a mythic worldview that has proven much more easily exploited by the violent than the peaceful.
Judith Zissman writes:
In Tuesday's NYT piece, there is this quote:
"An early draft of 'Human Smoke' was a sort of quest narrative, he said — a book about a Nicholson Baker-like figure trying to learn the truth about World War II — until his wife talked him out of it.
"My own little chirpings turned out to be completely irrelevant, and once I took out the first-person pronoun, the book really started to move," he said. "What people actually said was far more interesting than anything I could address, so I ended up being a juxtaposer, an arranger, an editor more than a writer. The satisfaction is winding up with something a little messier and less pat than what you thought."
…which made my initial observation (and that many of yours, it seems) make more sense – that is, that the book appears to have this sort of subjectivity without a named subject. And though that's somewhat challenging, I think it makes the book stronger in many ways.
What interests me about Human Smoke is less the interpretations of history and more the notions our two Eds (Park & Champion) raise about the structure and language, the fragmentation and pattern Baker uses to tell the story. The formal constraints of the short paragraph strip overt explanation and analysis from each contained-but-connected moment, and yet the almost poetic form enables a great deal of emotion (longing, regret, grief, anger) to bubble up within.
In that, it reminds me of nothing so much as Dos Passos' depiction of the First World War in his USA Trilogy and Mr Wilson's War, the overlapping bursts and bits, the large cast of characters, the repetition and the strong character voices.
I suspect I'll have more to say as I finish the book, but wanted to pull back a bit from the discussions of history & military theory a bit, I suppose.
Matt Cheney responds:
Thanks to Ed for inviting me in — I just got the book and am less than 100 pages in, so anything of substance I have to say about it will have to wait for later. But it's already causing me strange and contradictory reactions, all now heightened by the discussion here, and I wanted to record those before, once again, my feelings change.
First, this can't help but be a personal book for me, oddly enough, and that was the reason that, when I saw Ed's galley at a recent reading we both attended, I immediately got the publicist's contact info. I grew up amidst the detritus of WWII — my father, who died in December, had collected artifacts from the war for most of his life. Documents, posters, film, guns, uniforms, barbed wire from Belsen, postcards sent from the camps to family members telling them everything is fine, blueprints for various theoretical weapons, etc. etc. He never seemed to understand, himself, why he collected all this material. He briefly tried to run a Holocaust museum, and nearly went bankrupt doing so, because it was in rural New Hampshire and he didn't want to advertise it, since he felt that would be tantamount to advertising the Holocaust. Then he stopped charging people admittance, because he didn't want to profit. Eventually, he was so far from profiting that he had to go back to doing what he'd done before, which was run a gun shop. So now, as I try to figure out how to liquidate his estate, I am stuck with figuring out what to do with all of these items, a lifetime's collection of darkness (yes, the Holocaust Museum in D.C. is on my list of places to contact).
For me, WWII was something to escape, because it was my father's obsession. He had theories and interpretations for everything, strong judgments about every book and movie about the era that he encountered, and by the time of my adolescence, when I was trying to figure out who I was and trying to distinguish myself as a different human being from my parents, I started wondering about my father's interpretations of things, his love of Patton and great admiration for Churchill, for instance. I read Howard Zinn and changed my political viewpoint to one far to the left of my father's perspective, and I studied as much as I could of the history and theory of pacifism. WWII remained the challenge for me, of course, as it is for anyone who wants to believe nonviolence can triumph — what do you do about fanatical military aggressors? I didn't know then, and I don't know now.
I'm grateful for the historical perspectives that have been offered on Human Smoke, because as I've been reading I've been wondering about all that has been left out, and my own knowledge is too spotty to create a systematic map of the missing landscapes. What fascinates and frustrates me about historical writing is that it can never be truly comprehensive, that there are always other ways of looking, other facts (perhaps this is why I tend to read more fiction than nonfiction; in fiction, this tendency thrills me, in nonfiction it tends to be at least a little bit frustrating) — the challenge, of course, is to determine what's relevant and why (just because somebody else could tell a different story about my life this morning at 8:33 AM does not mean that it would be significantly and meaningfully different from my own … although it might…) The struggle I'm having with Baker is one I am enjoying — the struggle is to figure out what weight to place on what he has put in and what he has left out. For me, it's like reading a translation, because I can't help but reconfigure various sentences in my brain to imagine alternatives. Perhaps one of the book's strengths lies in its insistence on the imagining of alternatives in a world where it seems the general view (at least in the U.S.) of the "meanings" of the era around WWII are solidifying into standard and fairly simplistic moral formulae. I like our discussion so far, because it seems to be suggesting that the complexity Baker offers (or tries to offer, depending on your view) is still not enough.
Well said, Judith and Matthew. I don't want to prematurely close off the lively discussion we're having about history, speculative history, and pacifism when I say this, but such a debate is endless–and that's a wonderful thing–but it's not a thread that I can imagine anyone being able to tie off neatly. By picking pacifism as his lens, Baker opens up a bunch of really tough questions about why World War II happened–and, to a certain extent, why any war happens–and what can be done to stop it. I can't speak for anyone else here, but my own response to that logic is to a large extent grounded in my own response to absolute pacifism, which is very inviting to me as an abstract concept, but a really hard row to hoe in practice.
Judith and Matthew, meanwhile, have steered us back toward the question of why Baker chose to put the book together as he did, and what effect it has. We've talked a lot about its myth-destroying and complicating effects; Baker's method has given us a lot to talk about.
At least from my perspective, one of the other things that the method allows Baker to do is to illustrate what some academics like to all war's brutalizing effects. Early in the book, there are intermittent mentions of the fact that, at the war's outset, both the British and German publics were opposed to war. Even when the bombs began to fall, many people remained opposed–there's that heartbreaking anecdote about the plea for peace from the residents of the London neighborhood reduced to rubble. But as the bombings continue and more people are killed, more things broken, Baker gives you the sense that one by one, people snap–they just can't take it any more–and rather than capitulating to the enemy, they start talking about bombing the enemy as they've been bombed, hitting back as they've been hit–or worse, wreaking ten times the damage that they've suffered. World War II is rife with instances about how brutality begets brutality and dehumanization multiplies, at the level of armies (John Dower's War Without Mercy comes to mind) and individuals (Robert Jay Lifton's The Nazi Doctors, in which doctors at concentration camps perform ever more barbaric experiments on the inmates), and studies of other wars show the same thing. But too often, those observations are couched in academic language, or even if they're not (the above two books are eminently readable), they're just in the parts of the bookstore where most people, let's be honest, simply do not go. I was grateful for Baker for illustrating this concept in a very compelling and accessible way, and for getting it into the part of the bookstore where people do go.
Okay, back to work.
Having grazed around through the dense underbrush of the remarks so far, a few things stand out:
I can't imagine criticizing Baker for not providing enough information, eg on the Treaty of Versailles. I can't even reconstruct a valid argument for Baker's obligation to have emphasized or not emphasized some feature, event, player, subplot. This is an instance when I think the truism/cliché, "It is what it is" works for me. Also, I take that to be complaint akin to criticizing an author for not writing a certain kind of book instead of dealing with the book that was written.
Someone asked about the opportunity for civil disobedience and demonstrations under the Nazis. A few years ago I was told—and there may well have been a book on this— that 10,000 German hausfrauen, wives of Jews, demonstrated in Berlin. An instance, that at the time, served to remind how much I didn't know about living under the Nazis Human Smoke also serves as a reminder.
It's a longer discussion— but let me suggest that there is an ongoing conflation of literary ideas with historiographic(al) ones. This seems to have something to do with some unresolved and farmisht notions of objectivity (pseudo objectivity) /subjectivity. I'm glad someone brought up Howard Zinn as I think he has a sensible view of this pseudo issue. Search engine Zinn and I am ceratin his explanation comes up fairly obviously on the Howard Zinn.org site.
The larger impression and inchoate feeling I have about Baker's effort is that it reinforces my sense that the fulminating and ululating about the transformation of the world (for Americans) after the World Trade Center was demolished, comes from a shameful ignorance of that world. Gil Scott Heron intones in his masterful Money And The Military, "Peace is not the absence of war but the absence of the rumor of war." Was the world at peace prior to Sept 1, 1939? Was the USA at peace prior to Dec. 7, 1941 and after the surrender of the Axis countries after Aug, 1945? And was the USA at peace prior to Sept 11 2001? I say no to all and believe that indifference to events beyond the shores of this nation allow for the kind of dysfunctional international relations we are burdened by now. One of the lessons (though by no means would I accuse Nick Baker of being didactic) is that there is steady drumbeat of activity being played out all of the world simultaneously, sequentially, in the 11th dimension and in the lunatic visions of various megalomaniacs in numerous world and third world capitols. We would do well to pay attention, even one in a while.
By the way I suggest that Human Smoke warrants at least one further reading—need I explain why?
In reference to your comment on the Treaty of Versailles – I never wrote nor intended with my words that Baker had to analyze or scrutinize the treaty in his book. Having said that however, in his book Baker more than once has selected pieces to highlight that suggest certain things – such as that the US drew Japan into the war (this is just a single example). If he juxtaposed that with certain info from the treaty that revealed how Japan was made powerful by that document while China was simultaneously weakened (I'm talking just another entry or two in the book) then it would go a long way towards showing that there were complex machinations at work here that dated back decades. Which I think is true for that aspect of the war in particular.
I don't want to make this a discussion about military theory however. And I don't want to suggest that I'm looking for a book other than the one Baker wrote. I feel the book he did write is absent of balance more than once however and if this was published as something other than strictly a nonfiction history of the causes of WWII then I would say "fine – no problem". But that is how it is being published and so I see that absence of balance more critically then I would otherwise.
I did want to ask also what was thought of his choices overall of what he included and chose not to include…in other words, I wondered when I saw that inclusion about Eleanor Roosevelt making anti-semitic comments and if that was something relatively minor in her life, or a fundamental part of who she was. In his afterword he noted that he relied heavily on the NY Times so I was curious as to whether he went looking for certain comments or certain subjects or stuck with what was most prevalent. I have NO COMPLAINTS about his choices, I'm just curious as to whether anyone had thoughts on how he gathered them.
Hi again, all. I feel some regret that this conversation has taken on a strident tone, especially since in my enthusiasm I probably contributed to this. I know we are all hoping not just for a political discussion but also a literary one.
Unfortunately, my post today won't help, because what I mainly have to share is my findings after re-reading many chapters of William Shirer's Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (the most generally trusted primary source on the European war in the English language, I think) covering 1938 and 1939, including Chamberlain's appeasement at Munich to solve the Czechoslovakian crisis and the Allied decision to go to war after the invasion of Poland. The main thing that struck me, in rereading these chapters in context of Baker's book, is how hard so many politicians, so many diplomats, so many military officers, so many writers, so many journalists, so many activists and citizens tried to help the nations avoid this war. The popular sentiment against returning to the horrors of total war was very strong in every part of Europe in 1938 and 1939, according to Shirer.
These chapters are filled with pained, agonizing appeals from every corner of Europe to avoid the disaster. As Baker says, many Nazi military officers were dead-set against the invasion of Poland because they saw (correctly) that Germany would be destroyed. Mussolini was against it, because he saw (correctly) that Italy would be destroyed. Chamberlain has been demolished as an "appeaser" by history, but his motives were certainly the right ones (though his judgment turned out to be tragically flawed). Stalin eagerly welcomed the war because he hoped to keep Russia out of the worst of it and watch all his enemies destroy each other — that is, the one world leader who did the most to enable Hitler in August 1939 did so because he incorrectly believed his nation would not be drawn in to the fight.
It's also very clear from Shirer's book that Hitler did not want war with France and England. He and the other top Nazi leaders saw correctly that Germany's only chance was to pull off a diplomatic finesse (as they had done before) to keep England from unleashing its full strength against him. By the time the tanks rolled into Poland in September 1939, there was still a slim chance for a diplomatic settlement, and according to Shirer's book the Nazis universally saw this slim chance as their best chance. According to this interpretation, Hitler lost World War II not on the battlefield but in the conference room, because it seems to have been widely recognized at the time, in Germany and elsewhere, that Germany was badly outmatched in a war against Great Britain.
Here's a scene from The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich:
The day before, on October 11 [1939, just after Germany's invasion of Poland], there had been a peace riot in Berlin. Early in the morning a broadcast on the Berlin radio wave length announced that the British government had fallen and that there would be an immediate armistice. There was great rejoicing in the capital as the rumor spread. Old women in the vegetable markets tossed their cabbages into the air, wrecked their stands in sheer joy and made for the nearest pub to toast the peace with schnapps.
There are so many ways to look at Baker's book, and to argue for or against the political conclusions the book suggests. But, historical interpretations aside, I think it's a very notable (and little known) fact how hard Europeans in every nation worked to change their dreadful fate as they slipped helplessly into war.
Human Smoke — Part Three
(This is the third of a five-part roundtable discussion on Nicholson Baker's Human Smoke. For additional installments: Part One, Part Two, Part Four, Part Five.)
Levi – all of your points are fascinating and quite thought provoking. I didn't mention this before but Hitler was very much a product of WWI as well – there is some thought that he wanted a heroic moment he did not have; perhaps that partly led to his desire for power.
In regards to Perry and Japan – yes, I agree that the clash of West and East in Asia in the late 19th century had a huge impact on the rise of militarism in the Japanese government. The development of colonies in China affected Japanese concerns about Asian independence (for those of you wondering about the Vietnam War, it all starts with France moving into Vietnam during this period of rampant colonization.) But I don't like to shed blame on America for Japan's actions or Britain for Germany's actions – I think in a lot of ways what we saw in WWII was an immense clash of titans…it is almost like the conflicting demands for power on the part of multiple countries around the world (what was Italy's grab for Ethiopia except a desire to have a colony of its own?) forced an armed conflict. The only thing that could have stopped this (in my opinion) is a viable, reasonable treaty in 1919 and a strong and meaningful League of Nations. The world was not ready for that however, and we missed our chance.
It seemed to me that Baker wants to point the finger at someone or someplace – or reverse the typical finger pointing at Japan and Germany. Perhaps WWII is just still too close; we are still knee jerking to blame someone for a huge event that was the blame of everyone…(or a lot of people anyway).
I still resist the thought that a peace agreement with Hitler in 1939, 1940 or later would have been a viable option because I believe he (and his leadership) had too much invested in total victory…I point to the Russian invasion of how unreasonable Hitler could be. As to the Jewish question of what an earlier peace might have meant, I can't help but think of Jo Walton's marvelous alternate history novels, "Farthing" and "Ha' Penny" which explore that very idea. What would life have been like without the Holocaust? We assume it would have been better but that is not necessarily true.
The first camps actually opened in 1933 (Dachau was one of them). They were not death camps as such but punishment or work camps and they were hell. Mauthausen opened after the invasion of Austria in 1938 – the slogan was "extermination by work."
Sarah Weinman writes:
Colleen – you've definitely brought up some good points, but I there's one you're suggesting that I'll have to disagree with. The impression I'm getting is that you posit that Human Smoke suggests peace with Hitler was a viable option. On the contrary, I think Baker makes the point – a very good one – that the warmongering, take-over-the-world attitude and brutal, pointless march towards war on the part of Hitler, Goebbels etc. was an even deeper, far more entrenched problem than Roosevelt and Churchill's attitudes. We're focused on the American and UK side because those are the sources Baker primarily pulls from. But those aren't the *only* sources he references. Mary Berg's story in the ghetto seemed a clear product of the Nazis, not a by-product of the Allied front, for example.
Perhaps if Baker had beefed up the early sections, concentrating more on the post WWI times and the sociocultural changes going on (another thing to think about: there's hardly any mention of the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover's rise to power. What effect, if at all, did he have on the eventual American presence in the war? Probably not much, but I'm curious…) then the message that the roots of war on both sides stemmed so far back that pacifism as a viable movement had little chance to stop the steamroll would have been clearer.
This is where my confusion with Baker comes into play Sarah. Everytime I read a part that seemed included to make it clear that the war was going to happen regardless (like the one you mention) then something would be thrown out that seemed to hint at an alternative (like the comments suggesting if only Churchill would agree to peace all would be well or the same thing if only FDR would stop pushing the Japanese). So I circle back to that suggestion. That's how I read it.
My complaint goes back to the choices made in putting the book together. I think it is an outstanding idea but I'm not sure that Baker had the focus (whatever he chose that focus to be) needed to pull it off.
Nick Antosca writes:
Hello everyone; I've met some of you in person and only know others by reputation, but it's a pleasure to be involved in this conversation. I'm recovering from the near-delirium of bad cold and have just caught up on the discussion points so far.
I was particularly interested in Eric's remarks about Churchill. I think we can all agree that Baker's portrayal of Churchill is one of the most incendiary (so to speak!) elements of Human Smoke. It is clear that the man was willing to sacrifice human life in great quantities and it's also clear that Baker has a visceral dislike for him (when he characterizes Churchill's ideology with sardonic contempt, he can start to sound a little like Martin Amis: "Bombing was, to Churchill, a form of pedagogy–a way of enlightening city dwellers as to the hellishness of remote battlefields by killing them"). But I found Churchill also the most fascinating figure in the book, both in a historical context and, well, as a character. His motives were all wrong, he seems to have been congenitally deaf to human suffering, and his ideology was fed by notions of racial superiority–but in May 1940, his stubbornness and bellicosity were better bulwarks against Hitler than the relative levelheadedness of Chamberlain.
It's one of the larger ironies of this story: Chamberlain seems to have been a reasonable, intelligent man who wanted peace, and Churchill something of a loudmouth war fetishist. But Churchill was the better man to stand up against Hitler–who was, as Levi said, "a frustrated politician, a failed leader, [and] a military flash in the pan," but also an obsessive, irrational person with the resources of mass murder at his disposal. Diplomacy wouldn't have worked. I don't think it's a bad thing that Churchill was intent on destroying his regime.
What I do think is plainly awful is the attitude expressed and displayed by both Churchill and Roosevelt toward civilian casualties. Is mass murder ever justified? (Is it morally defensible to kill 1,000 people if it will save the lives of 1,001?) Is there any difference at all between the bombing of civilian targets by the RAF and the bombing of civilian targets by the Luftwaffe. I don't think so. Equally reprehensible is the indifference displayed toward refugees. (I was particularly struck by the small, ugly anecdote about Roosevelt's joke to reporters regarding Hitler and "one of the few prominent Jews left in Germany" [417].) It's not like any student of history wasn't already aware of this, but still it's a shameful episode to think about. What would have happened if America and Great Britain had actively welcomed those fleeing the Nazi regime? Would the Holocaust as we know have been prevented or radically diminished in scale?
And then there's that persistent question that most of the preceding responses have in some way alluded to–was WWII a "good war"? What I took from Human Smoke was that it was half a good war. War with Hitler was necessary–although some indefensible tactics were used. War with Japan was not necessary–the attack on Pearl Harbor unquestionably required a military response, but the American escalation and provocation that preceded the attack were the actions of a nation that wanted war.
On another note, I wish the book had ended on Dec. 31, 1945 rather than 1941. I'd have been fascinated to read Baker's account of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Sarah and Colleen, I agree that, to whatever extent Human Smoke has an actual point of view, it contradicts that point of view. I came to the conclusion that Baker (who loves to play with form, of course) was doing this intentionally, that he was constructing the book as a sort of "pointillism of facts" where the facts don't have to necessarily
agree with each other or have any relation to each other.
So, for instance, the interpretation or "argument" I've been describing and engaging with is actually my own construction, though I think it's a construction Baker laid out for readers to pick up. The only time Baker betrays a direct point of view is in the book's very last sentence, when he says of various pacifists: "They failed, but they were right."
I do think, though, that Baker's point of view shows up here — I gather that he is a committed pacifist in the general tradition of Mahatma Gandhi. Which I think is about as good a stance as stances get, and this is probably why I like the book so much.
(Also, in response to Colleen, I also don't want to slip into "blaming America". That would miss the point. Nobody is saying Roosevelt and Churchill were worse than Hitler, by a longshot. But did they do as well as they could have done? It has to be asked.)
Okay, I better stop this rambling discourse …
There are many thoughtful points that Colleen brings up. So I'll try to respond to a handful here.
Colleen complains about Human Smoke not possessing "an adequate discussion on the Treaty of Versailles." In fact, the Treaty of Versailles is mentioned four places in the book. Baker's most stirring citation is Hitler denouncing the Treaty of Versailles as "utterly intolerable" on p. 135. And if one wishes to dig up the standards here, Hitler's antipathy to the Treaty of Versailles is also quite evident in William Shirer's account. Thus, Hitler's rise to power has very little to do with the Treaty's specific conditions or the concomitant developments concerning its parties. The whole point here is that global ideology failed to consider and, in some cases, outright ignored pacificism. Regardless of the idealistic points set into stone by Woodrow Wilson and company (and we all know what happened with the League of Nations), Hitler was determined to posture in whatever manner possible to encourage an attack, painting England as the enemy and Germany as the victim. This is very much the "repetition" that Levi alludes to and something you will find in nearly any World War II historical volume. What Baker brings to the table here is how readily Hitler's wartime bluster was eerily mirrored by Churchill. I don't think it's fair to suggest that, because Billy Mitchell's 1924 prediction came before John Haynes Holmes's antiwar play (presented in 1935), Baker is therefore wrong or does not know about Mitchell. But if we must split hairs, in 1924, the Nazi Party wasn't around. Hitler wasn't yet in a significant position of power. (Hell, the beer hall putsch had only just happened.) Baker's point is that, despite Holmes's play receiving considerable notice in both The Nation and The Times, most people chose to ignore it. This was not a matter of Mitchell being a historical soothsayer. It was a matter of arts and activism offering a reflective prism of what was happening during this particular time, and nobody paying attention (or perhaps enough attention) to a pivotal piece of culture that suggested what was happening across the pond. Not unlike Checkpoint, strangely enough.
I must also address Colleen's "confusion" about the Madagascar section she cites on p. 204. It is abundantly clear that the latter Madagascar scenario involved Jews being transported to an island-based concentration camp, itself a whole-heartedly horrible scenario, and troubling given the unsuccessful negotiations with the French government in 1937 (see p. 67) to work something out for Polish Jews, which did not involve a concentration camp. I agree with Colleen that shipping Polish Jews from their homeland is an entirely terrible idea. But I think Baker's references to Madagascar demonstrate that sweeping ideology causes a safer idea, however fey or insalubrious, to be taken to a deadly level. That had someone stopped this ideology from escalating into insanity and taken up this admittedly insane offer, a few Polish Jews might have been saved.
I suppose all this is why I see this book, to a large degree, as a very interesting preservationist polemic. We willfully ignore the ravings and rantings of the perceived wackos. But it may very well be that failing to listen to this sort involves something more pernicious.
Well I've been officially pounced on. A brief reply:
I wasn't suggesting that Baker needed to know every little thing and I didn't bring up Billy Mitchell thinking Baker should have known it. I brought it up the same way Sarah (and others) have brought up other names – there is a lot out there in other words, and it is always selective what you include or leave out. (I also used Mitchell only to agree with another email that the Americans had considered Japan a potential enemy decades before – I don't recall suggesting at all that he needed to be in the book.)
As to the Treaty of Versailles, I didn't mean that it wasn't mentioned in the book but that it is big and there is a lot to it – a lot has little to do with Germany even. (It has much to do with Japan's rise to power and China's descent actually.) WWII came from that treaty – you write about the war then you need to write a lot about the treaty. I respectfully agree to disagree with you about Hitler's rise to power being directly related to the condiitons set forth in the Treaty of Versailles. I think it was.
My confusion over Baker's mention of Madagascar is not over what it was about, whether it would be successful or whether it was good or bad. I found the way that Baker would insert it occasionally into the text to be odd. Was he suggesting that the Jews would have been saved if Churchill agreed to peace after the invasion of Poland? And was he suggesting that this would be a real thing? I don't know. If he only mentioned it once it would be just one more aspect of the history he wanted to share. By coming back to it several times he seems to want to make a point. Forgive me for not seeing it.
I'm done.
I started to read the various opinions and profferings and found myself distracted by the cacophonous erudition on display—though I think it is neat that Gmail has assigned everyone's name a different color.
So forgive me if I repeat or revisit some part of this polylogue but I am not reading the nearly 20 pages of commentary until I have fixed on some firm ideas of my own. Plus I am reading Jack O Connell's The Resurrectionist and Alan Furst's new opus — so many books, so little time. Thus my own meager contributions to this literary cosa nostra will be sporadic and fragmented
I am struck by my preference for Nick Baker's essays and book Double Fold (and now (Human Smoke) — my dabbles into his fiction left me unsatisfied and—uh, let's leave it at unsatisfied. This particular work, which caused me to recall Voltaire's assessment of history ("the lies we agree upon") and Eduardo Galaeno's magnum opus Memory of Fire — a three volume fragmentary (that's fragments of larger stories that can stand alone) history of the western hemisphere, drawn from all manner of sources, provokes from the outset by referring to the "end of civilization." Civilization ended in late 1941 folks? Oh my.
This is not your father's history or your grandfather's. So some of the nitpicking I noted as I scanned the current accumulation conjures some unfortunate images (best left unsaid or I will certainly quickly assume the mantle of the rat in the cathedral. )Baker 's book ought not be faulted for not including this tidbit or failing to emphasize that event or person or document. What is an open and interesting issue for me is whether one could construct an alternate view of the same time frame with 500 or 600 other paragraphs.
Also, the dramatis personae in Human Smoke are sufficiently diverse to deflect any complaints that this is history as made and seen only by great men and women (and I commend Baker for going beyond Eleanor Roosevelt to represent activist women). Especially in his choice of non governmental voices— Gandhi, Isherwood, Klemperer, Mann, Einstein—and refraining from trotting out activist artists "tainted" by various Stalinist affiliations.
Isn't it amusing to see how transparently fraudulent FDR was in any claims (in the 1940 re election campaign and after) to peaceful intentions— its not like George Bush invented misleading Americans. And for all of Churchill's oratory and clever rhetoric and Bartlett's filling quipping, his admiration for Hitler and Mussolini don't put him in flattering light—not to mention his seeming indifference to human suffering
Is this a work of history? A literary pastiche? A hybrid codex of the pre WW II world? While I am not anathema to categorization and naming I think when we come across an stirringly original work assigning it a niche in our catalogue is the least of our tasks— assuming there is a hierarchy of interpretation.
One more thing (for now) how lacking in imagination the war -mongerers and generals were in the last global conflagration that they were not able to come up with neat phrases like "collateral damage" Part of the argument that Holocaust deniers throw down is that carpet bombing of Dresden and Hamburg and Tokyo were in every way as criminal and genocidal as anything the Nazis might have done. Try to convince any Americans (who haven't read Slaughterhouse Five) of that. Actually, I'm curious were any Allied forces or leaders ever formally accuse of war crimes or atrocities (perhaps along the lines of the Soviet Katyn Forest slaughter)?
More TK.
Human Smoke — Part Two
(This is the second of a five-part roundtable discussion of Nicholson Baker's Human Smoke. For additional installments: Part One, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five.)
Hi all – I've read the first round of responses from Sarah, Levi and Brian and I'm not sure that I can completely speak to each of the points that everyone has brought up (we are already going off in many directions!) but I do have some thoughts on the book that connect to some of what others have written.
First, I came to Human Smoke with no pro- or anti- Baker pov. I enjoyed Double Fold and that was the last Baker book I read – so I can't speak to whether or not this is a response to any of his books.
For me personally, I was excited to read the book because I studied and taught this period of history for several years. I had high hopes for the book but was very disappointed.
I don't think you can jump into the causes of WWII without an adequate discussion on the Treaty of Versailles, something that Baker does not give much attention. It lead directly to Hitler's rise to power and also contributed (to a lesser extent) to internal difficulties in China which Japan took full advantage of. On that front, Baker does provide a lot of discussion on the sale of arms to China and Japan by the US which is very interesting and important but he fails to explain the backstory of Japanese designs on China, the acquisition of former German colonies in China by Japan as part of the Treaty of Versailles and the impact of Japanese encroachment on China such as the Mukden Incident in 1931. Japan had serious military intentions on all of Asia and most certainly saw the west as a threat. As Brian mentioned, (I think) the US did consider Japan a potential threat far before 1941. In 1924 Billy Mitchell, (Asst Chief of the Army Air Corps at the time) predicted nearly down to the minute how and why he thought Japan would attack Pearl Harbor. He was loudly dismissed, largely because the racist attitude of the day could not see any Asian nation as a threat against the west and because Mitchell himself had a lot of enemies in the military. (He was very outspoken.) But it is not outside the realm of believability to suggest FDR knew what might happen as far as a Japanese attack against America someday. But no one – no one – has ever found the smoking gun proof that he knew it was going to happen for sure. I think we believed Japan was a threat, but did not know an attack was going to happen on December 7th. Baker seems to suggest that FDR goaded Japan into a war they would have avoided otherwise. That seems very hard for me to believe based on what Japan did in China and elsewhere in the years leading up to the Pearl Harbor attack. (I refer to the Japanese government here – I do believe that most of the Japanese people did not want war with the US; but they followed their leadership.) Read Iris Chang and you will see the flip side to Baker's assertions – what happened in Nanking is the not the act of a country looking for peace.
As for the German aspect of the war, there's just so much missing here. (I thought Sarah's point was key on this – everyone will know of something that is missing and perhaps you just can't write this kind of book without expanding it hugely.) Baker seems to be suggesting again and again that if Churchill would have agreed to peace then Hitler would have stopped after Poland. But why should Churchill have believed him? He promised to stop after Austria, and after being given the Sudetenland portion of Czechoslovakia, and after demanding and receiving all of Czechoslovakia. Plus, he knew that Poland had a treaty with both France and England that demanded an attack on one of those countries would result in a response from the other two. British honor was at stake after the invasion of Poland in terms of the worth of their promises – what would a treaty with Britain mean if Churchill did not respond to the Polish invasion as the treaty demanded? Baker does not mention any of this however, in fact he frames Hitler as a man seeking peace who is forced into war by Churchill. I don't get it.
Having said that, anyone who has read about Gallipoli would agree that Churchill loved the idea of glorious war. I really think he was a man of his time in that respect – in many ways like Rudyard Kipling. Kipling changed of course after the death of his son but Churchill remained largely untouched in a personal way by war – he could still see it as a glorious thing after WWI. There is a lot about Churchill to draw on in terms of his published writings and articles about him but to me it seemed that Baker cherry picked too much here. His derisive comment about the miracle at Dunkirk is an example (187). He neglects to mention that over 100,000 French soldiers were rescued as well, effectively preserving the French Army to fight for the later formed Free French government. And as for his comments about the destruction of the bulk of the French Navy (205) this was indeed a very dark period in British/French history. But the French Navy had to surrender – the French government was now being led by a puppet government that answered to Hitler – they were the enemy. If the French Navy did not surrender then they would return to France (as they had just been ordered) and thus fall into German hands. There was a lot behind the decision to face the French fleet with force – and none of this was presented by Baker. (Here's a more thorough view.) He makes it seem almost cavalier – yet the British made several attempts to have the fleet surrender. And surrender of that fleet was imperative as it was the 4th largest in the world and could not fall into German hands.
Honestly, I was confused a lot while reading this book. On the one hand he writes about German atrocities against the Jews but then suggests that if Churchill will agree to peace they will all be sent to Madagascar. (204) It disturbs me enormously to read (more than once) that if only Churchill gave Hilter Poland then the Jews would have been saved. I am no fan of the widely held myths of WWII (Greatest Generation, etc) but any one who believes that Hitler would be satisfied with Poland (after his previous broken promises) is incredibly naive. And pinning the lives of the Jews on Churchill smacks of German propaganda more than anything else. But then in the middle of all that Baker would have something from Victor Klemperer or elsewhere that seemed to suggest that the Jews were damned regardless. It seemed sometimes like the text was going in circles.
I liked the idea of this book and was very impressed by the research that was done to complete it. But it is very subjective – just as subjective as those books celebrating America's action during the war are. The cynical part of me can not help but think that the book was written this way purely to get a reaction and not because it was the best (or most thorough) way to counter the celebratory myths of the war that have been published elsewhere.
Hello all again.
Cannot resist:
[Colleen wrote:] Read Iris Chang and you will see the flip side to Baker's assertions – what happened in Nanking is the not the act of a country looking for peace… he frames Hitler as a man seeking peace who is forced into war by Churchill. I don't get it.
These things bothered me as well. I think Baker assumes a good deal of prior knowledge of World War II and its causes in his book; Human Smoke doesn't get into Versailles or any of the above because (I was assuming as I read it) it has been covered elsewhere. But Colleen's point is really valid. I found the book an engrossing read because it embroidered and complicated the history I already had some grasp on. For someone with only slight less familiarity and of a certain frame of mind, this book would be a real mind-blower. But for someone who knew little about the period and was hoping to learn more–particularly about Japanese expansion into Asia–this book could be confusing at best and misleading at worse.
[Colleen wrote:] Honestly, I was confused a lot while reading this book. On the one hand he writes about German atrocities against the Jews but then suggests that if Churchill will agree to peace they will all be sent to Madagascar. (204) It disturbs me enormously to read (more than once) that if only Churchill gave Hilter Poland then the Jews would have been saved. I am no fan of the widely held myths of WWII (Greatest Generation, etc) but any one who believes that Hitler would be satisfied with Poland (after his previous broken promises) is incredibly naive. And pinning the lives of the Jews on Churchill smacks of German propaganda more than anything else. But then in the middle of all that Baker would have something from Victor Klemperer or elsewhere that seemed to suggest that the Jews were damned regardless. It seemed sometimes like the text was going in circles.
I think part of what we were seeing there was the book wrestling with the idea of pacifism and whether it could have prevented World War II. Baker writes in the afterword that the pacifists "failed," which suggests that he thinks that under different circumstances, the pacifists could have succeeded: Perhaps, implemented as state policy
or spurring a mass movement, pacifism could have kept at least a couple of countries out of the war. Perhaps a widespread pacifist movement in Germany could have prevented it from going to war in the first place. Ultimately, of course, we can't know. But as someone who isn't a strict pacifist, I side more with Colleen than with Baker. Maybe pacifism could have kept the United States out of the war. But the closer one gets to Germany geographically speaking, the less likely it seems to me, and the more pacifism looks like capitulation. I don't think vocal pacifism would have saved Belgium or Holland.
Ed Park writes:
A lot of interesting comments, and it's already hard for me to maneuver (I wanted to say chime in re Ed's take on objectivity, but Brian's addressed that point; also re Baker's take on Japanese aggression, but Colleen's got that covered).
I. This book didn't remind me of Markson's novels (most of which exist in the realm of the notebook, the fragment, the disintegrating/re-formed voice) so much as it did Eliot Weinberger's "What I Heard About Iraq," a nonfiction piece I've been teaching to my students. I am interested in the technique of the cento, in the strategy of repetition. The voice in "WIHAI" is clear, impassioned but controlled, and relentless; practically every entry (most just a few sentences long) begins "I heard…" Two words, vexed to nightmare.
For Baker, the two words are "It was": "It was April 6, 1917." "It was the summer of 1932." "It was February 9, 1939." The strict chronology adds to the atmosphere of doom.
I heard it was.
II. We have now reached the point where we can't say there's a "typical" Nicholson Baker book, or even style. A Box of Matches tapped into the same well of observations found in his first two novels, but Human Smoke and Checkpoint bear little resemblance to his trademark hyperobservational mode, in which the authorial voice notices something small, seemingly insignificant, and spins that rarity into something universal. Like Perec, he seems to want to write every sort of book that it's possible to write.
Jason Boog writes:
First of all, I'd like to say thanks to Ed for including me on this conversation between some of my favorite writers, both on and off the Internets. It's a real honor to participate.
I'd also like to say thanks to Ed for asking this question: "what do you folks make of the cast of characters here?" On the surface it sounds like the easy essay question asked on a Literature 101 exam in college, but I think it's one of the best ways to unpack this sprawling work.
This book is, among other things, about how writers influence the world during wartime. It's a question that very few writers have picked up during the Iraq War, and I applaud Nicholson Baker for raising this question today. That contemporary, unsettling theme is what differentiates this work of literary non-fiction from the shelves of World War II history books that Levi Asher noticed.
For instance, we see the writer Christopher Isherwood struggling to change the violent course of events at key moments in the book. His heartbreaking response to critics of pacifism (and the literary crowd who mocked him for his stance) really shook me on page 163: "I am afraid I should be reduced to a chattering, enraged monkey, screaming back hate at their hate." Many contemporary writers and artists have struggled with these bestial energies in the wake of September 11th, and Americans will cope with the twinned emotions of hate and revenge for the next century.
I think Baker picked Joseph Goebbels as the perfect foil to Isherwood's ultimately unsuccessful character. We meet Goebbels as he is working hard on his novel, but he drops everything to join Hitler's war machine. The newspaper reports and speeches he wrote as propaganda minister were horrifically effective. Goebbels chose the complete opposite path of Isherwood, and killed millions with the hate his writings generated.
While I agree with previous writers that Baker is writing how the peace movement failed, I think we need to focus on that contrast between a nearly-forgotten pacifist writer and the most famous Nazi propagandist. Isherwood's unpopular, peaceful ideals seem very fragile when compared to Goebbels' terrible body of work—but they illustrate the redemptive qualities of Baker's new book.
The history books will mostly ignore characters like Isherwood, because they could do little to alter the momentum of World War II. Human Smoke does a magnificent job of resurrecting the most powerful pacifist writings of the time—from Mahatma Gandhi's letters to Isherwood's prose. Many of these writings would have faded to oblivion without Baker's curatorial eye, and they have lessons to teach contemporary readers.
Baker's book reminds writers and thinkers that we have our own set of moral decisions to make as we write about the Iraq War (and the larger question of instability in the Middle East). Do we permanently disengage like Isherwood or to fight to change minds like Thomas Mann's expatriate messages to his German countrymen? It's about time somebody started asking these tough questions, because the bloody conflicts of the 21st Century won't go away.
Well, I have to say I didn't expect the round table to get quite so involved quite so quickly–Ed just announced game on at 11 o'clock last night and here we are with the tenth long, involved email.
I want to disagree with Ed's statement that every narrative requires a "a capable crew of good guys and bad guys"; I think most good narratives are more complicated than that, and real people can't be divided into good and bad so easily, and I think Baker makes this case quite well. Take, for example, Churchill.
So you understand where I'm coming from, my father saw the film Young Churchill when he was a kid and ever since has practically idolized the man. My childhood was filled with anecdotes about Churchill's wit and how the man bravely saved us from Hitler ("never have so many owed so much to so few" etc). But then we're Jewish and it's very easy for Jews to think highly of anyone who fought Hitler.
Churchill's portrayal in Human Smoke isn't particularly flattering and the Churchill who falls over himself to compliment Mussolini, cheers on the bombing of natives in Africa and the Middle East and thinks of the Jews as a bunch of Communists is a far cry from the Churchill I grew up hearing about. But at the same time, he's portrayed as a brilliant orator, a charismatic and someone willing to make hard decisions for the cause of war. I agree with Colleen that Baker isn't objective, but he does tell us that Poland and England had a mutual defense treaty, he does tell us that the French navy was ordered to surrender. He does tell us that Churchill, who despised Stalin, did everything he could to help Stalin's war effort against their common enemy. Churchill is not a cartoon. And I disagree with Colleen that Baker is suggesting that Hitler and Churchill should have made peace after the conquest of Poland; that Hitler wanted the peace is indisputable, but I'm not sure the inclusion of that information is an indictment of Churchill's decision to keep fighting.
The bigger question here is the question of two war practices used by the British (and then the Americans) over and over again: the food embargo and the bombing of civilian targets. These two realpolitik methods of conducting warfare are still used today; I remember having a heated argument with someone who accused Bill Clinton of being a mass murderer because he helped push through the UN embargo of Iraq, and Clinton's bombs in Bosnia were killed many civilians. Baker might have been trying to get me to think that these methods are inhuman, and he may be right, but as I read on the main conclusion I came to was this is simply how war is conducted. Indeed killing civilians though siege and embargo and blockade goes back to Roman times and before; not only is it not new, but I don't there there's ever been a time in history when these methods were not employed in the cause of warfare.
Which is all to say that the American pacifists in the run up to the war were probably right in calling war mass murder. At the same time we are told about Hitler's atrocities toward the Jews and Japanese atrocities in the Chinese mainland, and through all the talk of pacifism and Gandhi and civilian casualties all I could think of as I read on was that these people have to be stopped by whatever means necessary. It even occurred to me (and horrified me that it would occur to me) that if, after the war ended, we had turned around and dropped a nuclear bomb on Russia, we might have been able to bring down the Communist government in one fell swoop and stopped Stalin from killing the millions of people that he killed (many of whom were Jews). I think it's worth peering through our instincts to recoil from the notion to consider whether or not the world would have been better off.
This then, for me, is the primary question posed by Human Smoke. Is mass murder ever justified? And, if so, can we live with ourselves afterward?
I think Brian and Jason raise some interesting questions about the message on pacifists and pacifism that Baker is exploring. As Brian suggests, there was the possibility of a pacifist movement to have an impact – but I think the better time was back in WWI. In that war pacifism would likely have had a much larger impact as there were no real "bad" guys and in many cases no one could explain why the war was being fought. (Even the leaders were largely unable to respond when Woodrow Wilson put forth that direct question.) It would have been interesting to see what connections the pacifists in Baker's book had to WWI. Vera Brittain is the only one I have any real knowledge of and she lost her brother, fiancee and best friend in the war. She long acknowledged that WWI is what made her a pacifist. (I highly recommend her book on that war, Testament of Youth.) Christopher Isherwood's father died in WWI; Chips Channon served with the Red Cross during WWI. I think a lot of their thoughts about peace could be very well have been rooted in the realities of war they saw/knew/felt.
I don't think it is fair to say that the pacifist movement failed in WWII though because it was not the kind of conflict that allowed much discussion for meaningful peace. (Two aggressor nations bent on domination with the military support to back them up.) Also you have to consider that while many Europeans had learned the lesson of war as hell in WWI most Americans had not – our experience in WWI was much less. To some degree Americans still embraced the glorious war idea that Europe had already learned was a lie. So we weren't so willing to listen to calls for peace. And as far as Germany, their anger over the Treaty of Versailles was too raw among too much of the population – they felt they were owed something in response to how they were wrongfully treated and most of the country's leaders were unwilling to let that go.
I guess what I'm saying is that you could very well frame an interesting argument around what the pacifists learned in WWI, and what they tried to accomplish in WWII. Baker might have been trying to do this, but I don't think he tells us enough or perhaps gets distracted by following other threads in his narrative. It's almost like he tries to be too many things to too many people (or present too many ideas) in this book to keep any coherence. (I think Jason's comment about comparing Isherwood and Goebbels is interesting and would have made for a great article or book.)
Eric: I based my comment concerning Churchill and peace negotiations following the invasion of Poland on several passages in the book:
Goebbels wrote in his diary. "In any event, it is the English who must decide whether the war is to continue." p 151
>From Victor Klemperer: "On the other hand, England-France appear to believe in the prospects of a long war, since the peace offer seems to have been rejected." p 152.
Cyril Joad's thoughts on p 154
The suggestion on p. 168 that the Germans had no plan to invade Norway until forced by British action in March 1940. That is simply not true – see this for a good overview of the big picture about why the port of Narvik was needed by the German navy and how long the Germans had considered plans to invade Norway.
P 185 – "Hitler's aim was to 'make peace with Britain on a basis that she would regard as compatible with her honour to accept.'"
P 204 – "It was contingent, though, on peace with Churchill."
And on and on and on. Baker seems to characterize Churchill all too often as a warmonger (and I don't disagree that he did believe in glorious war – I've already acknowledged that) who furthered the war rather than ending it as Hitler wanted. And yet we know now (from Hitler's broken promises before Poland and with Stalin) that Hitler's promise of peace was never to be trusted. Thus the book reads as unbalanced to me – it is almost as if Baker is trying too hard to remove Churchill (and Roosevelt) from any heroic position that history might still be affording them – at the expense of truth.
So much to say.
To Colleen, about Japan and the motivations behind the Pacific war and Nanking — well, I just read a rather astonishing book called Breaking Open Japan: Commodore Perry, Lord Abe, and American Imperialism in 1853 by George Feifer (in fact, this book's
myth-smashing about Japan/USA relations really primed me for the myth-smashing in Baker's book). According to this book, Commodore Perry's military humiliation of Japan in 1853 was a deeply traumatic event for the entire nation, and began a century of military/economic dominations that led directly to Pearl Harbor. The USA's track record
in fair dealings with Japan from 1853 to 1941 is fairly similar to its track record with Native Americans. Nothing can forgive the horrors of Japan's Korean occupation or Chinese occupation, of course. But it is a notable fact that Japan had lived in relative peace for more than three centuries before Perry arrived in 1853.
Brian, you say that pacifism wouldn't have saved Belgium or Holland. True, especially because the Nazis were at their peak of success at this time. But what about later, when the British blockade and air raids had been taking their toll, when the Nazis failed to muster the resources to invade England and thus realized that, long term, their prospects were bleak? I like it that Baker doesn't let us rest with easy answers in this book. Yes, we all agree that appeasement didn't work in 1938. And it wouldn't have worked in 1939 and probably not in 1940. But by 1941, the evidence seems to indicate that an armistice could have been established. Would this have been good or not? I don't know, but we do know that the decision to pursue unconditional surrender came at a great cost. The Holocaust death camps, for instance, did not exist until the end of 1941, well after the peak of Hitler's strength.
I went back to a bookstore today to look at some more World War II books (and I picked up the classic text, William Shirer's Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, for a refresher read). One thing that caught my eye was, separate from the World War II military books, a long shelf and a half of books about Adolf Hitler. I thought about our popular image of Hitler as some kind of dark cartoonish uber-evil human monster. Of course he seems to have been exactly that, and with a bad haircut too. But still, I have always felt (and, as an ethnic Jew, this feeling has always possessed me in a strange way) that it runs against my common sense that, in any situation, real or abstract, the Other can be evil without this evil being somehow shared, common.
John Lennon once sang "I don't believe in Hitler", and I know exactly what he means. Oh, I know Hitler is real, and I can recognize his face. But one thing I like about Baker's book is that he shows Hitler as what he also really was — a frustrated politician, a failed
leader, a military flash in the pan who managed to control an impoverished nation and a chaotic small empire for a few years as it all crumbled slowly around him. According to Human Smoke and other sources, Hitler was only in control of his fate before September 1, 1939. From that point on, he was stuck in Churchill's slow, methodical grind, just as the outclassed Japanese were stuck in America's slow, methodical grind in the Pacific. So, now, we ask — why did the grind have to be so slow, and why were cease-fires or peace talks never a possibility? I think this is one of the more concrete questions Nicholson Baker asks in this book, and even though I don't know enough
to know the answer, I do know that the question must be asked.
Finally … I'm glad that Jason brings Iraq and September 11 into this. It may be worth thinking of Human Smoke as a "September 11 book", partly because increasingly positive imagery of World War II (Ken Burns' The War, etc.) has seemed more popular than ever since that day. I also think that, like Philip Roth's The Plot Against America (with which Human Smoke shares a lot, including Burton Wheeler), this book may or may not have been written as an indirect commentary on the Bush/Cheney administration, but even if it wasn't, the shoe sure seems to fit.
March 9, 2008 June 4, 2008 by Edward Champion
Human Smoke — Part One
author, discussion, Human Smoke, nicholson baker, Roundtable
(This is the first of a five-part roundtable discussion of Nicholson Baker's Human Smoke. For additional installments: Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, and Part Five.)
Nicholson Baker's latest book, Human Smoke, hits bookstores on Tuesday. And we will be devoting the entire week here to discussing the book.
But I'd like to start by dedicating this roundtable discussion to Arthur Saltzman, the late author of Understanding Nicholson Baker. I had approached Saltzman to participate in this discussion, but I learned from his partner, Joy Dworkin, that he passed away a few months ago of a brain hemorrhage. He was only 54. So I devote this discussion to his critical work on Baker and offer Joy my most profound condolences.
Nearly everyone I've talked with about Human Smoke has insisted that it's a departure for Baker. And I apologize, noble group. They came for my views and I DID speak out! (Apologies to Pastor Niemoller.) But aside from the lack of exuberance and perverse wordplay (no "assive-aggressive" here!), I don't necessarily think this is the case. There is certainly Baker's concern for details here. And when I consider that moment in The Fermata when we learn that Department of Defense funding is behind that bizarre sex laboratory or the humane qualities of the Death Watch Beetles parable in The Everlasting Story of Nory, I have a suspicion that Baker's contextual and pacifistic sentiments have been building up for some time. Perhaps even before the Bush II administration. (And I'll leave the theory over whether Human Smoke is, in some sense, a response to the hostile reception to Checkpoint for another to explore.) Consider also also Baker's essay, "Clip Art" (contained in The Size of Thoughts), in which Baker responds to Stephen King's charge that Vox was a "meaningless little finger paring" by pointing out that Allen Ginsberg had sold a bag of facial whiskers to Stanford and that, therefore, parings could not be "brushed off as meaningless."
So the first query I have is whether you think Baker's David Markson-like juxtaposition of historical data — adhering to a very specific timeline — is sufficiently objective. Does subjective interpretation here fall upon the reader? To what degree is Baker responsible for it? I'm also wondering if Baker is, in some minor sense, playing chicken a la King. I was certainly angered, saddened, and agitated by what the book presents — particularly many of the lost opportunities at peaceful negotiation and how obdurate decisions led to horrible consequences — but part of me pondered whether some of the anecdotes here could be willfully reframed, much like the "paring" scenario, and whether this tactic was entirely fair in some instances. I think of Gandhi's amazing December 24, 1940 letter to Hitler, in which he suggests, "We have found in non-violence a force which, if organized, can without doubt match itself against all the most violent forces in the world." While certainly Gandhi could back this up with his own efforts, I'm wondering if the circumstances of Nazi Germany and the Schutzstaffel's deadly realities even allowed for the peaceful resistance he championed.
The issue of responsibility — whether the so-called "good Germans" should be castigated because they couldn't prevent this from happening — has long been an issue taken up by second-generation Holocaust historians. (Goldhagen's Hitler's Willing Executioners comes to mind.) But I was fascinated by the ways Baker pins this on political ideologies. He doesn't outright blame people. He seems to suggest, particularly with Churchill's suppression of The Daily Worker (eerily preceded by socialist Richard Stokes asking why British fascists are in prison without trial while The Daily Worker appears on newsstands only one month before!) that an intellectual environment of hindering, restricting, and junking certain opinions led the world down this road. (This shares much in common with Baker's preservationist instincts, seen in Double Fold and his recent article on Wikipedia for the New York Review of Books.) What do you folks think about all this? To what degree is Human Smoke a response to the "good German" charge? To what degree is it a polemic FOR intellectual preservationism?
Also, what do you folks make of the cast of characters here? Christopher Isherwood, Chips Channon, and Victor Klemperer were just some of the many individuals here whose personal developments I found fascinating to track. And, of course, Churchill's gusto for war and Roosevelt's antisemitism come off particularly bad. But if Baker is presenting us with a capable crew of good guys and bad guys, as every narrative requires, do you think he's done a decent job? But this has us returning to that question I presented earlier about subjective judgment! So I'll shut my maw for now. Because I'm very curious what you all have to say!
Ed has offered so many interesting questions that my only response now is to ignore them and start with my take, responses to follow later on.
First, some context: I approached Human Smoke feeling a sense of guilt for how I had treated Baker's last book, Checkpoint. I'd never read his work before and rushed through it just so I could have an opinion along with the rest of the print and online peanut gallery, but I never shook the feeling that I'd given the book a bad rap, that Baker embedded far more than my mid-twentysomething brain detected. I'm planning to revisit that book soon, and my point here is that even if Human Smoke wasn't written as a direct response to the reaction to Checkpoint, my read of it probably reflects some desire to correct a perceived wrong, or at least concoct a more intelligent response to what Baker was after then.
Which brings me to now, the book at hand. Human Smoke seems set up to be a nearly 500-page Rorschach test, carefully designed so that whatever preconceived notions the reader brings to it will produce an equal response of shock, praise or vitriol, depending on the circumstances, political (or apolitical) leanings and the like. In my case, it's not so much a question of whether I agree or disagree with Baker's precis, but that my pre-formed thoughts about World War II, my dim knowledge of certain events and greater knowledge of others, creates the context for me to evaluate it. On the one hand, I think it's phenomenal. On the other hand, as I gulped down carefully laid anecdote after anecdote, forcing myself to put the book down because I wanted a breather from the cauldron of anger, depression and mind expansion that gave me so much to think about and the beginnings of a pounding headache, I couldn't help wondering what Baker had left out. I'll give an example, which also illustrates the Rorschach I just described: as I turned the pages and learned more about Roosevelt's anti-Semitism and the inexorable rise of the Nazis, I first wondered when Stephanie von Hohenlohe would make an appearance. She was Hitler's Spy Princess after all, someone who not only had the ear of the Fuhrer but whose popularity in New York and San Francisco social circles (not to mention affairs with several high-ranking government officers) so riled up Roosevelt and the FBI that she spent the bulk of the war in an internment camp. Granted, Stephanie's threat level may have been minimal, but considering she created such a stir during the exact time period Baker chronicled, the run-up to Pearl Harbor and just beyond, her omission struck me as odd – until I realized that this omission would probably be noted only by me.
Still, the "chicken a la king" feeling that Ed describes was very much on my mind, not just in terms of whether Human Smoke can truly be an objective read but in giving the reader the chance to make certain connections. I'm almost embarrassed to admit that my understanding of how the US-Japanese conflict dovetails with Hitler's murderous tramplings through Europe still remains on the dim side, except that Roosevelt & co., it seems, was waiting for a good excuse to break an election promise to stay out of the war without having to strike first. Although I was struck by Baker's juxtaposition of Roosevelt's early anti-Semitic vitriol with later policies, I'd have liked a bit more development of this connection as it seems to jump from the early 20s to late 30s without much preamble. But this, too, made me wonder if Human Smoke may have once been twice the length, and thus twice the opportunity to be wolfed down like potato chips. (as a side point, Baker remarked in an interview – I can't remember which one now – that he'd like to write a suspense novel of some sort. Perhaps this is it?)
More on the connections theme, I wonder if I was the only one to fixate on events taking place on September 11, or if this is an almost automatic thing to do now. Churchill decrying Hitler's "indiscriminate slaughter and deconstruction" in 1940; Lindbergh's much-booed speech the next year, the same day that Roosevelt made his "shoot on sight" speech. Is there a greater metaphor of looking for patterns that simply aren't there, looking for reasons to go to war to enact, at human level, a game in one's mind?
I agree with Ed that Churchill comes off very, very badly in Human Smoke. Almost as if he was well and truly pissed that World War I had to end and his power had been taken away, so the only way he could live and function was to do whatever he could to get war going again. Reading this made me rethink WWII from the Allied point of view; I'd always thought WWI was the pointless war, WWII with more of a firm rationale. But maybe there were simply more Archduke Ferdinands, more manipulated opportunities and missed chances at peace. Or maybe peace was never an option because Hitler and the Nazis were ready to propagate at all costs.
But in spite of my criticisms, there is one major reason why Human Smoke is a major work: it forced me to think about World War II at the detail level, on the day-to-day basis that everyday people faced when they woke up in the morning, read the newspaper, listened to the radio or huddled in a basement after a bombing or starved to death in a concentration camp. Baker's done his best to take a noise-laden topic and distill a relatively clear signal out of it, one that promotes a certain viewpoint by the juxtaposition of particular events, of course, but still a clear signal. In doing so, I couldn't help but flash forward to our time. The signal to noise ratio is far, far worse, with so many more and different types of media to sift through. How on earth can anyone concoct a clear signal out of what we're going through now?
More later, as I'm looking forward to what the rest of you have to say.
Hi everybody —
My reading of Human Smoke went in a completely different direction than Ed's. I take this as a dead-serious non-fiction book, in the style of Double Fold but with the increased intensity of an even more painful subject matter. I am a huge Nicholson Baker fan, but I do not detect that Nicholson Baker intended to put a lot of Nicholson Baker into this particular book. I think he has a big argument to offer, and this book is not about the writing — it's about the argument.
The argument, as best I can boil it down, is this: despite the cozy myths of American/British grace in World War II (or "the Good War", as we call it), Churchill and Roosevelt actually escalated and inflamed the war at many points, and also avoided many opportunities offered by the (losing) Axis powers to discuss a peace settlement that could have avoided future horrors. Despite the earnest efforts of many pacificist organizations and individuals, Roosevelt and Churchill insisted on the most militant approaches to problem-solving possible.
Churchill comes off particularly badly in this book, and I wonder if the book will be received with as much controversy as I think it will. Myself, I think this book is important because World War II books are such a cottage industry these days, and are more and more of the feel-good story variety every year. After I finished Human Smoke, I
went to my neighborhood Barnes and Noble to site with some history books and independently validate some of these facts. I was amused to find two entire shelves — two full 5-row shelves at Barnes and Noble — devoted to World War II books.
(I'm attaching a photo of this)
When I tried to look for hard facts inside these books, though, I found lots of repetition, lots of nostalgia, and lots of blood and guts and B-29s and turret shells. But I didn't find much actual history, certainly not of the investigative kind.
That's one reason I think Human Smoke will be an important book. I'm very interested to hear others' reactions.
I believe I've met exactly none of you in person besides Ed, and feel I should apologize for this. If you need to know more about who the hell I think I am, my website is here (www.bfslattery.com). But don't feel like you need to know more.
Ed brought up a very large number of points, and while I was typing my response, Sarah and Levi brought up even more; I'll take on the ones that coincide with the direction my own thoughts took while I was reading Nicholson Baker's excellent new book.
> > So the first query I have is whether you think Baker's David
> > Markson-like juxtaposition of historical data — adhering to a very
> > specific timeline — is sufficiently objective.
Is objectivity what Baker was going for here? I found his narrative here to be highly subjective, particularly given the basic questions he says he sought to answer (in the afterword): Was World War II a "good war"? Did waging it help anyone who needed help? Merely asking these questions, as Levi pointed out, is taking aim at the assumptions
upon which the United States' national mythology about World War II is built, and Baker doesn't stop there. Baker patiently dismantles the saintliness of both Roosevelts (Eleanor is an anti-Semite before page 25 is reached) and Churchill and lets the question linger as to whether Hitler was indeed bent on world domination. By the end of the book, at least in personal temperament, Churchill and Hitler are portrayed as more similar than different (p. 320; see also the Gandhi quote p. 407). And Baker goes to some length to suggest that higher-ups in the U.S. government at least strongly suspected that a Japanese attack was imminent and kind of sort of provoked them into it. All of these points and many others seem designed to chip away at the understanding of World War II that most Americans have: that Roosevelt and Churchill were the good guys and Hitler and the Japanese the bad guys; that the United States entered the war only after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Etcetera.
Not that I'm scolding. Just saying that I don't think Baker was trying to be objective at all, and more power to him for it. I like to see national myths pulled apart and examined, and I think that, from an analytical perspective, it's what paficism–which Baker also aligns himself with in the afterword–is particularly good at doing.
> > I'm wondering if the circumstances of Nazi Germany and the
> > Schutzstaffel's deadly realities even allowed for the peaceful
> > resistance he championed.
I think this question can drive you absolutely crazy if you stare at it for too long.
> > The issue of responsibility– whether the so-called "good Germans"
> > should be castigated because they couldn't prevent this from happening
> > — has long been an issue taken up by second-generation Holocaust
> > historians. (Goldhagen's HITLER'S WILLING EXECUTIONERS comes to mind.)
> > But I was fascinated by the ways Baker pins this on political
> > ideologies. He doesn't outright blame people. He seems to suggest,
> > particularly with Churchill's suppression of The Daily Worker (eerily
> > preceded by socialist Richard Stokes asking why British fascists are in
> > prison without trial while The Daily Worker appears on newsstands only
> > one month before!) that an intellectual environment of hindering,
> > restricting, and junking certain opinions led the world down this road.
> > (This shares much in common with Baker's preservationist instincts, seen
> > in DOUBLE FOLD and his recent article on Wikipedia for the New York
> > Review of Books.)
It also shares much with historian Christopher Browning's take on the Holocaust. When I saw those ideas emerging in the book, I turned to the bibliography, and sure enough, Baker cites four Browning books–if I read the bibliography correctly, only William Shirer beats him by weight in the secondary-source department.
Christopher Browning and Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, dueling historians, went back and forth for a while over many aspects of responsibility for the Holocaust, but–at least as I understand it–one of the key points was whether there was something unique to the German character that allowed the Holocaust to happen, or whether the whole perpetrator-victim-bystander-objector dynamic is something more…innate to humans generally (I despise using the word "innate" here, but it's late, so I can't think of anything better).
Personally, to the extent that my own opinion is worth anything, I have always sided with Browning. I found Hitler's Willing Executioners to be more vitriol than anything, and in some ways I find the premise too easy–too hard on the Germans, too easy on everyone else. By contrast, Browning's account, at least in Ordinary Men, which I
remember most vividly, is at once much more sympathetic and much more chilling.
On one hand, he suggests that many people, in fact, did not kill unarmed defenseless people even when ordered to; that many who did once never did so again, deserting the army or facing death themselves in the process; that in order to make the Holocaust happen, Hitler essentially had to create an army of psychopaths to do his bidding,
and even then had to mechanize because there weren't enough people willing to do the slaughtering at the scare he required. There is some hope in that idea, a faint glimmer of it underneath all that horror.
But the flip side is that Browning's account doesn't absolve us. After I read his stuff, I came away with the distinct suggestion–I think with a great deal of humility on Browning's part–that none of us really knows what we would do in such circumstances. It is very easy to judge now; much harder to actually intervene when faced with
terrible situations, even when the moral choice is clear. (Raise your hand if you've booked your one-way ticket to Darfur. Okay, now raise your hand if you've been to New Orleans to help with post-Katrina recovery. Those of you who have raised your hands are better people than I.) The even darker corner of Browning's ideas is that the Holocaust is, alas for us all, not a unique historical event–which, sadly, the multiple genocidal episodes since World War II have borne out. The dynamic that Ed summarized so well–the restriction of ideas, of fitting everyone into tight little boxes the better to alienate
with–can be seen in the former Yugoslavia under Milosevic; it can also be seen in Rwanda, and, I imagine in many other mass killings that I know less about than I should.
> > To what
> > degree is it a polemic FOR intellectual preservationism?
I confess that I don't know what you mean by this, Ed. But random thoughts, off of Ed's, Sarah's, and Levi's responses:
1. Does Churchill come off as bad, or simply human? A deeply flawed man, a product of his time and own personal experience? Put another way: Is Baker turning him into a monster, or is he just stripping away the myth that surrounds him? I'm asking–I don't know enough about Churchill to say.
2. Regarding national myths again, it struck me that it would be really interesting to put HUMAN SMOKE together with your average U.S. high-school textbook that covers World War II. Then your average U.K. textbook. And German textbook. And Japanese textbook. Where would the greatest discrepancies lie? Which country whitewashes its own history–its aggressions or complicity in aggressions–the most? Which aggressions or complicities in aggressions does Baker himself leave out the most? And–assuming that he researched far more than ended up in the book–why? How did he choose what to put in and what to leave out? And what were the most painful omissions?
All right, off to bed. Good night, all. And hopefully I'll meet you all eventually.
March 7, 2008 March 7, 2008 by Edward Champion
Cinematic Authenticity
Authenticity, Edward Champion, Film, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, The Bank Job
Authenticity, Film, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, The Bank Job
Two movies opening today have me concerned about the way that contemporary cinema is avoiding authenticity in an age of wartime. If we accept the idea that a movie is, in some sense, an entertainment, then should not the entertainment at least be authentic in some sense? I think of films like My Man Godfrey, The Lady Eve, and It Happened One Night, all outstanding examples of the screwball comedy. I don't think it's an accident that the screwball comedy emerged from the residue of the Great Depression and continued on roughly until America became involved in the war. My Man Godfrey offers a wonderful performance by William Powell as the besotted man taken up by Carole Lombard in a scavenger hunt. What Lombard doesn't realize is that Powell, the ostensible freeloader, is quite loaded. And Lombard's assumptions about socioeconomic status mirror the class mobility that was very much a reality in 1936. The Lady Eve, written and directed by the great Preston Sturges, likewise plays with issues of class and very much concerns itself with a milquetoast (Henry Fonda), who must find a way to embrace the realities of fortune hunter Barbara Stanwyck. I've always thought that Fonda, to some degree, reflected how America was concerning itself with events unfolding in Europe. After all, much of the action takes place on an ocean liner. And Fonda's diffident spirit seemed to reflect America's unwillingness to get involved with events across the pond. Then there's 1934's It Happened One Night, in which how one survives becomes a running comic theme, as in this moment, in which Colbert is shocked to learn that she's identified as Gable's husband, little realizing that this is how Gable's managed to secure a room before all the bus passengers nab them.
What's great about these films is the way that lively quirks and idiosyncrasies emerge from human moments that are recognizable not only within the framework of the prewar years, but the manner in which they become timeless precisely because they start from human moments.
I had hoped for something similar with Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. It had the promise of the wonderful Amy Adams, who is proving to be nearly as endearingly effervescent as the great Ms. Lombard herself. Set in the days before Britain became involved in the war, Miss Pettigrew strives to be something of a farce, depicting how its titular character (played by Frances McDormand), who has just been sacked as a housekeeper and cannot find work, emerges quite by accident as a "social secretary" to Adams, who may also be something of an impostor.
But I felt as if this film's energy didn't so much originate from its human moments, as it did its rampant concern for chasing nostalgia. This is evident through the film's showy performances that are less designed with characterization and more designed with approximating screwball comedy conventions. (It doesn't help that the great character actress Shirley Henderson, reduced here to robotic snaps of the head and her lovely voice reduced to two shrill notes, is more or less wasted as an embittered socialite.) The film relies too much on obvious gags, such as the "boy" upstairs who must be woken up, who is not some unruly tot, but actually one of Adams's lovers. (Witness too how this setup is based around a contrived and entirely predictable irony, in which the characters are not allowed a whit of spontaneity.) It relies very much on coincidental run-ins. There are forced double entendres, such as Ms. Adams's "There's something so sensual about fur next to the skin," which she manages to make work. But more attention has been devoted to sweeping pans of parties and the crazed curve of Adams's hat. In short, the technical outweighs the human. Which likewise involves keeping Adams's nudity constantly covered by towels and other obstructions for the obligatory PG-13 rating. (For those who detect the whiff of prurience with this allegation, I am, like any red-blooded man smitten by a striking actress, understandably curious. But I register this charge because I am disheartened by films that wish to suggest that a woman would, in the company of another woman, constantly hold up her towel in a convenient and preordained way. We are no longer in the days when husbands and wives were depicted in double beds. This is particularly ridiculous because Adams' character wrestles three lovers throughout the film and is by no means modest in her temperament.)
The only moment in Miss Pettigrew that stirred me, and that had me pondering authenticity in entertainment, is when McDormand commiserates with a middle-aged underwear designer (played in a gruff debonair manner by Ciarán Hinds) she's spent much of the movie resisting her romantic feelings for. They observe a number of planes heading south while many young pups shout their tally hos on the balcony. "They don't remember the last one," whispers McDormand. "No, they don't." It was a simple and by no means subtle moment. But I was intrigued by the hushed whispers, the implication of hastily capitulated memory, and it was the only moment in this movie in which I felt the human tensions of this prewar environment. I put forth that such attention to human atmosphere could have made Miss Pettigrew something special, and that such attention could have as easily have been played for laughs and worked.
I thought the running gag of McDormand desperately trying to grab a nibble, only to have a dish overturn onto the floor or an apple swept up by a broom, largely unconvincing, in part because McDormand didn't once convince me that she was hungry. (Melodramatic lines like "I have not eaten for a very, very long time" certainly don't help matters.) This is not to suggest that Miss Pettigrew is entirely one of those movies that you have playing in the background as you fold laundry. But it simply does not have the effrontery and good sense to concern itself fully with authenticity. It is a film made to run five years from now on some third-rate cable channel. It opts to be mere filler, and we are all the lesser for it.
The Bank Job is slightly better, in part because Jason Statham is a charismatic if two-note lead and Roger Donaldson is a good enough craftsman to get some kind of performance out of the rather uninteresting Saffron Burrows, even when she beams, "I'm in a spot of bother," to remind us heavy-handedly that we are, after all, in London. Statham, at the mercy of loan sharks, gets a lead on a bank and sets out to rob this bank in an effort to secure himself and his family for life. What makes this film work, before it drifts disappointingly into standard heist movie territory, is the intriguing way that Statham and his crew make mistakes. They haven't committed a robbery before and they jackhammer underneath a restaurant to get to the loot, not thinking that their quite audible work is going to get them some attention. There's a lookout man outside, but they're all communicating through walkie-talkies on an open frequency. (This audio is intercepted by a ham radio enthusiast.) These thieves don't know what they're doing and, when they remain naive and clueless, this film is often gripping. And this works because these moments are human, dripping with some relative authenticity.
But when Statham wises up that he's being used and transmutes from a car salesman to a badass overnight, the film lost me. Sure, we want these thieves to get away with the crime. And as a balding man, it was good to see a follicly challenged character manipulate politicians and pornographers and talk his way out of situations with bravado. But that's too easy a dramatic line to pursue. We expect these things out of heist movies. We don't expect everyday types to become criminals and we don't expect criminals to screw up.
Authenticity, it seems, has become too much to ask of cinematic entertainment. Because it no longer fits into the formula that gets people into movie theaters. But these two films would have been infinitely more interesting had they lived up to the human promise of films that came before. But perhaps that's too screwball a notion.
Momentary Hiatus
Due to other deadlines, I'm taking a few days off. Four new podcasts are up at the Bat Segundo Show. More soon!
March 3, 2008 by Edward Champion
Interview with Bill Plympton
Animation, Bat Segundo, Bill Plympton, Edward Champion, Film
Animation, Bill Plympton, Film, interview
I'm currently putting the finishing touches on a number of new podcasts, which I anticipate releasing today. But in the meantime, here's an excerpt from my forthcoming interview with animator Bill Plympton.
If you don't know who Bill Plympton is, you're missing out on one of the most unique independent animators now working in America. Plympton emerged into national consciousness when many of his shorts begin appearing on MTV's Liquid TV during the late 1980s and early 1990s. This came concomitantly with success on the film festival circuit — in particular, with Spike & Mike's Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation. But, ironically, his work has found greater appreciation outside of the States. In his own country, he's considered more of a cult item. Which is too bad. Because if this were a just universe, Plympton would be considered a national treasure.
I wasn't surprised at all to see Plympton name-check Winsor McCay during our conversation. There is a fascinating surreal component to all of his films. Take 1994's "Nose Hair," in which a pesky and ever-growing follicle kick-starts a wondrous free-associative trip involving a man walking up and down a changing landscape. Or the unusual first-person approach of 1998's "The Exciting Life of a Tree," which is told entirely from a tree's perspective. Couples copulate on a blanket, believing that there is privacy. Other trees are sawed down. But somehow the tree is abandoned.
Plympton puts together his films with a small staff in his New York studio. And, believe it or not, he draws all of the frames himself — at least a hundred drawings a day, he tells me — with his staff coloring and compositing these drawings.
Plympton was kind enough to find a few minutes to talk with me while putting the finishing touches on his most recent animated feature, Idiots and Angels.
(And, incidentally, Plympton tells me that the storyline for the new film involves a disgruntled angel who is a bit peeved that the angel wings force him to be good. As soon as I learn of a release date and/or a distributor, I will follow up.)
Correspondent: I wanted to ask you about something that's long been curious to me. The suit guys, who have these square shoulders, and who likewise seem to have these very large frames and these very big asses and these very short legs. I'm wondering how this particular look came about.
Plympton: Well, that's a very good question. Because I see a lot of young animators doing cartoons. And one of the cartoons on the Cartoon Network uses the format that "zany looking people are funny." Like clowns or animals with big bulbous eyes and huge noses and tongues that stick out and crazy hair. And it's my feeling that that's really not funny. For me, humor comes across when you take something that's normal, that's placid, that's bland, that's a cliche, and do something weird to it. If the main character is weird already when something weird happens, it's not a surprise. It's not a shock. Therefore, it's not funny. So I like to choose characters that are fairly bland. Like vacuum cleaner salesmen. Very normal. And someone you can identify with.
I guess that character, who was originated in "Your Face," was inspired a little bit by Bud Abbott on Abbott & Costello. The pencil-thin moustache guy with the suit, the slicked back hair. Kind of a sleazy salesman type guy. And that film was such a big success, such a big hit, that I continue that character on through "The Wise Man" and through "Push Comes to Shove," and a bunch of my feature films — The Tune and Mutant Aliens and I Married a Strange Person. So those films use that character a lot. And I've found that he's a very good character for laughs.
Correspondent: In "Push Comes to Shove," that character resembles Alfred Hitchcock to some degree.
Plympton: Well, not at all, I don't think. Because Alfred Hitchcock is really a caricature. And this guy — even though he is a little stockier — there were two guys in "Push Comes to Shove."
Correspondent: Yeah.
Plympton: A thin guy and a stockier guy. I guess that was inspired by the old Laurel & Hardy gag where they would take an egg and squash it on his head and put the hat back on. It was very dry humor. Very deadpan humor. And then that would escalate. And it escalated into, I don't know, getting hit by a board or something like that. Well, I wanted to take that escalation and exaggerate it even more. So it becomes so violent and so surreally violent, that it's just preposterous. And that was my initial inspiration for the film. So Alfred Hitchcock wouldn't be someone I would say. It was more like Laurel and Hardy. Although even then, Oliver Hardy is more of a caricature than I would want to use. I brought him down as to more of a normal person than Oliver Hardy.
Correspondent: It also reminds me very much of the Fish-Slapping Dance. That kind of one-upmanship between the two characters.
Plympton: Yeah. That's exactly what the inspiration was.
Correspondent: I wanted to also ask you about some of the perspectives you have. You had a few shorts — and also in your features — where there's this first-person perspective. I think of the tree, for example.
Plympton: Yeah, "The Exciting Life of a Tree." "One of Those Days."
Correspondent: I'm wondering how this came about. Did you need to get away from the typical third-person look of these particular shorts?
Plympton: Well, the magic of animation is that the camera can go anywhere you want. And it's harder to do that with live action. Although it's easier now with digital technology. Digital effects. But with animation, you can put the camera anywhere. And that's part of the fun of it. You're seeing something that is maybe cliched or boring from a different angle. It makes it exciting. It makes it interesting. And so I wanted to see an event from one person's POV and see the worst day ever — what it would be — if you lived that life. If you were actually in that person's place. So it's very autobiographical in that sense.
But I like to do that a lot. I did another film called "Draw," where it's a cliche of two cowboys in a mainstream Texas town. And they draw their guns. Only this is a POV of a bullet. And so again, it's a kind of cliched, boring situation. But when you see it from the eye of a bullet that is traveling through space, going through someone's heart, it gives it a whole new perspective. And I love that kind of thing that you can do with animation: change the perspective, change the viewpoint in each shot. And that's the reason why I love animation.
Correspondent: Is this often why you are drawn to weapons? Not just bullets and cannons and the like. But also chainsaws, I have to ask you about. And cutting people in half. This seems to be a common theme throughout the work.
Plympton: Well, you know, movies have always been violent. Whether it's Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton or Abbott & Costello or the Marx Brothers, violence has always — the Road Runner is a perfect example. Violence has always been part of humor. And so has sex. I don't know why a lot of Americans are offended by sex in cartoons. It never made sense to me when I grew up with Mae West or Jean Harlow or Marilyn Monroe — there was always sex in adult films. And I just thought cartoons should also have sex. And so the violence is as American as apple pie. And so I like to take the violence and exaggerate it to such an absurd degree that it's not really scary anymore, it's funny.
I saw those Saw films and I was really squeamish about it. And it really wasn't my cup of tea. But I think if they were to have taken that humor and that violence, and exaggerated it to an absurd level, I think it would have been much more interesting and a lot more entertaining.
(The full conversation will appear in a future podcast installment of The Bat Segundo Show.) |
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using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;
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// Use this for initialization
void Start () {
this.GetComponent<PhenoSpeed>().setDefaultFlagellaCount(0);
}
// Update is called once per frame
void Update () {
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|
Are Britain's political parties finally taking housing seriously?
By Rowland Atkinson and Keith Jacobs
Some houses. Image: Getty.
For more than 20 years we have been researching and writing about the downgrading of public housing in the UK. Thankfully, the tide finally appears to be turning.
Government failure can be seen most clearly in the form of homelessness, but the problems are bigger – high prices, high rents, housing insecurity and its high toll on mental health, overcrowding, beds in sheds and so on. For decades, financial support for public housing has been cut. Politicians have referred to estates of public housing as "sink" areas, marring the reputations of places and people.
While homelessness and rising prices and rents fill conversations about the housing problems of today, government action has focused on helping existing and new home owners. In the meantime, private landlords reap profits from an insecure, frequently poor quality and high cost sector.
But finally, several British political parties – Labour, the Green Party and Liberal Democrats – are offering evidence-based and convincing analyses of the problem and pledging to improve non-market housing provision.
It is perhaps not surprising that recent decades have generated this new position on how to fix the broken housing system, where the state – local and central – takes a more active role. It is increasingly clear that the market, often lauded as the most efficient way of providing and allocating housing, is actually a key driver of the failure to provide decent homes for many hundreds of thousands of households.
So what are the parties offering at this stage? The Conservatives focus on overseeing the construction of a million homes in the next five years. Social housing, it seems, will continue to be neglected under a Tory government.
Labour, meanwhile, have pledged to build 100,000 council homes a year by 2024 for those most in need. It also wants to fund a further 50,000 homes a year to be built by Housing Associations who also target those needing a home and will put a stop to Right to Buy: a scheme which has led to over 40 per cent of former council homes now being rented out by private landlords.
The Liberal Democrats propose 300,000 homes a year by 2024, to include 100,000 for social rent (by housing associations). The Greens match the Lib Dems while stressing the need for zero-carbon homes.
This social housing project won the Stirling Prize 2019.
The Conservatives stand out here, with their continued focus on offering public money to help aspirational owners rather than providing housing for those most in need. Their costly Help to Buy scheme, which they plan to extend, has been widely criticised for inflating prices, bolstering developer profits and doing nothing to help those in most need. The party's election manifesto does not provide any details as to how it will increase the supply of social other than to state that "it will bring forward a social housing white paper".
Talk of austerity, poverty and inequality may be tiring for some to keep hearing, but it is critical that we understand how bad things are for many people. Many older homeowners find it hard to understand the pressures of simply finding a place to live, let alone the ongoing challenge of funding that space, heating it or accessing it if disabled. Paying rent to help secure someone else's retirement is particularly galling for many.
A social system
A system is needed that is designed for the needs of all people. Research shows that yes, of course a regulated market in owned housing is needed (controls are needed to ensure it is high quality and built in the right places). But this needs to exist alongside a high quality, professionally managed public housing sector capable of helping people to find decent homes. Increasingly, the shortfall in supply has enabled private landlords to offer low income households sub-standard properties.
The argument that public housing does not work is locked in a vision of large-scale estates that became increasingly unpopular as funding has been drained from them. Most analysts today envision a for-life option (the ability of tenants to stay for as long as they like so that they can feel secure) at a cost that allows other areas of life to be better enjoyed (health, education, access to work). Only home ownership and public rented housing can provide these kinds of outcomes.
Whatever our personal politics, it is vital that we understand that powerful interests circulate to promote housing as a market commodity, rather than a critical social good to be enjoyed by all. The pathway to this vision is littered with the profits to private landlords and the shattered dreams of the homeless and ill-housed.
It is precisely not in the interests of market providers to resolve the housing crisis. This may sound like heresy, but it is the evidence of many years of analysis.
Looking to a future in which social housing forms a basis for social and economic investment offers genuinely thrilling prospects. There is no reason that a new council building programme cannot be enjoyed in partnership with private builders, and indeed using smaller companies, many of whom have been threatened or busted by the current crisis.
On the environmental front, social homes can be built or retrofitted to enhanced standards that are warm, safe, flood resistant and carbon neutral.
To say this will cost a lot of money is stating the obvious. But housing is a major component in the reproduction of wealth inequalities, private profiteering and carbon emissions (energy use in homes accounts for 14 per cent of the UK's total). The fact that political attention is being focused more clearly on challenging these problems and getting traction on a home-building programme for citizens should be welcomed by all.
The housing crisis of today is an enduring problem, one that goes back more than a hundred years, when walking through the slums of the growing industrial metropolises, Friedrich Engels asked why more housing wasn't provided when so many people were in need. The question today is, why are we still asking the same old question?
Rowland Atkinson, Chair in Inclusive Societies, University of Sheffield and Keith Jacobs, Professor of Sociology and Director of the Housing and Community Research Unit, University of Tasmania.
Municipal governments are employing "climate change agents". But they need the right support
Almshouses are coming back into fashion – and this is not a good sign
London's tube map needs to rethink how it shows the Bank/Monument interchange |
Philanthropy groups and lawmakers are giving college education for prisoners a fresh look, as criminal-justice policies around the country place greater emphasis on preparing inmates for life beyond bars.
Public funds for college education largely dried up in the 1990s, when Congress rendered prisoners ineligible for federal grants. But in recent years, Doris Buffett's Sunshine Lady Foundation and the Ford Foundation have contributed millions of dollars to programs that give prisoners the chance to earn college credit. And this year, for the first time, the Kresge Foundation in Troy, Mich., and the Andrew Mellon Foundation awarded grants for such programs, educators said.
Between the mid-1990s and 2013, the U.S. prison population doubled to about 1.6 million inmates, many of them repeat offenders, according to Justice Department figures. A 2013 study by the Rand Corp. found that inmates who participated in education programs, including college courses, had significantly lower odds of returning to prison than inmates who didn't.
Earlier studies have also showed a strong correlation between education and lower recidivism.
"There is nothing proven to be less expensive and more effective than college," said Max Kenner, executive director of the Bard Prison Initiative, which annually enrolls nearly 300 prisoners in degree programs from Bard College in New York.
But spending tax dollars on college education for prisoners strikes many as an affront to families and students struggling to pay for higher education.
"It's just not the proper use of those funds," said Rep. Chris Collins (R., N.Y.), who last year introduced legislation that would prohibit the federal government from funding higher education for prisoners. The bill was a response to a proposal by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to use state money to pay for college classes for New York inmates. Mr. Cuomo later abandoned the plan, citing resistance from lawmakers.
"If we really want to keep people out of prison, we need to promote education at younger ages," Mr. Collins said.
Prisoners received $34 million in Pell Grants in 1993, the year before Congress made inmates ineligible for them, according to figures the Department of Education provided to Congress at the time.
In California, Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation in June that includes $12 million to promote statewide priorities, including college classes in state prison, said state Sen. Loni Hancock, whose 2014 bill paved the way for an agreement between California corrections officials and the chancellor of the state's community colleges. Ms. Hancock said classes could begin as soon as this fall.
The fresh interest in prison education mirrors a broader shift in criminal justice, motivated by a desire to make tax dollars work more efficiently and a backlash against what advocates for reform describe as the dehumanizing effects of incarceration. Dozens of states have passed laws in recent years to restrain prison growth, and more federal and state funds have been diverted to programs aimed at reducing the number of repeat offenders.
"All these things are coming together and creating a higher tolerance for this conversation," said Jody Lewen, founder of the Prison University Project, which provides college courses for inmates in San Quentin State Prison in California.
Patrick Mims, 51 years old, received his associate degree through Ms. Lewen's program and exited prison in 2009, after serving 20 years for stabbing a man to death during a fight. Mr. Mims then developed a widely emulated program to combat human trafficking at a nonprofit group and now helps ex-offenders transition back into their communities for Contra Costa County, Calif.
"I wouldn't have been able to do that if I hadn't learned how to write and critically think," said Mr. Mims.
Mr. Mims then developed a widely emulated program to combat human trafficking at a nonprofit group and now helps ex-offenders transition back into their communities for Contra Costa County, Calif.
Can You Collect Social Security in Prison? |
We learned of the death yesterday of Mary Anna Grodeski, 97, of Grantsboro. She attended St. Peter the Fisherman Catholic Church in Oriental. Our prayers and condolences go to the family. A funeral service will be held at 1:30 p.m. Nov. 15 at St. Paul's Catholic Church, Monsignor Lewis officiating. The family will receive friends at the church one-half hour prior to the service. The family suggested that, in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions be made to St. Peter the Fisherman Catholic Church building fund or Pamlico County Fishes and Loaves Outreach, both at 1149 White Farm Rd., Oriental, NC 28571.
We have learned of the death yesterday of Elva Spruill Miller, 86, of Oriental. We extend our prayers and sympathy to the family. She was a member of the Oriental United Methodist Church. A memorial service will be held at 10:00 a.m. Nov. 15 at the Oriental United Methodist Church, the Rev. Charles Mosley officiating. The family will receive friends at the church immediately after the service.
In lieu of flowers the family suggested memorial contributions be made to The Salvation Army, PO Drawer E, New Bern, NC 28563, Oriental United Methodist Church, PO Box 70, Oriental, NC 28571 or Mission to Haiti, PO Box 523157, Miami, Fl. 33152-3157. |
CEO Mike Shehan on Progress of the SpotX/smartclip Merger
February 8, 2018 Mike ShehanSpotXer
"Scale Matters: SpotX and smartclip Form New Global Ad Tech Powerhouse"
In November of last year, RTL Group announced plans to combine SpotX with our European sister company, smartclip, building one global team with one platform to become the cornerstone of RTL's rapidly-growing digital ad tech business.
Today, we're proud to announce that the integration is officially underway. Our combined company will continue to do business as SpotX in the United States and internationally, while leveraging the well-positioned smartclip brand in local markets as appropriate. Myself and SpotX co-founder Steve Swoboda will continue to serve as CEO and CFO, respectively. The co-founders of smartclip, Jean-Pierre Fumagalli and Roland Schaber, will report in as General Managers for SpotX in Europe heading up Business Development and Operations, respectively. In addition, SpotX's J. Allen Dove will continue to serve as CTO of the combined company with smartclip's Thomas Servatius serving as co-CTO for European Broadcaster Solutions.
Over the next several months, we will continue to work to merge the SpotX and smartclip teams into a global force more than 550 strong. This move will allow us to compete more effectively in the dynamic programmatic video landscape, increasing our international exposure and positioning us to conduct more than 40% of business outside the United States in years to come.
As our first official partner, RTL Group will begin to roll out the new SpotX platform to its broadcasting businesses in Germany, replacing multiple external service providers with one unified solution boasting a fully integrated, holistic, data-driven ad tech stack.
With these first few steps, we're excited to establish the pace and momentum that will continue to drive us forward over the course of 2018. Read today's official announcement here and stay tuned for more updates to come.
— Mike Shehan, CEO at SpotX
: APAC, blog, EMEA, LATAM, SpotX Platform, U.S. |
P3D v4 Any way to get to the "Code" of an aircraft?
How do you change the declination angle of 2-D side view?
Small RC helicopter in FSX?
P3D v3 How to create a Shared Cockpit fuction?
P3D v3 FSX Graphic Issue When Moving to P3D ?
HUD visibility in thick cloud. |
Equipment checkout moves to Technology Commons, gets refresh
By William Frady, Manager of Instructional and Student Computing
At the start of the spring semester, the Technology Commons, in cooperation with Hunter Library, took over management of the equipment checkout service. The service was transitioned from the Hunter Library Circulation Desk to the Technology Commons Service Desk (pictured at right) in the newly renovated Commons. Equipment checkout includes most of the electronics that Hunter Library had previously been distributing: video and digital cameras, iPods, voice recorders, projectors and laptops, along with some miscellaneous items and accessories.
As part of the service transition, the Technology Commons has purchased Web Checkout, a software package. This package handles inventory control and checkout and reservation management for the fleet of equipment.
Dell Netbooks/laptops, which are now available for checkout at the Technology Commons Service Desk, continue to remain the most popular resource. With these, students can enjoy the freedom of settling down to work anywhere in the building without being tied to a specific desk. Once checked out, these laptops may also be taken from the physical confines of the library and used on campus wherever a wireless signal can be received.
In order to refresh some of the dated equipment, the Technology Commons team has ordered new equipment to replace items that have started to degrade or are no longer supported by current technologies. This refresh includes some new video cameras, voice recorders and digital photo cameras. New accessories such as tripods and protective cases are also being added to supplement the existing and new equipment inventory.
The Technology Commons team anticipates that the checkout software and the new equipment should be in full circulation for the fall semester's kickoff. Want to learn more? Drop by the Technology Commons, located on the ground floor of Hunter Library, and inquire about this new service. |
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Specifications for sheet asphalt paving adopted October 14, 1915 ..
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Pyramidia makes software for voting at live events. Imagine you're attending a wine festival and there are 100 wines for you to try, and the festival organizers want to give away a "People's Choice" Award for the best wine. Enter Pyramidia. We provide a fun drag-and-drop mobile voting web app for attendees to rank their favorite wines. Pyramidia helps to engage attendees at the event as well as drive revenue for the organizers through our unique promotions system. |
Even Skoda's own executives, proud as they rightly are of the previous Superb, admit that it was no beauty. So this new version seems to have solved the biggest problem already, delivering crisp, modern lines over pleasing proportions. Box ticked in that respect, then.
As you'd expect, this estate version of the Superb takes its ethos of big space and practicality for a reasonable cost even more seriously than the hatch. A vast load bay offers a capacity of 660 litres with the rear seats up – more even than a Mercedes-Benz E-Class wagon – and is filled with useful touches such as spring-loaded rear seatbacks that topple flat with the pull of a lever in the boot and a boot floor that can be raised or lowered one-handed. So far, so 'simply clever'.
There's a good range of familiar motors to choose from in the Superb, but we're testing the venerable 2.0 TDI in its 187bhp output; the only engine in the Superb that can be had with the Haldex on-demand four-wheel drive and a DSG automatic gearbox.
The 187bhp 2.0-litre diesel isn't the smoothest out there, sounding a bit gritty in the cabin even when it's not under load, but it's no louder than most rival diesels and it delivers easy torque-surfing across most of the rev range, saving the auto 'box from the need to shuffle through the ratios too much.
When the DSG does shift, it generally executes it smoothly and into the appropriate gear at the right moment, making for properly laid-back progress. Having said that, it also throws in the odd unnecessary downshift and can be slow to respond when a downchange is needed to get up a steep incline.
It's a bit more predictable in Sport mode, but using the paddles is the most satisfying way to thread the automatic Superb down a decent road, even at the moderate sort of pace that naturally suits this car.
The handling is just as unflappable as you'd expect. What with the new MQB platform and various other weight-saving measures keeping it from being quite as heavy as it looks, you can swing the Superb vigorously into a corner and enjoy neutral, composed manners.
In warm, dry conditions, the four-wheel drive system doesn't make a dramatic amount of difference over front-wheel drive, other than to stave off understeer a bit more gamely, but knowing how effective this fifth-generation Haldex system is in other installations suggests that it'll be great for pressing on unfazed through the mucky winter conditions that British buyers will want it for.
Our car came on adaptive dampers (optional on all but Laurin & Klement trim), which allow fairly pronounced body roll even in Sport mode, but more disconcerting is the amount of body float you get over undulating roads in the softer settings, with lots of loose vertical damping at the back in particular.
It's so noticeable, in fact, that Skoda is already planning to alter the settings in Comfort mode to keep it tied down better - a change that will be rolled out in cars built from later this summer. For all that, ride in default Normal mode is settled and easy-going, apart from the odd unsettling mid-corner thump and shimmy.
The interior of the big Skoda feels anything but scrimping, despite the value factor that remains its trump card. Going for SE L trim, which gets the full 8.0in touchscreen with sat-nav, powered tailgate, rear parking sensors, leather upholstery and electrically adjustable front seats, will feel business class enough without paying the whacking £3620 extra for L&K trim.
Even the freakishly tall will be able to get comfortable in the driver's seat or in the rear pews, where there's properly limo-like amounts of space. Boot space is such that it's hard to imagine what any motorist could do, short of regular bouts of jousting, that could make it seem inadequate.
Absolutely, provided you really want the space. It looks good value for the size and kit, albeit not so much in the L&K trim tested here, which is tricky to recommend at BMW 5 Series prices, despite offering dramatically more equipment. The depreciation on the L&K might be a bit scary, too.
Otherwise, the closest rival to this range-topping, all-weather Superb wagon is the Subaru Outback, which is similarly well equipped yet cavernous, but also much slower and hampered by a continuously variable transmission.
A high-spec Ford Mondeo is a more convincing alternative for those who want entertaining back-road shenanigans, but overall it's easy to see why you'd go for the Skoda's calm drive, roomier interior and stoic, four-wheel drive capability instead.
"The previous Superb...was no beauty."
While the heavy "Twindoor" hatchback left the saloon version with rather thick c-pillars and odd proportions at the rear (c.f. Renault Vel Satis) the estate was, IMHO, a handsome looking car in the mould of the W124 generation Mercedes-Benz E-Class estate. The facelifted version with the smarter front end looks every bit as good as the new model. My brother-in-law owns one and really rates it.
It will be interesting to see how it goes on UK roads. A car with a manual box and std suspension would be my preferred version. This model fixes the only questionable design element of the old estate, the long front overhang. It still looks a bit wide though for lanes in the shires ?
List on the BiTDi estate is more - it starts at over £36k. Both the Passat and the Skoda should be available with some discount, and I'm reasonably sure that the L&K Skoda comes with more standard kit.
Certainly worth considering the Passat for an alternative in a pretty similar vein, but the Superb has much more rear leg room so it depends what your priorities are.
Indeed I was basing that on being able to get some discount but indeed you would be able to get some discount on the Skoda too! I do like the Superb and absolutely - it depends on the priorities of the buyer. I am generally staggered at how high list prices are becoming now on a lot of new cars! One thing I will say though is as it stands, I'd rather have either of these over a BMW, Audi or Merc as these aren't pretentious and I am becoming pretty tired of seeing so many of the "Big Three" on the roads...let alone the car park at work. It's becoming very boring and predictable! Yawn!
Rate the car, but what about those ridiculous dials, silver numbers on white, those dials are totally illegible. Guess they were signed off by the same person who thinks heavily raked tailgates on estates are a good idea.
What was wrong with white on black dials?
I like estates, and this looks like a good big 'un, but I agree with 230SL about the style trend over recent years. The manufacturers are all trying to claim maximum space efficiency, yet they waste a large chunk by the sloping of the rear ends. A good, old-fashioned vertical tailgate on a squared off hind will always be the best use of space. Personally I find it more aesthetically pleasing too.
This is a handsome estate where the rear area doesn't look like an add-on section adapted from a saloon body. Many readers criticise the sloping rear gate as style over function. I agree. For a great estate design with a vertical rear tailgate there is (was) the Volvo 850, the last work of Jans Wilsgaard, who astonishingly designed the Amazon and the wonderful 144-164 series when he was in his twenties (according to Wikipedia)!
I don't disagree that an upright tail is better from a sheer load-lugging point of view, but it can greatly increase aerodynamic drag, which affects economy, especially on the motorway.
To me having a nice wide, square boot aperture is even more important as it makes getting stuff in and out so much easier. Again, it's largely about priorities. |
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Dixons Carphone – The Latest Victims of a Cyber Attack
By Link-IT
In Cyber Security Articles
Dixons Carphone – The Latest Victims of a Cyber Attack2018-07-032018-11-13https://linkitsupport.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/logo-clear.pngLinkIThttps://linkitsupport.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/dixons.jpg200px200px
Dixons Carphone – the latest data attack
The headlines are once again full of news about another company falling foul to a massive data breach. Dixons Carphone revealed that 5.9 million customer bank card details and 1.2 million personal data records including names, addresses and email information had been accessed by cyber criminals. Customers of Currys, PC World and Dixons Travel stores in airports had their data accessed by hackers – Carphone Warehouse sales were not affected.
It took nearly a year for the parent company to realise its error. It only came up during a review of the company's systems. So, it happened before GDPR came into effect. The maximum fine Dixons Carphone could face is £500,000 rather than £20 million or 4% of their annual turnover – whichever is greatest. However, this does not take away from the severity of the issue.
In addition, this isn't the first time that Dixons Carphone has suffered a cyber attack. It was hit by hackers in 2015 which affected the personal data of three million customers. The company told the ICO at the time that 'additional security measures had been put in place' after handing over a £400,000 fine. This begs the question how this latest attack came about. This will no doubt form a large part of the inquiry which will soon follow.
Although Dixons Carphone is the subject of the latest attack, the incident is indicative of the wide increase in business-related cyber crime. Official statistics out earlier this year revealed a 145% rise in computer malware, specifically ransomware, DDoS and Trojans. Companies are increasingly becoming targets because consumer cyber security has increased.
It will come as no surprise that this has impacted on the company's financial performance. Dixons Carphone is expected to suffer a 23% drop in pre-tax profits. The company already announced last month that it is closing 92 of its 700 stores. However, this is largely reflecting a broad shift away from the high street and changing buying habits of electrical goods rather than the company's specific performance.
The majority of the hacked card details – 5.8 million – were protected by chip-and-pin. So, they cannot be used without further details, such as the three-digit security code or expiry date. However, 105,000 cards outside the EU without chip-and-pin were compromised too. Affected customers will be given an apology and advice on how to be vigilant to suspicious activity on their accounts. This is highly unlikely to do enough to allay people's fears or undo the damage in company trust.
Lessons to be learnt by Dixons Carphone
This is not a standalone case. Cyber crime was the second most reported crime worldwide in 2016. Details are yet to be revealed on how the Dixons Carphone cyber attack came about. So, we can't speculate too much at this stage. However, one factor which is already fuelling the debate is how such a breach was left undetected in the run-up to the implementation of GDPR. This should have put a company's data protection policies and practices under a microscope if they weren't already.
Incidents like this act as a strong reminder that you cannot be too careful when it comes to cybersecurity and data protection. Research found that 43% of worldwide cyber attacks specifically have targeted small companies. Dixons Carphone has said that the incident was very sophisticated and used 'advanced malware' to infiltrate their systems. Sadly, it is almost impossible to totally prevent being a victim of a cyber attack. But, there are several steps you can take which will significantly reduce the risk:
Install firewalls and anti-virus software and ensure they are kept up-to-date.
Regularly change your passwords, use different ones across different devices or accounts and make them difficult to guess.
Carefully control who has access to data both within and outside of your company.
Back everything up both online and offline.
Finance, insurance and real estate firms have the highest email malware rate with one in every 182 emails delivering an attempted hack. So, keep your staff in the know on what to look out for.
Stay up to date with everything from legislation to software to expert advice on data.
Consider outsourcing your IT to ensure your data is kept as safe and secure as possible.
The friendly and knowledgeable Link IT team can help to keep your business data safe, secure and compliant. Contact us to find out how we can help your company.
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Departing Employees Should Not Mean Departing Data: How to Secure your IT Networks
Millennials and technology: How to use IT to appeal to a younger demographic
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The Top 5 Data Breaches of 2017
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Cyber Security Articles
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An independent market report for this 2017 Audi A4 compares this specific vehicle's configuration and price to listings and searches across the Bellingham, WA area.
This 2017 Audi A4 Prestige is a used sedan with all wheel drive. It has a 4 cylinder gasoline engine with an automatic transmission.
This vehicle is about $3,800 less than the average price for a 2017 Audi A4 for sale in the Bellingham area.
Rain-Sensing Wipers, Navigation System, Sun/Moonroof and 3 other features add $2,900 to the value of this Audi A4 in the Bellingham area.
This dealer has 7 more of the Audi A4 available.
Roger Jobs Volkswagen provides you a free CARFAX report for this 2017 Audi A4. |
Saturday Morning Gifts A weekly gift showcase.
STZEN ++ Johnson County War 1/2 ++ Johnson County War 2/2 (:05) ++ Road House Patrick Swayze.
DISN :15 BigCity :40 Gravity CoopCami Bizaard. Andi M. Raven's. Freaky Friday (2018,Comedy) Raven's.
TNT NCIS: New Orleans NCIS: New Orleans ++ Mission: Impossible III ('06) Tom Cruise.
FREE (7:00) ParaNorman (:05) ++ The Hunchback of Notre Dame (:10) ++ Bolt ('08) John Travolta.
Wedding Bells ('16) Danica McKellar.
HALL 7: My Secret Vale ... A Country Wedding Jesse Metcalfe.
Chrisley Chrisley ++ Little Fockers ('10) Ben Stiller.
+++ American Psycho Christian Bale.
SYFY + American Psycho 2 ('01) Mila Kunis.
+++ Beneath ('07) Nora Zehetner.
STZEN (:05) ++ Eat Pray Love ('10) Julia Roberts.
The Legend of Tarzan ('16) Alexander Skarsgård.
HALL (5:00) October Kiss Falling for You ('18) Taylor Cole.
+ Fifty Shades of Grey ('15) Dakota Johnson.
USA +++ Bridesmaids ('11) Kristen Wiig.
LIFE No One Would Tell Shannen Doherty.
SYFY 5: Insidious: Chap ... Cucuy: The Boogeyman Marisol Nichols. Karma ('18) Tim Russ.
HIST (5:00) +++ Tombstone ('93) Kurt Russell. USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage ('16) Nicolas Cage.
(:45) America to Me (:50) +++ X-Men ('00) Hugh Jackman.
(:20) +++ The Smurfs ('11) Hank Azaria.
+ Act of Valor ('12) Alex Veadov.
FREE :15 The Nightmare Before ... (:50) +++ Hocus Pocus ('93) Bette Midler.
TBS BigBang +++ Iron Man 3 ('13) Robert Downey Jr..
(:55) ++ Hancock ('08) Will Smith.
AMC (12:25) ++ Ghost Rider Nicolas Cage.
Love Struck Café Sarah Jane Morris.
HALL Pumpkin Pie Wars ('16) Julie Gonzalo.
++ Bruce Almighty ('03) Jim Carrey.
USA 12: The Wedding ... ++ Get Hard ('15) Will Ferrell.
LIFE 12: Blood, Sweat ... Sinister Minister ('17) Nikki Howard.
(:35) ++ Insidious: Chapter 2 ('13) Patrick Wilson.
++ Open Range ('03) Kevin Costner, Robert Duvall.
STARZ (:15) ++ Grown Ups ('10) Adam Sandler. Flatliners ('17) Ellen Page.
TNT NCIS: New Orleans NCIS: New Orleans ++ Minority Report ('02) Colin Farrell, Tom Cruise.
GAC Dream H. Dream H. Dream H. Dream H. Dream H. Dream H. Dream H. Dream H. Dream H. Dream H.
One Winter Weekend ('18) Taylor Cole.
HALL 7: The Perfect Ca ... Once Upon a Prince ('18) Megan Park.
Bad Tutor ('18) Vanessa Marcil.
Fox News Sunday Journal Editorial R.
(:40) +++ Rudy ('93) Sean Astin.
STZEN (:15) ++ Eat Pray Love ('10) Julia Roberts.
TNT ++ Cowboys and Aliens ('11) Daniel Craig.
FREE (:15) +++ Hocus Pocus ('93) Bette Midler.
HALL Love on the Sidelines ('16) Emily Kinny. Falling for You ('18) Taylor Cole.
Killer Twin ('18) Lindsay Hartley.
LIFE 12: The Perfect St ... Mistress Hunter ('18) Lauralee Bell.
SYFY 11:55 Insidious: Ch ... ++ Van Helsing ('04) Hugh Jackman.
(:05) ++ Takers Chris Brown.
++ The Craft Robin Tunney.
STZEN 5:45 The Amityvil ... (:20) ++ Dracula 2000 Gerard Butler.
TNT (:15) Hercules ('14) John Hurt, Dwayne Johnson.
++ Puss in Boots Antonio Banderas.
Gumball Am.Dad Am.Dad BobBurg. BobBurg.
FREE +++ Hotel Transylvania Adam Sandler. ++ The Parent Trap ('98) Dennis Quaid, Lindsay Lohan.
AMC Trick'r Treat ('08) Anna Paquin.
HALL Pearl in Paradise ('18) Jill Wagner.
SYFY 3: Harry Potter & ... No Escape Room ('18,Hor) Denis Andres. ++ Wrong Turn Desmond Harrington.
TOON 5: Alvin & the Chi ... ++ Puss in Boots Antonio Banderas.
Halloween Magic +++ Hotel Transylvania Adam Sandler.
HALL (5:00) Harvest Moon Under the Autumn Moon Wes Brown.
LIFE His Perfect Obsession Arianne Zucker.
+++ Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ('05) Daniel Radcliffe.
STARZ Warriors (:40) +++ The Karate Kid ('84) Ralph Macchio.
STZEN (5:) Bird on a Wire (:20) ++ Tremors ('90) Kevin Bacon.
TOON TeenT. TeenT. BareBear LEGO Batman: Superheroe ... Am.Dad Am.Dad BobBurg. BobBurg.
(:55) +++ Hocus Pocus Bette Midler.
Harvest Moon ('15) Jessy Schram.
HALL Love by Chance ('16) Brenda Strong. |
from PyQt4 import QtCore, QtGui
class Ui_LinBckndDialog(object):
def setupUi(self, LinBckndDialog):
LinBckndDialog.setObjectName("LinBckndDialog")
LinBckndDialog.resize(735, 275)
self.buttonBox = QtGui.QDialogButtonBox(LinBckndDialog)
self.buttonBox.setGeometry(QtCore.QRect(520, 210, 191, 32))
self.buttonBox.setOrientation(QtCore.Qt.Horizontal)
self.buttonBox.setStandardButtons(QtGui.QDialogButtonBox.Cancel|QtGui.QDialogButtonBox.Ok)
self.buttonBox.setObjectName("buttonBox")
self.imageComboBox0 = QtGui.QComboBox(LinBckndDialog)
self.imageComboBox0.setGeometry(QtCore.QRect(385, 80, 346, 31))
self.imageComboBox0.setObjectName("imageComboBox0")
self.normrankSpinBox = QtGui.QDoubleSpinBox(LinBckndDialog)
self.normrankSpinBox.setGeometry(QtCore.QRect(360, 10, 62, 27))
self.normrankSpinBox.setMaximum(1.0)
self.normrankSpinBox.setSingleStep(0.1)
self.normrankSpinBox.setProperty("value", QtCore.QVariant(0.5))
self.normrankSpinBox.setObjectName("normrankSpinBox")
self.label = QtGui.QLabel(LinBckndDialog)
self.label.setGeometry(QtCore.QRect(20, 15, 346, 17))
self.label.setObjectName("label")
self.label_2 = QtGui.QLabel(LinBckndDialog)
self.label_2.setGeometry(QtCore.QRect(20, 55, 341, 16))
self.label_2.setObjectName("label_2")
self.label_3 = QtGui.QLabel(LinBckndDialog)
self.label_3.setGeometry(QtCore.QRect(390, 55, 246, 17))
self.label_3.setObjectName("label_3")
self.imagefracLineEdit0 = QtGui.QLineEdit(LinBckndDialog)
self.imagefracLineEdit0.setGeometry(QtCore.QRect(0, 85, 376, 27))
self.imagefracLineEdit0.setObjectName("imagefracLineEdit0")
self.imagefracLineEdit1 = QtGui.QLineEdit(LinBckndDialog)
self.imagefracLineEdit1.setGeometry(QtCore.QRect(0, 125, 376, 27))
self.imagefracLineEdit1.setObjectName("imagefracLineEdit1")
self.imageComboBox1 = QtGui.QComboBox(LinBckndDialog)
self.imageComboBox1.setGeometry(QtCore.QRect(385, 120, 346, 31))
self.imageComboBox1.setObjectName("imageComboBox1")
self.precisionSpinBox = QtGui.QDoubleSpinBox(LinBckndDialog)
self.precisionSpinBox.setGeometry(QtCore.QRect(285, 180, 76, 27))
self.precisionSpinBox.setDecimals(3)
self.precisionSpinBox.setSingleStep(0.01)
self.precisionSpinBox.setProperty("value", QtCore.QVariant(0.01))
self.precisionSpinBox.setObjectName("precisionSpinBox")
self.label_4 = QtGui.QLabel(LinBckndDialog)
self.label_4.setGeometry(QtCore.QRect(30, 185, 251, 17))
self.label_4.setObjectName("label_4")
self.zerofracSpinBox = QtGui.QDoubleSpinBox(LinBckndDialog)
self.zerofracSpinBox.setGeometry(QtCore.QRect(285, 215, 76, 27))
self.zerofracSpinBox.setDecimals(3)
self.zerofracSpinBox.setSingleStep(0.01)
self.zerofracSpinBox.setProperty("value", QtCore.QVariant(0.05))
self.zerofracSpinBox.setObjectName("zerofracSpinBox")
self.label_5 = QtGui.QLabel(LinBckndDialog)
self.label_5.setGeometry(QtCore.QRect(80, 220, 206, 17))
self.label_5.setObjectName("label_5")
self.propogateCheckBox = QtGui.QCheckBox(LinBckndDialog)
self.propogateCheckBox.setGeometry(QtCore.QRect(390, 245, 276, 22))
self.propogateCheckBox.setObjectName("propogateCheckBox")
self.retranslateUi(LinBckndDialog)
QtCore.QObject.connect(self.buttonBox, QtCore.SIGNAL("accepted()"), LinBckndDialog.accept)
QtCore.QObject.connect(self.buttonBox, QtCore.SIGNAL("rejected()"), LinBckndDialog.reject)
QtCore.QMetaObject.connectSlotsByName(LinBckndDialog)
def retranslateUi(self, LinBckndDialog):
LinBckndDialog.setWindowTitle(QtGui.QApplication.translate("LinBckndDialog", "Dialog", None, QtGui.QApplication.UnicodeUTF8))
self.label.setText(QtGui.QApplication.translate("LinBckndDialog", "intensity rank to use for mean intensity calibration:", None, QtGui.QApplication.UnicodeUTF8))
self.label_2.setText(QtGui.QApplication.translate("LinBckndDialog", "trial background weights for search algorithm:", None, QtGui.QApplication.UnicodeUTF8))
self.label_3.setText(QtGui.QApplication.translate("LinBckndDialog", "background images:", None, QtGui.QApplication.UnicodeUTF8))
self.imagefracLineEdit0.setText(QtGui.QApplication.translate("LinBckndDialog", "0.00001, 0.1, 0.4, 0.6, 0.75, 0.88, 0.96, 1.05, 1.2, 1.8", None, QtGui.QApplication.UnicodeUTF8))
self.imagefracLineEdit1.setText(QtGui.QApplication.translate("LinBckndDialog", "0.00001, 0.1, 0.4, 0.6, 0.75, 0.88, 0.96, 1.05, 1.2, 1.8", None, QtGui.QApplication.UnicodeUTF8))
self.label_4.setText(QtGui.QApplication.translate("LinBckndDialog", "precision for final background weights:", None, QtGui.QApplication.UnicodeUTF8))
self.label_5.setText(QtGui.QApplication.translate("LinBckndDialog", "fraction of pixels to be zeroed:", None, QtGui.QApplication.UnicodeUTF8))
self.propogateCheckBox.setText(QtGui.QApplication.translate("LinBckndDialog", "Propogate to all groups in .h5", None, QtGui.QApplication.UnicodeUTF8))
|
December 23, 2013. PRAVMIR. Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for Church and Society, presented the Order of "Glory and Honor," First Class, to Galina Alentyeva, widow of the well-known public and religious figure, Waliullah Yakupov, who died at the hands of terrorists on July 19, 2012.
Waliullah Yakupov was posthumously awarded the Order by His Holiness, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, in 2012, according to the website of the Moscow Patriarchate.
The presentation of the Order took place as part of a roundtable on the topic "Whence the Threat to Orthodoxy in Tatarstan?" organized by the Human Rights Center of the World Russian People's Council in the conference hall of the Danilovskaya Hotel in Moscow.
Fr. Vsevolod remarked in his speech that His Holiness, Patriarch Kirill, had the deepest respect for Waliullah Yakupov and wishes his widow peace and prosperity. Fr. Vsevolod also thanked all the leaders of traditional Islam that advocate and defend its inherent values, regardless of threats from religious extremists.
On behalf of the Primate of the Russian Church, Galina Alentyeva was awarded material assistance.
Waliullah Hazrat Yakupov was a Russian religious and social figure, preacher, and scholar of Islam. From 2008 to 2011, he was the First Vice Chairman of the Muslim Religious Board of Tatarstan. He was the Chief Editor of the journals Muslim World [Musul'manskii mip] and Iman Nura. He was well known for his scholarly work in the field of religious extremism and the history of Islam. On July 19, 2012, he was mortally wounded outside his home in Kazan by six shots, dying on the spot. |
InformatorBLOGGEN | Tips och trix från Informators experter.
It never hurts, but it varies how helpful a (fairly) new programming or script language is. From more or less a prerequisite in R&D and platform-vendor firms, to a nice-to-have CV footnote in mainstream businesses that rather emphasize extended SQL, analytics , data architecture, and automated ML platform/s.
Programming languages are versatile. You can get anything you need, given a generous timeframe. Development tools encapsulate a lot of technical detail. You can get more or less what you need, even under tight time constraints. No wonder it's more appealing to CIOs than nested parentheses.
Books on configurators, or on LISP, drill down into Digital (HP) XCON/R1, but in books on management and modular manufacturing, you read about Scania Trucks & Buses (reporting profits for 80 consecutive years). Scania's smart proprietary configurator (an age fellow of XCON) became a backbone of the enterprise, and grew to several times the size of XCON. Unlike XCON, Scania did cope in maintenance and upgrades. For decades. Offering complex customized vehicles assembled from a cluster of common component types. Language: unglamorous then-mainstream Cobol and DL/1.
It's a two-way street. On one hand, "AI 2.0" and ML challenge current architectures, not least data architectures: big-data ingestion, parallelism, fast access aid for non-sequential access because learning (in both human and artificial neural networks) is essentially non-sequential (parallel).
On the other hand, ML offers a toolbox to tackle these challenges, and also, enables quite some automation of the entire data pipeline and of an architect's (or dev's) repetitive tasks. I won't be surprised if automated-ML platforms for big data, using extended SQL instead of script languages, spark success stories of Scania's magnitude. It's about the augmentation (or automation) itself, and about architecture fit for business, rather than about the detail.
So from now on, Informator's new one-day course is called AI, Architecture, and Machine Learning. Neither just AI for Architecture, nor just Architecture for AI. It's a two-way street.
Trainer at Informator, senior modeling and architecture consultant at Kiseldalen.com, main author : UML Extra Light (Cambridge University Press) and Growing Modular (Springer), Advanced UML2 Professional (OCUP cert level 3/3).
I read in LinkedIn the other day that increased engagement among employees increases the share value of that company. I have also own experience of studies where increased results in engagement surveys show high connection to increased financial results for the units which increased their engagement survey results.
This means that in leadership we need to take into consideration how the team will be able to work productively and switch the perspective to leaders serving their teams needs for better performance.
As Google found out in their surveys among employees: the psychologically safe teams are higher performing, which Laszlo Bock describes in the book: Work Rules.
In psychologically safe teams employees feel safe to ask questions as Amy Edmondson describes in her book: The fearless organization. In these teams it is appreciated to speak up when someone has a concern or different point of view. This can happen when people feel safe to be candid with each other. To be able to achieve this there needs to be mutual respect. Better results will be achieved, as psychological safety increases for example learning and innovation.
Organizations need to work according to plans against bullying, harassment, discrimination, manipulation, or any other kind of unjust treatment of individuals, for humane reasons, and as these behaviours will decrease employee engagement and may affect the bottom line and share value negatively.
Individuals are unique human beings who think in different ways. There is a tool to get increased understanding of one's individual management and personality style: Reiss Motivation Profile, RMP, which also gives other people's perspectives.
A similar training can be tailored to a group's needs. It can be conducted for managers only or for teams including their manager.
Year after year we have read how low the engagement results are in companies in Sweden, and also worldwide. It is not sustainable when managers and/or employees are exploiting others for their own purposes. Co-workers who feel used or unjustly treated will most probably not co-operate, which can have huge implications for the individuals as well as the company/organisation.
There are many ways of weak and selfish management styles: managing by intimidating others, pretending to be nice but manipulating others for your own purposes, etc.
What can we do? We may not be able to change other people, but we can stop the poor behaviours at our level of the organisation, by not taking on other's poor behaviours, even though we might be in a challenging situation. This means treating our co-workers and other stakeholders well, creating isles of good examples. This means that in our decisions and actions we take into consideration what is the best possible solution in relation to all stakeholders. This means that we need to have more humane work environments, where everyone who is interested can thrive, that we do not only develop ourselves but we also like to find ways to develop others, which develops the company/organisation.
Having power can make one fizzy. The more powerful you are the more humility you need to show, as your decisions have a great impact on others.
One tool to help collaboration and to improve a person's leadership is Reiss Motivation Profile, RMP. It helps one to learn more deeply about oneself and to see things from other people's perspectives. Informator is conducting trainings in RMP, please read more about the training courses by clicking the link below.
Aktuell forskning såväl som en stor studie inom Google visar att just social trygghet är det allra mest utmärkande för de team som presterar bäst. I sådana team får alla komma till tals lika mycket och den som gör fel eller misslyckas blir inte straffad. Det tillåtande klimatet ökar kreativiteten och det blir även lättare att våga ta risker för att kunna utvecklas. Så når hela teamet längre, snabbare och tillsammans!
Hur är det i ditt team?
Kommer alla till tals och lyssnar ni på varandra?
Vill du som ledare själv kunna öka ditt teams sociala trygghet?
Eftersom social trygghet är en förmåga, går den att träna upp med hjälp av effektiv metodik. Orangino Work är en svenskutvecklad metod för att träna det, och som är rolig och strukturerad. Det är en evidensbaserad metod vars dialogbaserade verktyg används av organisationer både i Sverige och utomlands. Lunds Universitet har nyligen forskat på metoden och påvisat att när team tränar med verktyget ökar den inre motivationen, gruppklimatet blir tryggare och samhörigheten större. Lite otippat ökar faktiskt också den upplevda kompetensen i teamet!
Informator erbjuder nu en kurs för ledare som själva vill använda verktyget för att kontinuerligt träna och utveckla sina team. Kursen Diplomerad Teamcoach Orangino Work gör dig till diplomerad Teamcoach.
En komplett verktygslåda med material och olika övningar ingår i heldagskursen och du får träning och kompetens att praktiskt driva övningar och leda era dialoger.
Orangino Work stödjer strukturerad dialog i en lustfylld och enkel spelform.
Deltagarna blir nyfikna på varandras perspektiv. De lyssnar och bekräftar varandra och får aha-upplevelser som stärker teamkänslan. Spelmomentet bidrar till att försvarsinstinkten minskar och öppenheten i samtalet ökar. Det gör också att alla kommer till tals och att olika synsätt samsas sida vid sida. Det handlar om att lära känna och ha tillit till varandra för att dra nytta av det bästa hos var och en. För dig som ledare ökar det även förståelsen för medarbetarnas motivation.
Genom dialogerna kommer ni att förstå ert teams beteende bättre och varför ni uppfattar och tolkar saker på olika sätt. En gemensam bild av era styrkor, och hur ni tillvaratar dem växer fram. Medvetenheten ökar om vad ni behöver utveckla för att nå framgång.
Läs mer om kursen och boka din plats på denna länk!
Välkommen önskar kursledarna Ulla Osterman, Sara Bern och Ann Epstein!
If you have ever felt that a colleague has rubbed you the wrong way, it might have to do with your differences in intrinsic motivation. When people have opposing needs, they tend to misunderstand each other.
If the person is trying to give you more of what he himself wants, but you do not, the situation might become more and more tense, even if the other person would have good intentions.
If the other person's ways of working do not resonate with your values, you might drift more and more apart. If the person is important for you to be able to do a good job and to get results, you would need to understand more of each other's perspectives. There is a tool: the Ph.Dr. Reiss Motivation profile. It is internationally used to improve co-operation and for leadership training.
Tre bara i Stockholm, på knappt två veckor. En maraton, eller rentav på väg till marigt? Utbudet av seminarier kring AI (snarare än inom) lever upp till standarddefinitionen "AI är sådant som var omöjligt igår". Under 90-talets kalla "AI-vinter" hade nämligen även tre seminarier på två år varit rena miraklet.
Lägg till IT-tidningar, SvD, DN, miljökonferenser, SR:s Ekonomieko och Ekonomi-special lördag "Tema AI", Vetenskapsredaktionen, med flera, hellre sent än aldrig. Tala om bredd (snarare än djup)... Gammalmedias sätt att rapportera om forskning, utveckling och avknoppningar, enligt samma mall som om fotboll, framkallar ömsom övertro, ömsom teknikskräck, men sällan konkreta steg i praktisk riktning.
1. Mest insatt var AI-dagen på Svenska Institutet för Datorvetenskap i Kista, SICS, där man gick mot strömmen och vågade vara lite "IT-nördiga" med talare i framkanten, i kontrast till ett otal TV-soffor och pratprogram. Man presenterade bl a ett genombrott inom machine learning (ML) som blev "cover story" i Science Magazine för ett år sedan, applikationer inom allt ifrån storbank till telekominfrastruktur, och SICS:s forskning om kausalitet (algoritmer för att skilja orsak-verkan samband från "vanlig" korrelation). 400 åhörare (ett annat tema dagen innan fick 80) visade att AI:s tekniska sida lockar allt fler, medan staten och skolsystemet håller på att missa tåget (se bl a debatten kring "AI:ns gärdsgårdsserie" i SvD ).
2. Ingenjörsvetenskapsakademin IVA:s AI-kväll var mer bred än djup. En flaskhals lyftes fram av automationschefen på den stora telekominfrastruktur-koncernen med 100 000+ anställda och banbrytande tillämpningar av ML och big data där varje anläggning världen över har under sin livscykel en digital "avatar" (komplett historik uppdaterad med realtidsdata ur verkligheten - för diagnostik, lastbalansering, network management mm, telekoms motsvarighet till "gamla ekonomins" nya system som t ex Railigent för järnvägsföretag). Long historia kort: någon borde vidareutbilda, inom AI och big data, de tusentals tekniska akademiker som hennes företag och många andra redan letar efter med ljus och lykta.
Ett förslag ur publiken: vänd dig inte till svenska universitet, de skulle lära ut mer statskunskap och gender än AI-teknik... SvD-debattörerna har varit inne på något liknande: både-och skadar inte (så inget ont om andras discipliner), men AI är framförallt datavatenskap och IT.
3. Stockholms Stads AI-kväll i samarbete med Czech Center "Where Will the Robots Take Us?" var bredast. Publiken var mycket blandad vad gäller jobb, utbildningsnivå, fackområde, kön, i åldrarna från högstadieelev till IT-veteran. Medverkande var AI-professor och ML-företagare Michal Pěchouček (verksam i Prag, Edmonton, m m), Sci-Fi författare (f.d. IT-forskare) Kristina Hård, och filosof Luis De Miranda (verksam i Sverige och Frankrike, inriktad på teknik och automaters kulturhistoria).
Ganska överraskande var det De Miranda som nämnde evolutionära algoritmer (EA), i plenum, när panelen kom in på "disruption" och människans förmåga att uppfinna "utanför fyrkanten" (tänk ungefär Columbi ägg - EA slumpar fram mutationer då och då, för att generera just lösningsvägar som "tänker utanför" ). Fast under minglet efteråt märktes att professor Pěchouček var mer än väl insatt i EA (inte överraskande, eftersom han skrivit sin avhandling om dem i Skottland) och han kom t o m ihåg paketet C Darwin 2 som NovaCast i Ronneby på sin tid gjorde till en hit i industrin.
Blandningen av flera angreppssätt och av generalist- och specialisttänkandet, som präglade seminarierna, ser jag som skälet till att IT-arkitekter utgör en viktig internrekryteringsbas, oavsett var de sedan vidareutbildas i AI. Arkitektrollen har länge handlat om både-och. Både funktionalitet, kvalitetsparametrar, intern och extern "compliance", verksamhetens behov, och om teknik, mönster, komponenter, integrationsmotorer/samspel inom systemportföljen, design, metadata, RDB resp noSQL, DB/DW/DL, Data Mining/analytics m m. Jämfört med forskare tänker arkitekter mer brett och integrerat men samtidigt mer bransch- eller företagsspecifikt.
Det vi sett såhär långt är bara början, och det lär:) bli värre innan det blir bättre. EU, världens största ekonomi, satsar en ynka sjättedel på AI FoU jämfört med USA. En intressant reflektion i IVA:s panel var varför Sverige, en av världens innovationsvänligaste länder annars, ligger nära jumboplats (t o m inom EU) i AI-drivna innovationer.
Arkitekter ser varje ny teknologi som en intressant komponent, inte ett nybygge på en "grön äng", och är mindre benägna än en entusiastisk forskare att direkt kasta ut regelmotorer eller tidiga ML-teknologier som föregick Deep Learning. Detta gör också hybrid-ML system intressanta för oss (se t ex underrubriken Machine Learning i den här bloggen om konfiguratorer). Särskilt så länge "uppackningen" av subsymbolisk logik ur neurala nätverk, till fullt läsbar kontrollerbar form, befinner sig på forskningsstadiet (Explainable AI, XAI). Avvägningar som träffsäkerhet kontra transparens (V&V, förutsägbarhet, granskningsvänlighet/auditability, spårbarhet) är inget nytt inom arkitektur.
AI är sådant som tog årtionden igår, månader i dag, och timmar imorgon. Skrivet förövrigt ombord på en B737-8MAX, ett plan certifierad för automatlandning, som andra Airbus och Boeing av idag.
Samarbetar med Informator sedan 1996 inom arkitektur, modellering och UML, krav och design. Arkitektur- och modelleringskonsult Kiseldalen.com. Huvudförfattare till UML Extra Light (Cambridge University Press) och Growing Modular (Springer). Advanced UML2 Professional (OCUP cert-nivå 3/3).
Do you prefer to get started with work or to analyse first?
Curiosity is one of our motives according to Ph.D. Steven Reiss. We all have it, but to a very different extent, from very low to very high.
When people with high and low curiosity motive work together, there is a risk for dissatisfaction. As a leader, try to understand the cues how your co-workers prefer to work and how they can complement each other. If you are for example implementing a change or starting a new project, some people like to analyse and understand everything in detail before they start to work. But those people with low curiosity motive prefer to see some results, and therefor start to work straight away, rather than analysing and having long meetings where matters are discussed in depth. Engagement will increase when co-workers are involved in a way that mostly resonate with their work style, which in turn will increase their work performance.
Independence is our desire for self-reliance and one of our life motives. It motivates people to make their own decisions and to value their personal freedom. We all have this need, but to a very different extent, from a very low need for some - to a very high need for others.
Those who have a weak desire for independence want to "make good music" with others and be interdependent with colleagues, as they want to belong to a group.
People with weak desire for independence like teamwork. They get new ideas when discussing work related matters with others. They usually say: 1+1 becomes 3 when they interact with their colleagues. Together they will write music, which is better than they would have come up with themselves.
För ett litet tag sedan så körde vi en av våra populära utbildningar inom agil HR i Stockholm. Under två dagar gick vi igenom hur HR kan stötta en organisation som redan arbetar med agila metoder i verksamheten och hur man kan skapa en kultur som engagerar snarare än hämmar medarbetares kreativitet och motivation. För det handlar nästan bara om kultur, vi behöver bara krydda med en gnutta struktur för att kunna leverera mycket mer värde.
I sometimes hear people discuss whether they are extroverts or introverts, but according to motivation research by Ph.D. Steven Reiss, most of us have some extroversion and some introversion, but to a different extent. Reiss calls introversion-extroversion Social Contact, which is one of our 16 motives.
A colleague with a low need for Social Contact usually prefers to work alone most of the time. He/she might not come to After Work either, the person might just need to have some time alone. There is sometimes a misconception, that introverts don't want to interact with other people. An example of a totally introvert would be a person who chooses to have a home in Alaskan wilderness, make a living by hunting and hating to travel to town for supplies.
Reiss means that we need to consider this in a continuum of motivation from wanting to be alone all of the time to wanting to socialise for all of one's waking hours. Each person has an optimal level of happiness for experiencing social contact. This does not though include companionship with parents or children (these are other motives).
Manufacturing is the key player in applied intelligent configuration, but software businesses are catching up too. Factoring out dependencies between components (or classes, services etc.) to separate configuration issues from application logic, is a well-tried SW-variability principle likely to evolve further in the era of machine learning (ML).
…inversion, injection, "intermediation" (broker pattern, bus pattern), factoring-out (configuration-file pattern), etc; well-known SW architecture tasks. Some "tricks of the trade" in product configuration elsewhere turn out useful in IT as well and, judging from some recent papers, ML becomes augmentative for those.
Intelligent configurators assist, or replace in part, a human role such as a technical salesperson. Which in turn implies a "translation" from a customer's wishlist to a matching selection of components and their configuration, without redesign. The result: a custom-fit product offer (sometimes even one-of-a-kind) without any new components. Quote-to-Order & Configur-to-order. The logic (figuratively "grammar rules" of "translation") is expressed in constraints, inclusion/exclusion rules, and more recently even stored as relationships within a component cluster ("pool") in a noSQL database like for example, Graph. On the product & product-data side, this implies quite a degree of architecture and modular design-to-configure.
If you're looking for an insightful update on applied analytics, AI, and ML in cloud ERP, especially for automotive and manufacturing, make sure to read this Forbes article by Louis Columbus from July 2018.
This is the simpler case where the customer knows which components in which configurations match the requirements (functional and nonfunctional). The customer has enough application-and-component knowledge to make a good "translation" upfront, from a wishlist to product-data compatible, along the lines of a Bill of materials. The configurator compares similar possible configurations, and also, checks that applicable rules and constraints are met; for example, doors must open and shut smoothly even when the selected interior extras are in place, or in SW, latency limits must be met even with all necessary firewalls in place.
Especially in the software realm, this tends to underline structure.
This is the challenging case where it's up to the configurator and salesperson to figure out how the customer's wishlist (of both FR and NFR) maps onto components, parameters, and particular configurations. Here, the configurator contains both domain knowledge and application-and-component knowledge necessary for a sufficient translation. Knowledge-based configurators are quite good in this within well-defined domains, not least in manufacturing industries. Today, BI and CI (Customer Insight) also enable configurators to estimate customer preferences, so that they can suggest components more accurately.
Scania Trucks & Buses has a wealth of experience in product configuration. Image source: Scania Annual and Sustainability Report 2015.
Sometimes, it's profitable, as a first choice, to "replay" configurations from recent similar orders (those with good margins and customer ratings), using simpler ML technologies such as Case Based Reasoning. If none of the orders fits, then we've the current tradeoff between on one hand, ML from order statistics to fine-tune the configurator logic, and on the other hand, auditability, comprehensibility, predictability, traceability, V&V.
A hybrid approach is ML (from past orders, plus corresponding lifecycle-history data) to fine-tune the rules and constraints of the configurator, making them accurate. That is, rules are still represented transparently, as rules, although ML gradually makes their conditionals smarter. Even in the "replay" order data, ML can improve classification of past orders into categories, to efficiently match particular customers' wishlists.
Sub-symbolic "opaque" logic from deep learning will cover more tasks than this, but we'll still need an add-on that will transform it "back" to something humans find transparent enough; visualization tools for decision trees or Graph databases are widely available, including open source (for a picture, see this post on noSQL and Panama Papers). Configurator logic and key PDM data are knowledge assets worth secrecy, for sure, but also worth thorough control and transparency to authorized roles.
Milan and Informator collaborate since 1996 on architecture, modelling, UML, requirements, and design. You can meet him in the coming months of 2018 at public Architecture courses in English or Swedish (fundamentals T1101, customization and variability T1430) or public Modeling courses (agile T2715, advanced T2716). |
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Cambridge Sketches
Frank Preston Stearns
Index of Cambridge Sketches
took form; and his immovable convictions,--I think this single will was
worth to the cause ten thousand ordinary partisans, well-disposed enough,
but of feebler and interrupted action.
"These interests, which he passionately adopted, inevitably led him into
personal communication with patriotic persons holding the same views,--
with two Presidents, with members of Congress, with officers of the
government and of the army, and with leading people everywhere. He had
been always a man of simple tastes, and through all his years devoted to
the growing details of his prospering manufactory. But this sudden
association now with the leaders of parties and persons of pronounced
power and influence in the nation, and the broad hospitality which
brought them about his board at his own house, or in New York, or in
Washington, never altered one feature of his face, one trait in his
manners. There he sat in the council, a simple, resolute Republican, an
enthusiast only in his love of freedom and the good of men; with no pride
of opinion, and with this distinction, that, if he could not bring his
associates to adopt his measure, he accepted with entire sweetness the
next best measure which could secure their assent. But these public
benefits were purchased at a severe cost. For a year or two, the most
affectionate and domestic of men became almost a stranger in his
beautiful home. And it was too plain that the excessive toil and
anxieties into which his ardent spirit led him overtasked his strength
and wore out prematurely his constitution. It is sad that such a life
should end prematurely; but when I consider that he lived long enough to
see with his own eyes the salvation of his country, to which he had given
all his heart; that he did not know an idle day; was never called to
suffer under the decays and loss of his powers, or to see that others
were waiting for his place and privilege, but lived while he lived, and
beheld his work prosper for the joy and benefit of all mankind,--I count
him happy among men.
"Almost I am ready to say to these mourners, Be not too proud in your
grief, when you remember that there is not a town in the remote State of
Kansas that will not weep with you as at the loss of its founder; not a
Southern State in which the freedmen will not learn to-day from their
preachers that one of their most efficient benefactors has departed, and
will cover his memory with benedictions; and that, after all his efforts
to serve men without appearing to do so, there is hardly a man in this
country worth knowing who does not hold his name in exceptional honor.
And there is to my mind somewhat so absolute in the action of a good man,
that we do not, in thinking of him, so much as make any question of the
future. For the Spirit of the Universe seems to say: 'He has done well;
is not that saying all?'"
This monograph was printed in the _Boston Commonwealth_, April 20,
1867, and has never been republished. It is exceptional in Emerson's
writings as the account of a man with whom he was personally and
intimately acquainted.
ELIZUR WRIGHT
The influence of Ohio in the United States of America during the past
half century may be compared to that of Virginia during the first forty
years of the Republic. All of our Presidents, elected as such since 1860,
have come from Ohio, or adjacent territory. Cleveland came from beyond
the Alleghenies, and Lincoln was born on the southern side of the Ohio
River. General Grant and General Sherman came from Ohio; and so did
Salmon P. Chase, and John Brown, of Harper's Perry celebrity. Chase gave
the country the inestimable blessing of a national currency; and even the
Virginians admitted that John Brown was a very remarkable person.
The fathers of these men conquered the wilderness and brought up their
sons to a sturdy, vigorous manliness, which resembles the colonial
culture of Franklin, Adams, and Washington.
Sitting in the same school-house with John Brown, in 1816, was a boy
named Elizur Wright who, like Brown, came from Connecticut, and to whom
the people of this country are also somewhat under obligation. Every
widow and orphan in the United States who receives the benefit of a life-
insurance policy owes a blessing to Elizur Wright, who was the first to
establish life insurance in America on a strong foundation, and whose
reports on that subject, made during his long term as Insurance
Commissioner for Massachusetts, have formed a sort of constitution by
which the policy of all life-insurance companies is still guided. His
name deserves a place beside those of Horace Mann and William Lloyd
Garrison.
[Illustration: ELIZUR WRIGHT]
Apart from this, his biography is one of the most interesting, one of the
most picturesque, when compared with those of the many brilliant men of
his time. His grandfather was a sea captain, and his father, who was also
named Elizur, was a farmer in Canaan, Connecticut. His mother's name was
Clarissa Richards, and he was born on the twelfth of February, 1804. In
the spring of 1810 the family moved to Talmage, Ohio, making the journey
in a two-horse carriage with an ox-team to transport their household
goods. Their progress was necessarily slow, and it was nearly six weeks
before they reached Talmage, as it was generally necessary to camp at
night by the way-side. This romantic journey, the building of their log-
cabin, the clearing of the forest, and above all his solitary watches in
the maple-orchard (where he might perhaps be attacked by wolves), made a
deep poetic impression on young Elizur, and furnished him with a store of
pleasant memories in after life.
They lived at first in a log-cabin, and afterwards his father built a
square frame-house with a piazza and veranda in front, which is still
standing. The school where Elizur, Jr., met John Brown was at a long
distance for a boy to walk. He does not appear to have made friends with
John, remarkably alike as they were in veracity, earnestness, and
adherence to principle; but John was somewhat the elder, and two or three
years among boys counts for more than ten among grown people. In later
life, however, Mr. Wright told an interesting anecdote of young Brown,
which runs as follows:
John was the best-behaved boy in the school, and for this reason the
teacher selected him to occupy a vacant place beside the girls. Some
other boys were jealous of this, and after calling Brown a milk-sop,
attacked him with snowballs. John proved himself as good a fighter then
as he did afterwards at Black Jack. He made two or three snow-balls,
rushed in at close quarters, and fought with such energy that he finally
drove all the boys before him.
Elizur Wright may have taken note of this affair, and it served him when
he entered Yale College in 1822. He had never heard of hazing, and when
the Sophomores came to his room to tease him, he received them with true
Western cordiality. He found out his mistake quickly enough, and at the
first insult he rose in wrath and ordered them out with such furious
looks that they concluded it was best to go.
He helped to support himself during his college course not only by
teaching in winter, but by making fires, waiting on table, and ringing
the recitation bell. In spite of these menial services, he was popular in
his class and had a number of aristocratic friends,--among them Philip
Van Rensselaer. He was one of the best scholars in his class,--first in
mathematics, and so fluent in Greek that to the end of his life he could
read it with ease.
He did not wait for graduation. In May, 1826, the Groton Academy suddenly
wanted a teacher, and Elizur Wright was invited to take the position. The
college faculty sent him his degree a month later,--which they might not
have done if they had known how little he cared for it. In his school at
Groton was a pretty, dark-eyed girl named Susan Clark, who, for two years
previously, had been at school with Margaret Fuller and was very well
acquainted with her. Elizur Wright became interested in Miss Clark, and
three years later they were married.
One day, while he was living at Groton, Mr. Wright went by the Boston
stage to Fitchburg, and on his return held a long conversation with a
fellow-passenger, a tall, slender young man with aquiline features, who
gave his name as Ralph Waldo Emerson. Mr. Wright found him an exceedingly
interesting gentleman, but of so fragile an appearance that it seemed
impossible that he should live many years.
From this time the paths of these two young scholars diverged. Emerson
became an idealist and an ethical reformer. Elizur Wright became a
realist and a political reformer. Realism seems to belong to the soil of
Ohio.
Ill health came next in turn, a natural consequence of his severe life at
Yale College. He was obliged to leave his school, and for an occupation
he circulated tracts for the American Congregational Society, making a
stipulation, however, which was characteristic of him, that he should not
distribute any that ran contrary to his convictions. In this itinerant
fashion he became sufficiently recuperated at the end of a year to marry
Miss Clark, September 13, 1829, and accept the professorship of
mathematics at Western Reserve College, at Hudson, Ohio. There he
remained till 1833, strengthening himself in the repose of matrimony for
the conflict that lay before him,--a conflict that every justice-loving
man feels that he will have to face at one time or another.
This probably came sooner than he expected. Some anti-slavery tracts,
circulated by Garrison, reached Western Reserve College and set the place
in a ferment. Elizur Wright became the champion of the anti-slavery
movement, not only in the town of Hudson but throughout the State. What
Garrison was in New England he became in the West. In the spring of 1833
he resigned his professorship and spent the next five months delivering
lectures on the slavery question. In December of the same year the first
national anti-slavery convention met in Philadelphia, and Elizur Wright
was unanimously chosen secretary of it. After that he went to New York to
edit a newspaper, the _Anti-Slavery Reporter_, remaining until 1839.
During the pro-slavery riot in New York he was attacked on the sidewalk
by two men with knives, but instantly rescued by some teamsters who were
passing. When he reached his home in Brooklyn he found a note from the
Mayor advising him to leave the city for some days; to which he replied
advising the Mayor to stop the New York ferry-boats. Meanwhile, as Mrs.
Wright was too ill to be removed, he purchased an axe and prepared to
defend his house to the last extremity. The Mayor, however, adopted his
advice, and by this excellent stratagem Brooklyn was saved from the fury
of the mob. In 1837 he moved to Dorchester, Massachusetts, to prosecute a
similar work in Boston.
Nothing is more remarkable in Mr. Wright's life than his perfect self-
poise and peace of mind during such a long period of external agitation.
It is doubtful, in spite of his highly nervous temperament, if he ever
lost a night's sleep. When he was editing the _Chronotype_, and
waiting for the telegraphic news to arrive, he would sometimes lie down
on a pile of newspapers and go to sleep in less than half a minute. For
mental relaxation he studied the higher mathematics and wrote poetry--
much of it very good. His faith in Divine Providence was absolute. He had
the soul of a hero.
During his first years in Boston, Elizur Wright translated La Fontaine's
Fables into English verse,--one of the best metrical versions of a
foreign poet,--and it is much to be regretted that the book is out of
print. It did not sell, of course, and Elizur Wright, determined that
neither he nor the publisher should lose money on it, undertook to sell
it himself. In carrying out this plan he met with some curious
experiences. He called on Professor Ticknor, who received him kindly,
spoke well of his translation, offered to dispose of a number of copies,
but--advised him to keep clear of the slavery question.
He went to Washington with the twofold object of selling his book and
talking emancipation to our national legislators; and he succeeded in
both attempts, for there were few men who liked to argue with Elizur
Wright. His brain was a store-house of facts and his analysis of them
equally keen and cutting. One Congressman, a very gentlemanly Virginian,
said to him: "Mr. Wright, I wish you could go across the Potomac and look
over my district. I think you will find that African slavery is not half
as bad as it is represented." Elizur Wright went and returned with the
emphatic reply: "I find it much worse than I expected." Having disposed
of more than half of his edition in this manner, in the spring of 1842 he
went to England, and with the kind assistance of Browning and Pringle
succeeded in placing the rest of his books there to his satisfaction.
Having a great admiration for Wordsworth's poetry, he made a long journey
to see that celebrated author, but only to be affronted by Wordsworth's
saying that America would be a good place if there were only a few
gentlemen in it. With Carlyle he had, as might have been expected, a
furious argument on the slavery question, and "King Thomas," as Dr.
Holmes calls him, encountered for once a head as hard as his own. The
Brownings, Robert and Elizabeth, received him with true English
hospitality. More experienced than Wordsworth in the great world, they
recognized Elizur Wright to be what he was,--a man of intellect and rare
integrity. Mr. Wright always spoke of Browning as one of the most
satisfactory men with whom he had ever conversed.
In 1840, as is well known, the anti-slavery movement became divided into
those who still believed in the efficacy of "moral suasion" and those who
considered that the time had come for introducing the question into
practical politics. The Texas question made the latter course inevitable,
and Elizur Wright concluded that moral suasion had done its work. As he
expressed it, in a letter to Mrs. Maria Chapman: "Garrison has already
left his enemies thrice dead behind him." He was a delegate to the
convention of April 1, 1840, which nominated James G. Birney for the
Presidency, and took an active share in the Free-soil movement of 1844,--
a movement which produced exactly the opposite effect from that which was
intended; for the defeat of Henry Clay opened the door for the Mexican
war and the annexation of a much larger territory than Texas. If Clay had
been elected, the history of the United States must have been different
from what it has proved.
How Elizur Wright supported his family during this long period of
philanthropy will always be a mystery, but support them he did. He had no
regular salary like Garrison, but, in an emergency, he could turn his
hand to almost anything, and earn money by odd jobs. Fortunately, he had
a wife who was not afraid of any kind of house-work. He purchased his
clothes of a tailor named Curtis, who kept a sailors' clothing store on
North Street, and his mode of living otherwise was not less economical.
That his children suffered by their father's philanthropy must be
admitted, but it is a general rule that the families of public
benefactors also contribute largely to the general good. His eldest
daughters inherited their father's intellect, and as they grew up
cheerfully assisted him in various ways.
When the Mexican war began there was great indignation over it in New
England, and Lowell wrote his most spirited verses in opposition to it.
Elizur Wright took advantage of the storm to establish a newspaper, the
_Chronotype_, in opposition to the Government policy. He began this
enterprise almost without help, but soon obtained assistance from leading
Free-soilers like John A. Andrew, Dr. S. G. Howe, and especially Frank W.
Bird, the most disinterested of politicians, who gave several thousand
dollars in support of the _Chronotype_. The object of the paper,
stated in Mr. Wright's own words, was "To examine everything that is new
and some things that are old, without fear or favor; to promote good
nature, good neighborhood, and good government; to advocate a just
distribution of the proper reward, whether material or immaterial, both
of honest labor and rascally violence, cunning and idleness; last, but
not least, to get an honest living." In 1848 he had a list of six
thousand subscribers; and his incisive pen was greatly feared. The
_Post_, which was the Government organ in Boston, attacked him once,
but met with such a crushing rejoinder that its editor concluded not to
try that game again. His capacity for brain labor was wonderful. He could
work fourteen hours a day, and did not seem to need recreation at all.
In the campaign of 1844 Elizur Wright made a number of speeches for the
Free-soil candidate in various New England cities. One morning he was
returning from a celebration at Nashua, when at the Lowell station Daniel
Webster entered the train with two or three friends, and turned over the
seat next to Mr. Wright. A newsboy followed Webster, and they all
purchased papers. Elizur Wright purchased a Whig paper, and seeing a
statement in it concerning the Free-soil candidate which he believed from
internal evidence to be untrue, he said quite loud: "Well! this is the
finest roorback I have met with." Webster inquired what it was, and,
after looking at the statement, pronounced it genuine. A short argument
ensued, which closed with Webster's proposing to bet forty pounds
that the allegation was true. "I am not a betting man," replied Wright,
"but since the honor of my candidate is at stake, I accept your wager."
Webster then gave him his card, and Wright returned it by writing
his name on a piece of the newspaper.
Elizur Wright no sooner reached his office than he found letters and
documents there disproving the Whig statement _in toto_, and later
in the day he carried them over to Mr. Webster, who had an office in what
was then Niles's Block. Mr. Webster looked carefully through them,
congratulated Mr. Wright on his good fortune, and handed him two hundred-
dollar bills. Peter Harvey, who was in Webster's office at the time,
afterwards stopped Elizur Wright on the sidewalk and said to him: "Mr.
Wright, you could have afforded to lose that wager much better than
Webster could."
It is remarkable how all the different interests in this man's life--
mathematics, philanthropy, journalism, and the translation of La
Fontaine--united together like so many different currents to further the
grand achievement of his life. While in England he had taken notice of
the life-insurance companies there, which were in a more advanced stage
than those in America. They interested him as a mathematical study, and
also from the humanitarian point of view. He purchased "David Jones on
Annuities," and the best works on life insurance. These he read with the
same ardor with which young ladies devour an exciting novel, and without
the least expectation that they might ever bring dollars and cents to
him; until one day in the spring of 1852 an insurance solicitor placed an
advertising booklet in his hand as he was entering the office of the
_Chronotype_.
Elizur Wright looked it over and perceived quickly enough that no company
could undertake to do what this one pretended to and remain solvent. The
booklet served him for an editorial, and before one o'clock the next day
agents from every life company in Boston were collected in his office.
They supposed at first that it was an attempt at blackmail, but soon
discovered that Elizur Wright knew more about the subject than any of
them. Neither threats nor persuasions had any effect on this
uncompromising backwoodsman. Only on one condition would Mr. Wright
retract his statements,--that the companies should reform their circulars
and place their affairs in a more sound condition. The consequence of
this was an invitation from the presidents of several of the companies
for Mr. Wright to call at their offices and discuss the subject with
The situation was this, and Mr. Wright saw it clearly: the presidents of
the companies were excellent men,--as honorable and trustworthy as the
presidents of our best national banks,--and they knew how to organize and
conduct their companies in all business matters, but of life insurance as
a science they knew as little as they knew of Greek. In those days there
was a prejudice against college graduates which prevented their obtaining
the highest mercantile positions, and it is doubtful if there was any
person connected with the life-insurance companies who could solve a
problem in the higher mathematics. The consequence of this was that it
placed the presidents quite at the mercy of their own accountants. Recent
events have proved with what facility the teller of a bank can abstract
twenty or thirty thousand dollars without its appearing in the accounts.
Temptations and opportunities of this sort must have been much greater in
life-insurance companies, as they were formerly conducted, than it is now
in banks. Money may have been stolen without its having been discovered.
Besides this, the temptations of the companies to continually over-bid
one another for public favor was another evil which, sooner or later,
would lead some of them into bankruptcy. This danger could only be
averted by placing their rates of insurance on a scientific basis, which
should be the same and unalterable for all companies.
The charters of the companies had been drafted in the interest of the
management, without much consideration for the rights or advantages of
those who were insured. There were no laws on the statute book which
would practically prevent directors of life-insurance companies from
doing as they pleased with the immense trust properties in their
possession. After two or three interviews with Elizur Wright the
presidents of the companies came to the conclusion that he was exactly
the man that they wanted, and they commissioned him to draw up a revised
set of tables and rates which could serve them for a uniform standard.
This work occupied him and two of his daughters for a full year, for
which he was compensated with the paltry sum of two thousand dollars. The
time was fast approaching, however, when Elizur Wright would be in a
position to dictate his own terms to the insurance companies.
It was now that the Bird Club, the most distinguished political club of
its time, became gradually formed out of the leading elements of the
Free-soil party. At one time this club counted among its members two
Senators, three Governors, and a number of Congressmen, and it was a
power in the land. Elizur Wright's services as editor of the
_Chronotype_ gave him an early entrance to it; and having life
insurance on the brain, as it were, other members of the club soon became
interested in the subject as a political question. In this way Mr. Wright
was soon able to effect legislation. Sumner, Wilson, Andrew, and Bird
gave him an almost unqualified support. In 1858 he was appointed
Insurance Commissioner for Massachusetts, a position which he held until
1866. As Commissioner he formulated the principal legislation on life
insurance; and his reports, which have been published in a volume, are
the best treatise in English on the practical application of life-
insurance principles.
In 1852 he resigned the editorship of the _Chronotype_, and from
that time till 1858 he was occupied with life-insurance work, the editing
of a paper called the _Railroad Times_, and making a number of
mechanical inventions, most important of which was a calculating machine,
enough in itself to give a man distinction.
This machine was simply a Gunther rule thirty feet in length wrapped on a
cylinder and turned by a crank. Gunther's rule is a measure on which
logarithms are represented by spaces, so that by adding and subtracting
spaces on this cylinder Mr. Wright could perform the longest sums in
multiplication and division in two or three minutes of time.
Not only did the Massachusetts insurance companies come under Mr.
Wright's surveillance, but the New York Life, the Connecticut Mutual, and
the Mutual Benefit of New Jersey, all large and powerful companies, were
obliged to conform to his regulations, for their Boston offices were too
lucrative to be surrendered. About this time Gladstone caused an
overhauling of the English life-insurance companies, and a number which
proved to be unsound were obliged to surrender their charters. Among
these latter were two companies which held offices in Boston, and whose
character had already been exposed by Elizur Wright.
In 1850, when he became Commissioner, Mr. Wright sent to their agents for
a statement of their financial standing, and not receiving a reply
requested them to leave the State. Finding that the matter could not be
evaded, they at length forwarded two reports signed by two actuaries,
both Fellows of the Royal Society, which were not of a satisfactory
character, so that Mr. Wright insisted on his previous order. The agents
then applied for support to Prof. Benjamin Pierce, the distinguished
mathematician of Harvard University, and one of the most aggressively
pro-slavery men about Boston. He probably looked upon Elizur Wright as a
vulgar fanatic, and supposing that a Fellow of the Royal Society must
necessarily be an honorable man, came forward in support of Messrs.
Neisen and Woolhouse without sufficiently investigating the question at
issue; and the result was a controversy between Elizur Wright and himself
in which he was finally beaten off the field.
The statements of both Neisen and Woolhouse was proved to be fraudulent,
and the two English companies were expelled from the State.
Mr. Wright's insurance reports brought him such celebrity that all the
companies wished to have his name connected with them. His son, Walter C.
Wright, became actuary of the New England Life, and his daughter, Miss
Jane Wright, was made actuary of the Mutual Union Company. Mr. Wright and
his eldest son, John, set up a business for calculating the value of
insurance policies, in which the logarithm machine helped them to obtain
a large income. With his first ten thousand dollars Mr. Wright purchased
a large house and a tract of land in Middlesex Fells, where his family
still resides.
In 1865 the office of Life Insurance Commissioner was filched from him by
a trade politician who knew as much of the subject as fresh college
graduates do of the practical affairs of life. Mr. Wright always
regretted this, for he felt that his work was not yet complete; and it is
a fact that American life insurance, with its good and bad features,
still remains almost exactly as he left it.
It was only after Elizur Wright had ceased to be Commissioner that he
discovered a serious error in the calculation of the companies, which may
be explained in the following manner:
In the beginning, nearly all the insurance policies were made payable at
death, with annual premiums; but the introduction of endowment policies,
payable at a certain age, effected a peculiar change in their affairs, of
which the managers of the companies were not sensible. Elizur Wright
perceived that there were two distinct elements in the endowment policies
which placed them at a disadvantage with ordinary life policies, and he
called this combination "savings-bank life insurance." An endowment
policy, being payable at a fixed date, required a larger premium than one
which ran on indefinitely and by customary usage, and the agent who
negotiated the policy received the same percentage for commission that he
would on an ordinary-life policy; that is, he received a much larger
commission in proportion. This evil was increased in cases where
endowment policies were paid for, as often happened, in five or ten
instalments; and where they were paid for in a single instalment the
agent received four or five times what he was properly entitled to.
The same principle was observed by the companies in the distribution of
their surplus, so that the holders of endowment policies were practically
mulcted at both ends of the line.
In his reports as Insurance Commissioner Elizur Wright had recommended
this class of policies as a salutary provision against poverty in old
age, and he felt under obligations to the public to correct this
injustice, [Footnote: On a policy of ten thousand dollars, it would
amount to an appreciable sum.] but the insurance agents had also
advocated them for evident reasons and were naturally opposed to any
project of reform. The managers of the companies also treated the subject
coldly, for the discrimination against endowments enabled them to
accumulate a larger reserve which made them appear to better advantage
before the general public. The numerous agents and solicitors formed a
solid body of opposition and raised a chorus against Elizur Wright like
that which the robins make when you pick your own cherries. This class of
persons when they are actuated by a common impulse make a formidable
impression.
Mr. Wright, after arguing his case with the insurance companies for
nearly a year without effect, appealed to the public through the
newspapers. This, however, had unexpected consequences. Mr. Wright's
letters produced the impression, which he did not intend at all, that the
insurance companies were unsound, and policy-holders rushed to the
offices to make inquiries. Many surrendered their policies.
In this emergency the officers of the companies went to the editors and
explained to them that their business would be ruined if Mr. Wright was
permitted to continue his attacks on them. They then made Mr. Wright what
may have been intended for a magnanimous offer, though he did not look on
it in that light,--namely, an offer of ten thousand dollars a year, if he
would retire from the actuary business and not molest them any longer.
[Footnote: These events took place thirty years ago and have no relation
to the present condition and practice of American insurance companies.]
Elizur Wright refused this, as he might have declined the offer of a
cigar, and appealed to the Legislature. The companies then withdrew their
business from Mr. Wright and thus reduced his income from twelve thousand
dollars a year to about three thousand; but this troubled him no more
than it would have Diogenes.
In the summer of 1872 a portly gentleman called at Elizur Wright's office
on State Street and introduced himself as the president of a well-known
Western insurance company. As it was a pleasant day Mr. Wright invited
his visitor to Pine Hill, where they could converse to better advantage
than in a Boston office; but being much absorbed in his subject, while
passing through Medford Centre, he neglected to order a dinner; and the
consequence of this was that his portly friend was obliged to make a
lunch on cold meat and potato salad. That same evening Mr. Wright's
daughter twitted him on his lack of forethought, and hoped such a thing
would not happen again, to which he only replied: "The kindest thing you
can do for such a man is to starve him." Such was his philosophy on all
occasions.
He devised a plan for combining life insurance with a savings bank, by
which the laboring man could obtain a certain amount of insurance for his
family (or old age) instead of interest upon his deposits. This was an
admirable idea, and if he had undertaken to carry it out in the prime of
life he might have succeeded in realizing it; but he was now upwards of
seventy, and his friends concluded that the experiment would be a risky
one, as a favorable result would depend entirely on Mr. Wright's
longevity. At the same time he had another enterprise in hand, namely, to
convert the Middlesex Fells, in which Pine Hill is situated, into a
public park. This was greatly needed for the crowded population on the
northern side of Boston, and though the plan was not carried out until
after his death, he was the originator and earliest promoter of it.
Elizur Wright's most conspicuous trait was generosity. He lived for the
world and not for himself. He was a man of broad views and great designs;
a daring, original thinker. He respected Emerson, but preferred the
philosophy of John Stuart Mill, from the study of which he became an
advocate of free trade and woman suffrage.
He died November 21, 1885, in the midst of a rain-storm which lasted six
days and nights. He lies interred at Mt. Hope Cemetery.
DR. W. T. G. MORTON
A distinguished American called upon Charles Darwin, and in the course
of conversation asked him what he considered the most important discovery
of the nineteenth century. To which Mr. Darwin replied, after a slight
hesitation: "Painless surgery." He thought this more beneficial in its
effects on human affairs than either the steam-engine or the telegraph.
Let it also be noted that he spoke of it as an invention, rather than as
a discovery.
The person to whom all scientific men now attribute the honor of this
discovery, or invention, is Dr. William T. G. Morton; and, although in
that matter he was not without slight assistance from others, as well as
predecessors in the way of tentative experiments, yet it was Doctor
Morton who first proved the possibility of applying anaesthesia to
surgical operations of a capital order; and it was he who pushed his
theory to a practical success. It may also be admitted that Columbus
could not have discovered the Western Hemisphere without the assistance
of Ferdinand and Isabella; but it was Columbus who divined the existence
of the American continent, and afterwards proved his theory to be true.
There is an underlying similarity between the labors and lives of
Columbus and Morton, in spite of large superficial differences.
William Thomas Greene Morton was born August 19, 1819, in Charlton,
Massachusetts, a small town in the Connecticut Valley. His father was a
flourishing farmer and lived in an old-fashioned but commodious country
house, with a large square chimney in the centre of it. William was not
only a bright but a very dexterous boy, and was sent to school in the
academy at Northfield, and afterwards at Leicester. It is a family
tradition that he early showed an experimental tendency by brewing
concoctions of various kinds for the benefit of his young companions, and
that he once made his sister deathly sick in this manner. His father,
finding him a more energetic boy than the average of farmers' sons,
advised him to go to Boston, to seek whatever fortune he could find
This resulted in his obtaining employment, probably through the Charlton
clergyman, in the office of a religious periodical, the _Christian
Witness_; but the situation, though a comfortable one, was not adapted
to his tastes, and from some unexplained attraction to the profession, he
decided to study dentistry. This he accordingly did, graduating at the
Baltimore Dental College in 1842. He then engaged an office in Boston,
and soon acquired a lucrative practice. He was an uncommonly handsome
man, with a determined look in his eye, but also a kindly expression and
pleasing manners, which may have brought him more practice than his skill
in dentistry,--although that was also good.
The following year he was married to Miss Elizabeth Whitman, of
Farmington, Connecticut, whose uncle, at least, had been a member of
Congress,--a highly genteel family in that region. In fact, her parents
objected to Doctor Morton on account of his profession, and it was only
after his promise to study medicine and become a regular practitioner
that they consented to the match. Accordingly, Doctor Morton in the
autumn of 1844 commenced a course at the Harvard Medical-School.
Mrs. Morton was a handsome young woman, with a fair face and elegant
figure. It would have been difficult to find a better looking couple
anywhere in the suburbs, and with good health and strength it seemed as
if fortune would certainly smile on them. Doctor Morton built a summer
cottage at Wellesley, where the public library now stands, and planted a
grove of trees about it; but a mere earthly paradise could not satisfy
him. He was not an ambitious man, or he would not have chosen the dental
profession; but the food he lived on was not of this world. He had the
daring spirit, the speculative temperament, and restless energy of the
born discoverer. Already he had made improvements in the manufacture of
artificial teeth. He was the first, or one of the first, to recognize the
importance of chemistry in connection with the practice of medicine. He
had no sooner returned to Boston than he commenced the study of chemistry
with Dr. Charles T. Jackson, spending from six to ten hours a week in his
laboratory; and he thus became acquainted with the properties and
peculiarities of most of the chemical ingredients known at that time.
Mrs. Morton soon discovered with awe and trepidation that she had married
no ordinary man. That he had a real skeleton in his closet was to have
been expected; but, besides this, there were rows of mysterious-looking
bottles, with substances in them quite different from the medicines which
were prescribed by the doctors in Farmington. He tried experiments on
their black water-spaniel and nearly killed him; and even descended to
fishes and insects. He would muse for hours by himself, and if she asked
him what he was thinking of he gave her no explanation that she could
understand. Although he was so attractive and pleasing, he did not care
much for human society. [Footnote: McClure's Magazine, September, 1896.]
He was kind and good to her, and with that she was content. A more
devoted wife, or faithful mother, has not been portrayed in poetry or
romance.
These phenomena in Doctor Morton's early life remind one of certain
processes in the budding of a flower. They indicate a tendency to some
object which perhaps was not at the time wholly clear to the man himself.
Impelled by the humanitarian spirit of the age, he moved forward with a
clear eye and firm hand to grasp the opportunity when it arrived,--nor
was it long delayed.
In considering the discovery of etherization we ought to eliminate all
evidence of an _ex parte_ character, unless it is supported
circumstantially; but there is no reason why we should disbelieve Mrs.
Morton's statement that her husband made experiments with sulphuric
ether; that his clothes smelt of it; and that he tried to persuade
laboring-men to allow him to experiment upon them with it. As Dr. J.
Collins Warren says: "Anaesthesia had been the dream of many surgeons and
scientists, but it had been classed with aerial navigation and other
improbable inventions." [Footnote: Anaesthesia in Surgery, 15.] As long
ago as 1818 Faraday had discovered the chief properties of ether, with
the exception of its effect in deadening sensibility. In 1836 Dr. Morrill
Wyman and Dr. Samuel Parkman had experimented with it on themselves at
the Massachusetts Hospital, but without taking a sufficient quantity to
produce unconsciousness. It was actually employed in 1842 by Dr. Crawford
W. Long, at the University of Pennsylvania, in some minor cases of
surgery, but he would seem to have lost confidence in his method and
afterwards abandoned it.
In December, 1844, Horace Wells, a dentist of Hartford, had a tooth
extracted by his own request while under the influence of nitrous oxide;
and the following month he came to Boston, and having made his discovery
known, an operation at the hospital was undertaken with his assistance,
but the patient screamed, and it proved a failure so far as anaesthesia
was concerned.
From these facts we readily draw the following conclusions: That the
discovery of painless surgery was essentially a practical affair for
which only a slight knowledge of chemistry was required; that it was not
a discovery made at hap-hazard, but one that necessitated a skilful hand
and a clear understanding of the subject; and that the supposition which
has sometimes been advanced that Doctor Morton was necessarily indebted
to Doctor Jackson for a knowledge of the hypnotic effect of ether is
wholly gratuitous.
We will now quote directly from Doctor Warren's lecture on "The Influence
of Anaesthesia on the Surgery of the Nineteenth Century," delivered
before the American Surgical Association in 1897:
"Morton having acquainted himself by conversation with Mr. Metcalf and
Mr. Burnett, both leading druggists, as to purity and qualities of ether,
and having also conversed with Mr. Wightman, a philosophical instrument-
maker, and with Doctor Jackson as to inhaling apparatus, proceeded to
experiment upon himself. After inhaling the purer quality of ether from a
handkerchief he awoke to find that he had been insensible for seven or
eight minutes.
"The same day a stout, healthy man came to his office suffering from
great pain and desiring to have a tooth extracted. Dreading the pain, ho
accepted willingly Morton's proposal to use ether, and the tooth was
extracted without suffering. Morton reported his success the next day to
Jackson, and conversed with him as to the best methods of bringing his
discovery to the attention of the medical profession and the public.
Jackson pointed out that tooth-pulling was not a sufficient test, as many
people claimed to have teeth pulled without pain. It was finally decided
that the crucial test lay in a public demonstration in the operating
theatre of a hospital in a surgical case."
There is one statement in the above to which, according to our rules of
literary procedure, we feel obliged to take exception,--that is, the
statement concerning the interview between Morton and Jackson after the
successful administration of ether to Morton's patient. It is
substantially Doctor Jackson's own statement. Doctor Morton gave a wholly
different account before the Congressional Committee of 1852. He said:
"I went to Doctor Jackson, told him what I had done, and asked him
to give me a certificate that ether was harmless in its effects. This
he positively refused to do. I then told him I should go to the principal
surgeons and have the question thoroughly tried. _I then called on Doctor
Warren, who promised me an early opportunity to try the experiment, and
soon after I received the invitation...._"
Now as these are both _ex parte_ statements, and as there are no
witnesses on either side, according to the rule we have already
established, they will both have to be eliminated. [Footnote: The
Congressional Committee of 1852 did not find Doctor Jackson's report of
this interview trustworthy.] Doctor Morton, however, says previously that
it was Doctor Hayward with whom he consulted as to the best method of
bringing his discovery before the world.
In the consideration of this subject we come upon a man of rare
character--rare even, in his profession. Dr. John C. Warren was the
perfect type of an Anglo-Saxon surgeon. His courage and dexterity were
fully equalled by his kindness and sympathy for the patient. Cool and
collected in the most trying emergencies, it has been said of him that he
never performed a capital operation without feeling a pain in his heart;
and the evidence of this was marked upon his face, so that it is even
visible in the photographs of him. He deserved to have his portrait
painted by Rubens. In 1847 Dr. Mason Warren published a review of
etherization, in which he makes this important statement:
"In the autumn of 1846 Dr. W. T. G. Morton, a dentist in Boston, a person
of great ingenuity, patience, and pertinacity of purpose, called on me
several times to show some of his inventions. At that time I introduced
him to Dr. John C. Warren. Shortly after, in October, I learned from
Doctor Warren that Doctor Morton had visited him and informed him that he
was in possession of or had discovered a means of preventing pain, which
he had proved in dental operations, and wished Doctor Warren to give him
an opportunity in a surgical operation. After some questions on the
subject in regard to its action and the safety of it, Doctor Warren
promised that he would do so.... The operation was therefore deferred
until Friday, October 16, when the ether was administered by Doctor
Morton, and the operation performed by Doctor Warren."
It was eminently fitting that Dr. John C. Warren should be the one to
introduce painless surgery to the medical profession. Next to Morton he
deserves the highest credit for the revolution which it effected: a
glorious revolution, fully equal to that of 1688. His quick recognition
of Morton's character, and the confidence he placed in him as the man of
the hour, deserve the highest commendation. Doctor Warren had invited
Doctor Jackson to attend this critical experiment with sulphuric ether at
the Massachusetts Hospital; but he declined with the trite excuse that he
was obliged to go out of town. This has been generally interpreted by the
medical profession as a lack of courage on Jackson's part to face the
music, but it may also have been owing to his jealousy of Morton.
This happened October 16th, and on November 13th, Dr. C. T. Jackson wrote
to M. Elie de Beaumont, a member of the French Academy, this remarkable
"I request permission to communicate through your medium to the Academy
of Sciences a discovery which I have made, and which I believe important
for the relief of suffering humanity, as well as of great value to the
surgical profession. Five or six years ago I noticed the peculiar state
of insensibility into which the nervous system is thrown by the
inhalation of the vapor of pure sulphuric ether, which I respired
abundantly,--first by way of experiments, and afterwards when I had a
severe catarrh, caused by the inhalation of chlorine gas. I have latterly
made a useful application of this fact by persuading a dentist of this
city to administer the vapor of ether to his patients, when about to
undergo the operation of extraction of teeth. It was observed that
persons suffered no pain in the operation, and that no inconvenience
resulted from the administration of the vapor."
It was the opinion of Robert Rantoul and other members of the
Congressional Committee that Doctor Jackson suffered from a "heated and
disordered imagination," and that is the most charitable view that one
can take of such a letter as this. Whatever may have been the result of
Doctor Jackson's investigations with sulphuric ether, it is certain that
he added nothing to the scientific knowledge of his time in that respect;
[Footnote: Edinburgh Medical Journal, April 1, 1857.] and if he persuaded
Doctor Morton to make use of it, why was he not present to oversee his
subordinate? also, why did he make a charge on his books a few days later
against Doctor Morton of five hundred dollars for advice and information
concerning the application of ether? It is not customary to charge
subordinates for their service but to reward them. The two horns of this
dilemma are sharp and penetrating.
In a later memorial of the same general tenor, which Doctor Jackson
forwarded to Baron Humboldt, he stated that he had applied to other
dentists in Boston to make the experiment of etherization, but found them
unwilling to take the risk; but the names of the dentists have never been
made public, nor did any such appear afterwards to testify in Doctor
Jackson's behalf.
Still more remarkable was the action of the French Academy of Arts and
Sciences in these premises. The French Academy was founded by Richelieu,
but abolished in the first French Revolution, with so many other
enchanted phantasms. Napoleon re-established it, and gave it new life and
vigor by a discriminating choice of membership; but it is a close
corporation which renews itself by its own votes, and such a body of men
is always in danger of becoming a mutual admiration society, and if this
happens its public utility is at an end. In the present instance the
action of the French Academy was illogical, unscientific, and
mischievous.
Doctor Jackson's letter was brought before that august body on January
18, 1847, but previous to that time Doctor Warren had written to Doctor
Velpeau, an eminent French surgeon, concerning the success of
etherization at the Massachusetts Hospital, and suggesting the use of it
in the hospitals at Paris; and Doctor Velpeau referred to this fact at
the meeting of January 18th. The contents of this letter have never been
made public; but it is incredible that Doctor Jackson's claim should have
received any support from it. Nevertheless, the members of the French
Academy decided to divide one of the Mouthyon prizes (of five thousand
francs for great scientific discoveries) between Dr. W. T. G. Morton and
Elie de Beaumont's American friend, Dr. C. T. Jackson; and they
_conferred this particular favor on Dr. Jackson at his own
representation, without one witness in his favor, and without making an
inquiry into the circumstances of the discovery._ Could the Northfield
Academy of boys and girls have acted in a more heedless or unscientific
manner?
After the justice of this decision had been questioned, the French
Academy promulgated a defence of their previous action, of which the
essence was that the scientific theory of Doctor Jackson was as essential
to the discovery of etherization as the practical skill of Doctor Morton;
that is, they attempted to decide a matter of fact by an _a priori_
dogmatism. Was not the instruction that Doctor Morton received from the
dental college in Baltimore also essential to the discovery,--and to go
behind that,--what he learned at the primary school at Churiton? When
learning is divorced from reason it becomes mere pedantry or sublimated
ignorance, and is more dangerous to the community than unlettered
ignorance can be.
This blunder of the French Academy had evil consequences for both Morton
and Jackson; for it placed the latter in a false position towards the
world, and brought about a collision between them which not only lasted
during their lives, but was also carried on by their friends and
relatives long afterwards. It is doubtful if Jackson would have contested
Morton's claim without European support.
With true dignity of character Doctor Morton declined to divide the
Mouthyon prize with Doctor Jackson, and the French Academy accordingly
had a large gold medal stamped in his honor, and as this did not exhaust
the original donation, the remainder of the sum was expended on a highly
ornamental case. The trustees of the Massachusetts Hospital partly
subscribed and partly collected a thousand dollars which they presented
to Doctor Morton in a handsome silver casket. The King of Sweden sent him
the Cross of the Order of Wasa; and he also received the Cross of the
Order of St. Vladimir from the Tsar of Russia. He was only twenty-seven
years of age at this time.
The ensuing eight years of Morton's life were spent in a desperate effort
for recognition--recognition of the importance of his discovery and of
his own merits as the discoverer. No one can blame him for this. As
events proved, it would have been far better for him if he had finished
his course at the medical-school and set up his sign in the vicinity of
Beacon Street; but the wisest man can but dimly foresee the future.
Doctor Morton had every reason to believe that there was a fortune to be
made in etherization. He consulted Rufus Choate, who advised him to
obtain a patent or proprietary right in his discovery. Hon. Caleb Eddy
undertook to do this for him, and being supported by a sound opinion from
Daniel Webster, easily obtained it. Now, however, Morton's troubles
began.
He exempted the Massachusetts Hospital from the application of his
royalty, and it was only right that he should do so; but, unfortunately,
it was the only large hospital where etherization was regularly
practised. In order to extend its application Doctor Morton secured the
services of three young physicians, practised them in the use of the gas,
and paid them a thousand dollars each to go forth into the world as
proselytes of his discovery; but they met everywhere with a cold
reception, and were several times informed that if the Massachusetts
Hospital enjoyed the use of etherization, other hospitals ought to have
the same privilege; so that his enterprise proved of no immediate
advantage.
The Mexican War was now at its height, and Doctor Morton offered the use
of etherization to the government for a very small royalty, but his offer
was declined by the Secretary of War. He soon discovered, however, that
surgeons in the army and navy were making free use of it,--contrary to
law and the rights of men. Individuals all over the country--dentists and
surgeons--were doing the same thing; and it was more difficult to prevent
this than to execute the game-laws. For such an order of affairs the
decision of the French Academy was largely responsible, for if men only
find a shadow of right on the side of self-interest, they are likely
enough to take advantage of it.
Meanwhile Doctor Jackson, with a few friends and a large body of
Homoeopaths who acted in opposition to the regulars of the Massachusetts
Hospital, kept up a continual fusillade against Doctor Morton; but this
did him little harm, for early in 1847 the trustees of the hospital
decided, by a unanimous vote, that the honor of discovering etherization
properly belonged to him.
Doctor Jackson questioned the justice of this decision, and applied for a
reconsideration of the subject. Whereupon the subject was reconsidered
the following year, and the same verdict rendered as before. Doctor
Jackson then carried his case to the Boston Academy of Arts and Sciences,
when Professor Agassiz asked him the pertinent question: "But, Doctor
Jackson, did you make one little experiment?" adding drily, after
receiving a negative reply: "It would have been better if you had."
It is to be regretted that Doctor Jackson should have attacked Doctor
Morton's private life (which appears to have been fully as commendable as
his own), and also that R. W. Emerson should have entered the lists in
favor of his brother-in-law. In one of his later books Emerson designates
Doctor Jackson as the discoverer of etherization. This was setting his
own judgment above that of the legal and medical professions, and even
above the French Academy; but Emerson had lived so long in intuitions and
poetical concepts that he was not a fairly competent person to judge of a
matter of fact. It is doubtful if he made use of the inductive method of
reasoning during his life.
Doctor Morton sought legal advice in regard to the infringement of his
patent rights; but he found that legal proceedings in such cases were
very expensive, and was counselled to apply to Congress for redress and
assistance. This seemed to him a good plan, for if he could exchange his
rights in etherization for a hundred thousand dollars, he would be
satisfied; but in the end it proved a Nessus shirt to strangle the life
out of him. He soon found that Congress could not be moved by a sense of
justice, but only by personal influence. He gave up his business in
Boston and went to Washington with his family, but this soon exhausted
his slender resources. Knowing devils informed him that if he wished to
obtain a hundred thousand dollars from the government he would have to
expend fifteen or twenty thousand in lobbying, but the idea of this was
hateful to him, and he declined to make the requisite pledges.
The winter of 1850 and of 1851 passed without result, until finally in
December of the latter year, Bissel, of Illinois, made a speech in Doctor
Morton's favor, calling attention to the fact that the government had
been pirating his patent, and proposing that the subject be referred to a
committee. Robert Rantoul seconded the motion, and the step was taken. It
was considered better for the chances of success that the proposition
should come from a Western man.
This committee continued its meeting throughout the winter and made a
thorough-going examination of the question before it. The frankness and
plain character of Doctor Morton's testimony is much in his favor, and
the description he gave of his own proceedings previous to the first
operation in the Massachusetts Hospital show how hard he wrestled with
his discovery,--wrestled like Jacob of old,--working half the night with
an instrument-maker to devise a suitable apparatus for inhalation. Doctor
Jackson and Horace Wells also presented their claims to the committee and
were respectfully considered.
The report of this committee is a valuable document,--a study for young
lawyers in the sifting of evidence,--and of itself a severe criticism on
the judgment of the French Academy, which it considered at too great a
distance to judge fairly of the circumstances attending the advent of
painless surgery. The committee decided unanimously that Doctor Wells did
not carry his experiments far enough to reach a decided result; that
Doctor Jackson's testimony was contradictory and not much to be depended
on; and that the credit of discovering painless surgery properly
appertained to Dr. W. T. G. Morton. They recommended an appropriation of
a hundred thousand dollars to be given to Doctor Morton in return for the
free use of etherization by the surgeons of the army and navy.
A hundred thousand dollars was little enough. The British Government paid
thirty thousand pounds as a gratuity for the discovery of vaccination;
and more recently a poor German student made a much larger sum by the
invention of a drug which has since fallen into disuse. Half a million
would not have been more than Morton deserved, and a hundred thousand
might have been bestowed on Wells.
Doctor Morton must have thought now that the clouds were lifting for him
at last; but they soon settled down darker than ever. The committee's
report was only printed towards the close of the session, and Congress,
gone rabid over the Presidential election, neglected to consider it.
Neither did it take further action the following winter. A year later a
bill was introduced in the Senate for Doctor Morton's relief, and was
ably supported by Douglas, of Illinois, and Hale, of New Hampshire. It
passed the Senate by a small majority, but was defeated by the "mud-gods"
of the House--defeated by men who were pilfering the national treasury in
sinecures for their relatives and supporters. In the history of our
government I know of nothing more disgraceful than this,--except the
exculpation of Brooks for his assault on Sumner.
Doctor Morton was a ruined man. His slender means had long since been
exhausted, and he had been running in debt for the past two or three
years, as Hawthorne did at the old manse. Even his house at Wellesley was
mortgaged. His business was gone, and his health was shattered. He felt
as a man does in an earthquake. The government could not have treated him
more cruelly unless it had put him to death.
It was now, as a final resort, that he went to see President Pierce,
always a kindly man, except where Kansas affairs were concerned; and
Pierce advised him to bring a suit for infringement of his rights against
a surgeon in the navy. Doctor Morton found a lawyer who was willing to
take the risk for a large share of the profits, and gained his case. His
house was saved, but he returned to Wellesley poorer than when he came to
Boston to seek his fortune, a youth of eighteen.
There was great indignation at the Massachusetts Hospital when the result
of Doctor Morton's case before Congress was known there, and soon after
his return an effort was made to raise a substantial testimonial for him.
That noble-hearted physician, Dr. Henry I. Bowditch, interested himself
so conspicuously in this that Doctor Morton named his youngest son for
A similar effort was made by the medical profession in New York city, and
a sufficient sum obtained to render Doctor Morton moderately comfortable
during the remainder of his earthly existence, and to educate his eldest
son.
Doctor Morton's health was too much shattered for professional work now,
and he resigned himself to his fate. He raised cattle at Wellesley, and
imported fine cattle as a healthful out-of-door occupation. In the autumn
of 1862 he joined the Army of the Potomac as a volunteer surgeon, and
applied ether to more than two thousand wounded soldiers during the
battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and the Wilderness. At the
same time Senator Wil- [*printer's error--double line and missing text]
revive the gratuity for Morton in Congress, but the decision of the French
Academy was in men's minds, and a vicious precedent proved stronger than
I saw Doctor Morton for the last time about nine months before his death;
and the impression his appearance made on me was indelible. He was
walking in the path before his house with his eldest daughter, and he
seemed like the victim of an old Greek tragedy--a noble Oedipus who had
solved the Sphynx's riddle, attended by his faithful Antigone.
In July, 1868, a torrid wave swept over the Northern States which carried
off many frail and delicate persons in the large cities, and Doctor
Morton was one of those who suffered from it. He happened to be in New
York City at the time, and went to Central Park to escape the feeling of
suffocation which oppressed him, but never returned alive. He now lies in
Mount Auburn Cemetery, with a modest monument over his grave erected by
his Boston friends, with this epitaph composed by Dr. Jacob Bigelow:
WILLIAM T. G. MORTON
INVENTOR AND REVEALER OF ANAESTHETIC INHALATION BY WHOM, PAIN IN SURGERY
WAS ARRESTED AND ANNULLED BEFORE WHOM, IN ALL TIME, SURGERY WAS AGONY
SINCE WHOM, SCIENCE HAS CONTROL OF PAIN
Doctor Morton was a self-made man, but not a rough diamond,--rather one
of Nature's gentlemen. The pleasant urbanity of his manner was so
conspicuous that no person of sensibility could approach him without
being impressed by it. His was a character such as those who live by
academic rules would be more likely to misjudge than to comprehend.
The semi-centennial of painless surgery was celebrated, in 1896, in
Boston, New York, London, and other cities, and the credit of its
discovery was universally awarded to William T. G. Morton. About the same
time it happened that the Massachusetts State House was reconstructed,
and William Endicott, as Commissioner, and a near relative of Robert
Rantoul, had Morton's name emblazoned in the Hall of Fame with those of
Franklin, Morse, and Bell. This may be said to have decided the
controversy; but, like many another benefactor of mankind, Doctor
Morton's reward on earth was a crown of thorns.
LEAVES FROM A ROMAN DIARY
(Rewritten in 1897)
As I look out of P----'s windows on the Via Frattina every morning at
the plaster bust of Pius IX., I like his face more and more, and feel
that he is not an unworthy companion to George Washington and the young
Augustus. [Footnote: Three busts in a row.] I think there may be
something of the fox, or rather of the _crow_, in his composition,
but his face has the wholeness of expression which shows a sound and
healthy mind,--not a patchwork character. I was pleased to hear that he
was originally a liberal; and the first, after the long conservative
reaction of Metternich, to introduce reforms in the states of the Church.
The Revolution of 1848 followed too quickly, and the extravagant
proceedings of Mazzini and Garibaldi drove him into the ranks of the
conservatives, where he has remained ever since. Carlyle compared him to
a man who had an old tin-kettle which he thought he would mend, but as
soon as he began to tinker it the thing went to pieces in his hands. The
Revolution of 1848 proved an unpractical experiment, but it opened the
way for Victor Emanuel and a more sound liberalism in 1859.
We attended service at the Sistine Chapel yesterday in company with two
young ladies from Philadelphia, who wore long black veils so that Pius
IX. might not catch the least glimpse of their pretty faces. I was
disappointed in my hope of obtaining a view of the Pope's face. Cardinal
Bonaparte sat just in front of us, a man well worth observing. He looks
to be the ablest living member of that family, and bears a decided
resemblance to the old Napoleon. His features are strong, his eyes keen,
and he wears his red cap in a jaunty manner on the side of his head. When
the blessing was passed around the conclave of Cardinals, Bonaparte
transferred it to his next neighbor as if he meant to put it through him.
It is supposed that he will be the successor of Pius IX.; but, as Rev.
Samuel Longfellow says, that will depend very much upon whether Louis
Napoleon is alive at the time of the election.
The singing in the Sistine Chapel is not worth listening to, besides
having unpleasant associations; so during the service we had an excellent
opportunity to study Michael Angelo's Last Judgment--for there was
nothing else to be done.
Kugler considers the picture an inharmonious composition, and that
nothing could be more disagreeable than the stout figure of St.
Bartholomew holding a flaying knife in one hand and his own mortal hide
in the other. This is not a pleasant spectacle; but Michael Angelo did
not paint for other people's pleasure, but rather to satisfy his own
conscience. It was customary to introduce St. Bartholomew in this manner,
for there was no other way in which he could be identified. We found the
towering form of St. Christopher on the left side of the Saviour rather
more of an eyesore than St. Bartholomew, whose expression of awe
partially redeems his appearance.
The Saviour has a herculean frame, but his face and head are magnificent.
He has no beard, and his hair is arranged in festoons which gives the
impression of a wreath of grape leaves. The expression of his face is the
noblest I have seen in any work of art in Rome; the face that has risen
through suffering; calm, compassionate, immutable. The Madonna seems like
a girl beside this stalwart form, and she draws close to her son with
naive timidity at the vast concourse which crowds about them. Her face is
expressive of resignation and compassion rather than any joyful feeling.
The left side of this vast painting, in which the bodies of men and women
are rising from their graves, is less interesting than the right side,
where the saints and blessed are gathered together above and the sinners
are hurled down below. Michael Angelo's saints and apostles look like
vigorous men of affairs, and are all rather stout and muscular. The
attitudes of some of them are by no means conventional, but they are
natural and unconstrained. St. Peter, holding forth the keys, is a
magnificent figure. The group of the saved who are congregated above the
saints is the pleasantest portion of the picture. Here Damion and Pythias
embrace each other; a young husband springs to greet the wife whom he
lost too early; a poor unfortunate to whom life was a curse is timidly
raising his eyes, scarcely believing that he is in paradise; men with
fine philosophic heads converse together; and a number of honest serving-
women express their astonishment with such gestures as are customary
among that class of persons.
In the lunettes above, wingless angels are hovering with the cross, the
column, and other instruments of Christ's agony, which they clasp with a
loving devotion. In the lower right-hand corner, Charon appears (taken
from pagan mythology) with a boat-load of sinners, whom he smites with
his oar according to Dante's description. He is truly a terrible demon,
and his fiery eyes gleam across the length of the chapel. Minos, who
receives the boat-load in the likeness of Biagio da Cesena, the pope's
master of ceremonies, is another to match him. A modern fop with banged
hair is stepping from the boat to the shore of hell. This is said to be
the best painted portion of the picture,--most life-like and free from
mannerism. It is a mighty work, and too little appreciated, like many
other works of art, chiefly owing to the critics, who do not understand
it, and write a lingo of their own which is not easy to make out and does
not come to much after all. [Footnote: All this shows what a heart there
was in Michael Angelo, and dissipates the assertion of a recent English
biographer that Michael Angelo painted masks instead of faces, with
little or no expression.]
After the service we went into St. Peter's with the ladies, and walked
the whole circuit of the church. Our ladies talked meanwhile exactly as
they might at an American watering-place, without apparently observing
anything about them. When we came to the statue of St. Peter, P---- said,
pointing to the big toe: "You see there the mischief that can be done by
too much kissing." Nearly a third of the toe has been worn away by the
oscular applications of the faithful.
_Feb_. 4.--Dr. B. B. Appleton, an American resident of Florence, is
here on a flying visit. We have heard from many sources of the kindness
of this man to American travellers, especially to young students. In
fact, he took P---- into his house while at Florence, and entertained him
in the most generous manner. He has done the same for Mrs. Julia Ward
Howe and many others. He lives with an Italian family who were formerly
in the service of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, and who were ruined by the
recent change of rulers. Dr. Appleton boards with them, and helps to
support them in other ways. In spite of his goodness he does not seem to
One of his chief friends in Florence is Fraulein Assig, who was banished
from Prussia together with her publisher for editing Von Humboldt's
memoirs, which were perhaps too severely critical of the late king of
Prussia. The book, however, had an excellent sale, and she now lives
contentedly in Florence, where she is well acquainted both with prominent
liberals and leading members of the government. Dr. Appleton reports that
a cabinet officer lately said to her, "We may move to Rome at any time."
Louis Napoleon is the main-stay of the papacy, and the only one it has.
The retrocession of Venetia to Italy has separated Austria effectually
from the states of the Church, and the Spaniards are too much taken up
with their internal affairs to interfere at present in the pope's behalf.
Napoleon's health is known to be delicate, and prayers for his
preservation are offered up daily in Roman churches. If he should die
before his son comes of age great political changes may be looked for.
Meanwhile murmurs of discontent are heard on all sides. The city is
unclean and badly cared for. The civil offices are said to be filled
mainly with _nephews_ of cardinals and other prelates. Even Italians
of the lower classes know enough of political economy to foresee that if
Rome was the capital of Italy it would be more prosperous than it is at
present. The value of land would rise, and all the small trades would
flourish. This is what is really undermining the power of Pius IX. A most
curious sign of the times is the general belief among the Roman populace
that the Pope has an evil eye. How long since this originated I have not
been able to learn; but it is not uncommon for those who chance to see
the pope in his carriage, especially women, to go immediately into the
nearest church for purification. A few days since the train from Rome to
Florence ran into a buffalo, and the locomotive was thrown off the track.
Even this was attributed to the fact that the engineer had encountered
the pope near the Quirinal the previous Sunday.
Dr. Appleton told us a story at dinner about the youth of Louis Napoleon.
His Florentine housekeeper, Gori, remembers Hortense and her two sons
very distinctly; for Louis once met him in the Boboli Gardens and
insisted on his smoking a cigar, in order to laugh at him when it had
made him sick,--as it was Gori's first experience with tobacco. He also
says that on one occasion when the young princes had some sort of a feast
together, the others all gave the caterer from five to ten francs as a
_pour-boir_, but Louis Napoleon gave him a twenty-franc piece. When
his companions expressed their surprise at this Louis said: "It is only
right that I should do so, for some day I shall be Emperor."
As a rule few Italian men attend church. The women go; but the men, if
not heretical, are at least rather indifferent, on the subject of
religion. Macaulay refers to this fact in his essay on Macchiavelli, and
Dr. Appleton, who has lived among them, knows it to be true. To make
amends for it, English and American ladies are returning to the fold of
St. Peter in large numbers; and many of them bring their male relatives
eventually with them. I believe this to be largely a matter of fashion.
They have always accepted the Protestant creed as a matter of course, and
coming here, where they are separated from all previous associations,
they find themselves out of tune with their surroundings. They feel
lonely, as all travellers do at times, and being in need of sympathy are
easily impressed by those about them. Most of them have Catholic maids,
who often serve as stepping-stones to the acquaintance of the priest.
Conversion gives them a kind of importance, which Catholic ladies of rank
know how to make the most of. The external grandeur of Catholicism as we
see it here has also its due influence.
_Feb. 9._--I was greatly disgusted last evening while calling on two
New England ladies, who were formerly my schoolmates, to have a pompous
priest walk in and take possession of the parlor, spoiling my pleasant
_tete-a-tete_. He sat in the middle of the room like a pail of
water, and stared about in the most ill-mannered way. My friends remarked
that he was the _abbate_ of the Pantheon, and he inquired if I had
been to see it; to which I replied that I had, and that I considered it
the noblest building in Rome. This seemed to be a new idea to him, and
one which he did not altogether like. Not long since I came upon a priest
drinking wine with some young artists, and laughing at jokes for which a
stage-driver might be ashamed. There are fine exceptions among them, but
as a class they appear to me coarse and even vicious,--by no means
spiritually attractive. Monks are not attractive either, but in their way
they are much more interesting. Religion seems to be meat and drink to
P---- and I were invited to dine by an American Catholic lady who was
formerly a friend of Margaret Fuller, and who having been incautiously
left in Rome by her husband, embraced Catholicism before he was fairly
across the Atlantic,--to his lasting sorrow and vexation. Being in an
influential position she has made many converts, and it is said that she
has come to Rome on the present occasion to be sainted by the pope. She
has already loaned P---- a biography of Father Lacordaire, which he has
not had leisure to read. He referred to it, as soon as politeness
permitted, with a shrewd inquiry as to whether the book did not give
rather a rose-colored view of practical Catholicism. Mrs. X---- turned to
her daughters and said with all imaginable sweetness: "Just hear him,--
the poor child!" Then she went off into a long, eloquent, and really
interesting discourse on the true, sole, and original Christian Church.
She admitted, however, that during the sixteenth century the Christian
faith had much fallen into decay, and that Martin Luther was not to be
blamed for his exhortations against the evil practices of popes and
cardinals. Now that the Church had been reformed it was altogether
different. She told us how she became converted. It came to her like a
vision on a gloomy winter day, while she was looking into the embers of a
wood-fire.
Then she talked about Margaret Fuller, whom she called the most brilliant
woman she had ever known. She had never loved another woman so much; but
it was a dangerous love. If she wrote a rather gushing letter to
Margaret, she would receive in reply, "How could you have written so
beautifully! You must have been inspired." This, she said, had all the
effect of flattery without being intended for it, and was so much the
more mischievous. "Emerson and Margaret Fuller," said Mrs. X----, "put
inspiration in the place of religion. They believed that some people had
direct communication with the Almighty." P---- and I thought this might
be true of Miss Fuller, but doubted it in Emerson's case.
Miss X---- told me that she had lately ascended to the rotunda of the
Capitol, from which the pope's flag flies all day, and that she had asked
the Swiss guard what he would do if she hoisted the tricolor there. He
replied: "I should shoot you." Nothing could be more kind or truly
courteous than the manner in which these ladies treated us.
Another distinguished convert here is Mrs. Margaret Eveleth, a rare,
spirituelle woman, who was born within a mile of my father's house. She
was formerly a Unitarian, but soon became a Catholic on coming to Rome.
While she was in process of transition from one church to the other she
wrote a number of letters to her former pastor in New York, requesting
information on points of faith. Not one of these letters was ever
answered, and it is incredible to suppose that they would not have been
if he had received them. It is highly probable that they never left Rome.
I have myself been warned to attach my stamps to letters firmly, so that
they may not be stolen in passing through the Post-office. Postage here
is also double what it is in Florence.
_Feb_. 12.--I have been looking for some time to find a good picture
of Marcus Aurelius, and have generally become known among Roman
photographers as the man who wants the _Marc Aureli_. This morning I
had just left my room when I discovered Rev. Samuel Longfellow in a
photograph shop in the Via Frattina. "I was just coming to see you," he
said; "and I stopped here to look for a photograph of Marcus Aurelius."
He laughed when I told him that I had been on the same quest, and
suggested that we should walk to the Capitol together and look at the
statue and bust of our favorite emperor. "I think he was the greatest of
the Romans," said Mr. Longfellow, "if not the noblest of all the
ancients."
So we walked together--as we never shall again--through the long Corso
with its array of palaces, past the column of Aurelius and the fragments
of Trajan's forum, until we reached the ancient Capitol of Rome,
rearranged by Michael Angelo. Here we stood before the equestrian statue
of Marcus Aurelius, and considered how it might be photographed to
advantage. "I do not think," said Rev. Mr. Longfellow, "that we can
obtain a satisfactory picture of it. The face is too dark to be
expressive, and it is the man's face that I want; and I suppose you do
also."
I asked him how he could explain the creation of such a noble statue in
the last decline of Greek art; he said he would not attempt to explain it
except on the ground that things do not always turn out as critics and
historians would have them. It was natural that the arts should revive
somewhat under the patronage of Hadrian and the Antonines.
We went into the museum of the Capitol to look for the bust of the young
Aurelius, which shone like a star (to use Homer's expression) among its
fellows, but we discovered from the earth-stains on portions of it why
the photographers had not succeeded better with it. We decided that our
best resource would be to have Mr. Appleton's copy of it photographed,
and Rev. Mr. Longfellow agreed to undertake the business with me in the
forenoon of the next day.
The busts of the Roman emperors were interesting because their characters
are so strongly marked in history. The position would seem to have made
either brutes or heroes of them. Tiberius, who was no doubt the natural
son of Augustus, resembles him as a donkey does a horse. Caligula, Nero,
and Domitian had small, feminine features; Nero a bullet-head and sensual
lips, but the others quite refined. During the first six years of Nero's
reign he was not so bad as he afterwards became; and I saw an older bust
of him in Paris which is too horrible to be looked at more than once.
Vespasian has a coarse face, but wonderfully good-humored; and Titus,
called "the delight of mankind," looks like an improvement on Augustus.
The youthful Commodus bears a decided resemblance to his father, and
there is no indication in his face to suggest the monster which he
finally became.
Early in the next forenoon I reached the Hotel Costanzi in good season
and inquired for the Rev. Mr. Longfellow. He soon appeared, together with
Mr. T. G. Appleton, who was evidently pleased at my interest in the young
Aurelius, and remarked that it was a more interesting work than the young
Augustus. The bust had been sent to William Story's studio to be cleaned,
and thither we all proceeded in the best possible spirits.
We found a photographer named Giovanni Braccia on the floor a
_piano_ above Mr. Story; and after a lengthy discussion with him, in
which Mr. Longfellow was the leading figure, he agreed to take the
photographs at two napoleons a dozen. [Footnote: These pictures proved to
be fine reproductions, and are still to be met with in Boston and
Cambridge parlors.] When the bust was brought in Mr. Longfellow called my
attention to the incisions representing pupils in the eyes, which he said
were a late introduction in sculpture, and not generally considered an
improvement. After this Mr. Appleton called to us to come with him to the
studio of an English painter in the same building, whose name I cannot
now recollect. He was the type of a graceful, animated young artist, and
had just finished a painting representing ancient youths and maidens in a
procession with the light coming from the further side, so that their
faces were mostly in shadow, with bright line along the profile,--an
effect which it requires skill to render.
On returning to the street we looked into Mr. Story's outer room again,
where the casts of all his statues were seated in a double row like
persons at a theatre. Mr. Appleton was rather severe in his criticism of
them, though he admitted that the Cleopatra (which I believe was a
replica) had a finely modulated face.
_Feb._ 15.--Warrington Wood invited P---- and myself to lunch with
him in his studio, and at the appointed time a waiter appeared from the
_Lapre_ with a great tin box on his shoulder filled with spaghetti,
roast goat, and other Italian dishes. We had just spread these on a table
in front of the clay model of Michael and Satan, when Wood's marble-
cutter rushed in to announce the King and Queen of Naples. Wood hastily
threw a green curtain over the dishes, while P---- and I retreated to the
further end of the room.
The Queen of Naples is a fine-looking and spirited person, still quite
young, and talks English well. She conversed with Wood and asked him a
number of questions about his group, and also about the stag-hound, Eric,
that was standing sentinel. The King said almost nothing, and moving
about as if he know not what to do with himself, finally backed up
against the table where our lunch was covered by the green cloth. I think
he had an idea of sitting down on it, but the dishes set up such a
clatter that he beat a hasty retreat. The King did not move a muscle of
his countenance, but the Queen looked around and said something to him in
Italian, laughing pleasantly. She is said to be friendly to Americans and
is quite intimate with Miss Harriet Hosmer. She is at least a woman of
noble courage, and when Garibaldi besieged Naples she went on to the
ramparts and rallied the soldiers with the shells bursting about her.
They subscribed themselves in Wood's register under the name of Bourbon,
and after their departure we found our lunch cold, but perhaps we
relished it better for this visitation of royalty. Then we all went to
the carnival, where an Italian _lazzaroni_ attempted to pick Wood's
pocket, but was caught in the act and soundly kicked by Wood.
This was the most entertaining event of the afternoon. The best part of
the carnival was the quantity of fresh flowers that were brought in from
the country and sold at very moderate prices. P---- distinguished himself
throwing bouquets to ladies in the balconies. It is said that he has an
admirer among them. For the first hour or so I found it entertaining
enough, but after that I became weary of its endless repetition. Eighty
years since Goethe, seated in one of these balconies, was obliged to ask
for paper and pencil to drive away _ennui_, as he afterwards
confessed. The carnival now is almost entirely given up to the English
and Americans; while many of the lower class of Italians mix in it
disguised in masks and fancy dresses. Four masked young women greeted us
with confetti and danced about me on the sidewalk. One tipped up my hat
behind and another whispered a name in my ear which I did not suppose was
known in Europe. I have not yet discovered who they were.
_Feb_. 19.--I have had the pleasure of dining with that remarkable
woman and once distinguished actress, Miss Charlotte Cushman. Her nephew
was consul at Rome, appointed by William II. Seward, who was one of her
warmest American friends. She is still queen of the stage, and of her own
household, and unconsciously gives orders to the servants in a dramatic
manner which is sometimes very amusing. So it was to hear her sing,
"Mary, call the cattle home," as if she were sending for the heavy
artillery. She impresses me, however, as one of the most genuine of
womankind; and her conversation is delightful,--so sympathetic,
appreciative, full of strong good sense, and fresh original views. She
has small mercy on newly-converted Catholics. "The faults of men," she
said, "are chiefly those of strength, but the faults of my own sex arise
from weakness." I happened to refer to Mr. Appleton's bust of Aurelius,
and she said she was surprised he had purchased it, for it did not seem
to her a satisfactory copy; a conclusion that I had been slowly coming to
myself. She has a bronze replica of Story's "Beethoven" which, like most
of his statues, is seated in a chair, and a rather realistic work, as
Miss Cushman admitted. I judged from the conversation at table that she
is not treated with full respect by the English and American society
here, although looked upon as a distinguished person. The reason for this
may be more owing to the social position of her relatives than her former
profession. Mrs. Trelawney, the wife of Byron's eccentric friend, spoke
of her to me a few days ago in terms of the highest esteem. She is a
great-hearted woman, and her presence would be a moral power anywhere.
There is snobbishness enough in Rome--English, American, and Italian.
Doolittle, who is the son of a highly respectable New York lawyer, went
to the hunt last week, as he openly confessed, to give himself
distinction. A young lady was thrown from her horse, and he was the first
person to come to her assistance. She thanked him for it at the time, but
two days afterwards declined to recognize his acquaintance. This was
probably because he was an artist, or rather sets up for one, for he is
more like a gentleman of leisure.
MY LAST VISIT TO THE LONGFELLOWS.
The Longfellow party will soon depart for Naples, and I went to the
Costanzi to make my final call. Mr. Henry W. Longfellow was alone in his
parlor cutting the leaves of a large book. He said that his brother had
gone to the Pincion with the ladies, but would probably return soon.
Everything this man says and does has the same grace and elevated tone as
his poetry. I took a chair and pretty soon he said to me, "How do you
like your books, Mr. S----? For my part, I prefer to cut the leaves of a
book, for then I feel as if I had earned the right to read it." I replied
that I liked books with rough edges if they were printed on good paper;
and then he said, "See this remarkable picture."
I drew my chair closer to him, and he showed me a large colored chart of
Hell and Purgatory, according to the theory that prevailed in Dante's
time. Satan with his three faces was represented in the centre, and on
the other side rose the Mount of Purgatory.
"It is an Italian commentary," he said, "on the _Divina Commedia_,"
which had been sent to him that day; and he added that some of the
information in it was of a very curious sort.
I asked him if he could read Italian as easily as English. "Very nearly,"
he replied; "but the fine points of Italian are as difficult as those of
German."
He inquired how I and my friends spent our evenings in Rome, and I said,
"In all kinds of study and reading, but just now P---- was at work on
Browning's 'Ring and the Book.'"
Mr. Longfellow laughed. "I do not wonder you call it work," he said. "It
seems to me a story told in so many different ways may be something of a
curiosity--not much of a poem." [Footnote: I have since observed that
poets as a class are not fair critics of poetry; for they are sure to
prefer poetry which is like their own. This is true at least of Lowell,
Emerson, or Matthew Arnold; but when I came to read "The Ring and the
Book" I found that Longfellow's objection was a valid one.]
I remarked that Rev. Mr. Longfellow had a decided partiality for
Browning. "Yes," he said; "Sam likes him, and my friend John Weiss
prefers him to Tennyson. My objection is to his diction. I have always
found the English language sufficient for my purpose, and have never
tried to improve on it. Browning's 'Saul' and 'The Ride from Ghent to
Aix' are noble poems."
"Carlyle also," I said, "has a peculiar diction." "That is true," he
replied, "but one can forgive anything to a writer who has so much to
tell us as Carlyle. Besides, he writes prose, and not poetry."
He took up a photograph which was lying on the table and showed it to me,
saying, "How do you like Miss Stebbins's 'Satan'?" I told him I hardly
knew how to judge of such a subject. Then we both laughed, and Mr.
Longfellow said: "I wonder what our artists want to make Satans for. I
doubt if there is one of them that believes in the devil's existence."
I noticed on closer examination that the features resembled those of Miss
Stebbins herself. Mr. Longfellow looked at it closely, and said, "So it
does,--somewhat." Then I told him that I asked Warrington Wood how he
obtained the expression for his head of Satan, and that he said he did it
by looking in the glass and making up faces. Mr. Longfellow laughed
heartily at this, saying, "I suppose Miss Stebbins did the same, and that
is how it came about. Our sculptors should be careful how they put
themselves in the devil's place. Wood has modelled a fine angel, and his
group (Michael and Satan) is altogether an effective one."
Rev. Mr. Longfellow and the ladies now came in, and as it was late I
shook hands with them all.
It is reported that when Mr. Longfellow met Cardinal Antonelli he
remarked that Rome had changed less in the last fifteen years than other
large cities, and that Antonelli replied, "Yes; God be praised for it!"
_Feb._ 25.--The elder Herbert [Footnote: The elder of two brothers,
sons of an English artist.] has painted a fine picture, and we all went
to look at it this afternoon, as it will be packed up to-morrow for the
Royal Exhibition at London. He has chosen for his subject the verse of a
Greek poet, otherwise unknown:
"Unyoke your oxen, you fellow,
And take the coulter out of your plough;
For you are ploughing amid the graves of men,
And the dust you turn up is the dust of your ancestors."
Herbert has substituted buffalos for oxen as being more picturesque,
though they were not imported into Italy until some time in the Middle
Ages. It is generally predicted that Herbert will become an R. A. like
his father; but the subject is even more to his credit than his treatment
of it. It is discussed at the _Lapre_ whether this verse has been
equalled by Tennyson or Longfellow, and the conclusion was: "Not proven."
_March_ 1.--The Longfellows are gone, and Rome is filling up with a
different class of people who have come here to witness the fatiguing
spectacles of Easter. One look at Michael Angelo's "Last Judgment" would
be worth the whole of it to me.
P---- is said to have captured his young lady, and it seems probable, for
I see very little of him now. He disappears after breakfast, rushes
through his dinner, and returns late in the evenings. So all the world
CENTENNIAL CONTRIBUTIONS
THE ALCOTT CENTENNIAL
_Read at the Second Church, Copley Square, Boston, Wednesday, November
29, 1899_
A hundred years ago A. Bronson Alcott was born, and thirty-three years
later his daughter Louisa was born, happily on the same day of the year,
as if for this very purpose,--that you might testify your appreciation of
the good work they did in this world, at one and the same moment. It was
a fortunate coincidence, which we like to think of to-day, as it
undoubtedly gave pleasure to Bronson Alcott and his wife sixty-seven
years ago.
How genuine were Mr. Alcott and his daughter, Louisa! "All else," says
the sage, "is superficial and perishable, save love and truth only." It
is through the love and truth that was in these two that we still feel
their influence as if they were living to-day. How well I recollect Mr.
Alcott's first visit to my father's house at Medford, when I was a boy! I
had the same impression of him then that the consideration of his life
makes on me now,--as an exceptional person, but one greatly to be
trusted. I could see that he was a man who wished well to me, and to all
mankind; who had no intention of encroaching on my rights as an
individual in any way whatever; and who, furthermore, had no suspicion of
me as a person alien to himself. The criticism made of him by my young
brother held good of him then and always,--that "he looked like one of
Christ's disciples." His aspect was intelligently mild and gentle,
unmixed with the slightest taint of worldly self-interest.
He heard that Goethe had said, "We begin to sin as soon as we act;" but
he did not agree to this, and was determined that one man at least should
live in this world without sinning. He carried this plan out so
consistently that, as he once confessed to me, it brought him to the
verge of starvation. Then he realized that in order to play our part in
the general order of things,--in order to obviate the perpetual tendency
in human affairs to chaos,--we are continually obliged to compromise.
However, to the last he would never touch animal food. Others might
murder sheep and oxen, but he, Bronson Alcott, would not be a partaker in
what he considered a serious transgression of moral law. This brought him
into antagonism with the current of modern opinion, which considers man
the natural ruler of this earth, and that it is both his right and his
duty to remodel it according to his ideas of usefulness and beauty.
It brought him into a life-long conflict with society, but how gallantly,
how amiably he carried this on you all know. It cannot be said that he
was defeated, for his spirit was unconquerable. His purity of intention
always received its true recognition; and wherever Bronson Alcott went he
collected the most earnest, high-minded people about him, and made them
more earnest, more high-minded by his conversation.
How different was his daughter, Louisa,--the keen observer of life and
manners; the witty story-teller with the pictorial mind; always
sympathetic, practical, helpful--the mainstay of her family, a pillar of
support to her friends; forgetting the care of her own soul in her
interest for the general welfare; heedless of her own advantage, and
thereby obtaining for herself as a gift from heaven, the highest of all
advantages, and the greatest of all rewards!
And yet, with so wide a difference in the practical application of their
lives, the well-spring of Louisa's thought and the main-spring of her
action were identical with those of her father, and may be considered an
inheritance from him. For the well-spring of her thought was
_truth_, and the main-spring of her action was _love_. There
can be no fine art, no great art, no art which is of service to mankind,
which does not originate on this twofold basis. We are told that when she
was a young girl, on a voyage from Philadelphia to Boston, her face
suddenly lighted up with the true brightness of genius, as she said, "I
love everybody in this whole world!" If, afterwards, a vein of satire
came to be mingled with this genial flow of human kindness, it was not
Louisa's fault.
In like manner, Bronson Alcott rested his argument for immortality on the
ground of the family affections. "Such strong ties," he reasoned, "could
not have been made merely to be broken." Let us share his faith, and
believe that they have not been broken.
THE EMERSON CENTENNIAL
EMERSON AND THE GREAT POETS
_Read in the Town Hall, Concord, Mass., July_ 23, 1903
On his first visit to England, Emerson was so continually besieged with
invitations that, as he wrote to Carlyle, answering the notes he received
"ate up his day like a cherry;" and yet I have never met but one
Englishman, Dr. John Tyndall, the chemist, who seemed to appreciate
Emerson's poetry, and few others who might be said to appreciate the man
himself. Tyndall may have recognized Emerson's keen insight for the
poetry of science in such verses as:
"What time the gods kept carnival;
Tricked out in gem and flower;
And in cramp elf and saurian form
They swathed their too much power."
A person who lacks some knowledge of geology would not be likely to
understand this. Matthew Arnold and Edwin Arnold had no very high opinion
of Emerson's poetry; and even Carlyle, who was Emerson's best friend in
Europe, spoke of it in rather a disparaging manner. The "Mountain and the
Squirrel" and several others have been translated into German, but not
those which we here consider the best of them.
On the other hand, Dr. William H. Furness considered Emerson "heaven-high
above our other poets;" C. P. Cranch preferred him to Longfellow; Dr. F.
H. Hedge looked upon him as the first poet of his time; Rev. Samuel
Longfellow and Rev. Samuel Johnson held a very similar opinion, and David
A. Wasson considered Emerson's "Problem" one of the great poems of the
century.
These men were all poets themselves, though they did not make a
profession of it, and in that character were quite equal to Matthew
Arnold, whose lecture on Emerson was evidently written under unfavorable
influences. They were men who had passed through similar experiences to
those which developed Emerson's mind and character, and could therefore
comprehend him better than others. We all feel that Emerson's poetry is
sometimes too abstruse, especially in his earlier verses, and that its
meaning is often too recondite for ready apprehension; but there are
passages in it so luminous and so far-reaching in their application that
only the supreme poets of all time have equalled them.
Homer's strength consists in his pictorial descriptions, but also
sometimes in pithy reflections on life and human nature; and it is in
these latter that Emerson often comes close to him. Most widely known of
Homer's epigrams is that reply of Telemachus to Antiochus in the Odyssey,
which Pope has rendered:
"True hospitality is in these terms expressed,
Welcome the coming, speed the parting guest."
To which the following couplet from "Woodnotes" seems almost like a
continuation:
"Go where he will, the wise man is at home,
His hearth the earth,--his hall the azure dome;"
The wise man carries rest and contentment in his own mental life, and is
equally himself at the Corona d'Italia and on a western ranch; while the
weakling runs back to earlier associations like a colt to its stable. But
Homer is also Emersonian at times. What could be more so than Achilles's
memorable saying, which is repeated by Ulysses in the Odyssey: "More
hateful to me than the gates of death is he who thinks one thing and
speaks another;" or this exclamation of old Laertes in the last book of
the Odyssey: "What a day is this when I see my son and grandson
contending in excellence!"
It seems a long way from Dante to Emerson, and yet there are Dantean
passages in "Woodnotes" and "Voluntaries." They are not in Dante's
matchless measure, but they have much of his grace, and more of his
inflexible will. This warning against mercenary marriages might be
compared to Dante's answer to the embezzling Pope Nicholas III. in Canto
XIX. of the Inferno:
"He shall be happy in his love,
Like to like shall joyful prove;
He shall be happy whilst he woos,
Muse-born, a daughter of the Muse.
But if with gold she bind her hair,
And deck her breast with diamond,
Take off thine eyes, thy heart forbear,
Though thou lie alone on the ground.
The robe of silk in which she shines,
It was woven of many sins;
And the shreds
Which she sheds
In the wearing of the same,
Shall be grief on grief,
And shame on shame."
There is a Spartan-like severity in this, but so was Dante very severe.
It was his mission to purify the moral sense of his countrymen in an age
when the Church no longer encouraged virtue; and Emerson no less
vigorously opposed the rank materialism of America in a period of
exceptional prosperity.
The next succeeding lines are not exactly Dantean, but they are among
Emerson's finest, and worthy of any great poet. The "Pine Tree" says:
"Heed the old oracles,
Ponder my spells;
Song wakes in my pinnacles
When the wind swells.
Soundeth the prophetic wind,
The shadows shake on the rock behind,
And the countless leaves of the pine are strings
Tuned to the lay the wood-god sings."
Again we are reminded of Dante in the opening passages of "Voluntaries":
"Low and mournful be the strain,
Haughty thought be far from me;
Where a captive lies in pain
Moaning by the tropic sea.
Sole estate his sire bequeathed--
Hapless sire to hapless son--
Was the wailing song he breathed,
And his chain when life was done."
It is still more difficult to compare Emerson with Shakespeare, for the
one was Puritan with a strong classic tendency, and the other anti-
Puritan with a strong romantic tendency; but allowing for this and for
Shakespeare's universality, it may be affirmed that there are few
passages in King Henry IV. and Henry V. which take a higher rank than
Emerson's description of Cromwell:
"He works, plots, fights 'mid rude affairs,
With squires, knights, kings his strength compares;
Till late he learned through doubt and fear,
Broad England harbored not his peer:
Unwilling still the last to own,
The genius on his cloudy throne."
Emerson learned a large proportion of his wisdom from Goethe, as he
frequently confessed, but where in Goethe's poetry will you find a
quatrain of more penetrating beauty or wider significance than this from
"Woodnotes":
"Thou canst not wave thy staff in air
Nor dip thy paddle in the lake,
But it carves the bow of beauty there,
And ripples in rhyme the oar forsake."
Or this one from the "Building of the House"--considered metaphorically
as the life structure of man:
"She lays her beams in music,
In music every one,
To the cadence of the whirling world
Which dances round the sun."
There is a flash as of heaven's own lightning in some of his verses, and
his name has become a spell to conjure with.
THE HAWTHORNE CENTENNIAL
HAWTHORNE AS ART CRITIC
When the "Marble Faun" was first published the art criticism in it,
especially of sculptors and painters who were then living, created a deal
of discussion, which has been revived again by the recent centennial
celebration. Hawthorne himself was the most perfect artist of his time as
a man of letters, and the judgment of such a person ought to have its
value, even when it relates to subjects which are beyond the customary
sphere of his investigations, and for which he has not made a serious
preparation. In spite of the adage, "every man to his own trade," it may
be fairly asserted that much of Hawthorne's art criticism takes rank
among the finest that has been written in any language. On the other
hand, there are instances, as might be expected, in which he has failed
to hit the mark.
These latter may be placed in two classes: Firstly, those in which he
indicates a partiality for personal acquaintances; and secondly, those in
which he has followed popular opinion at the time, or the opinion of
others, without sufficient consideration.
American society in Rome is always split up into various cliques,--which
is not surprising in view of the adventitious manner in which it comes
together there,--and in Hawthorne's time the two leading parties were the
Story and the Crawford factions. The latter was a man of true genius, and
not only the best of American sculptors, but perhaps the greatest
sculptor of the nineteenth century. His statue of Beethoven is in the
grand manner, and instinct with harmony, not only in attitude and
expression, but even to the arrangement of the drapery. Crawford's genius
was only too well appreciated, and he was constantly carrying off the
prizes of his art from all competitors. Consequently it was inevitable
that other sculptors should be jealous of him, and should unite together
for mutual protection. Story was a man of talent, and not a little of an
amateur, but he was the gentlemanly entertainer of those Americans who
came to the city with good letters of introduction. Hawthorne evidently
fell into Story's hands. He speaks slightingly of Crawford, and praises
Story's statue of Cleopatra in unqualified terms; and yet there seems to
have been an undercurrent of suspicion in his mind, for he says more than
once in the "Marble Faun" that it would appear to be a failing with
sculptors to speak unfavorably of the work of other sculptors, and this,
of course, refers to those with whom he was acquainted, and whom he
sometimes rated above their value.
Warrington Wood, the best English sculptor of thirty years ago, praised
Story's "Cleopatra" to me, and I believe that Crawford also would have
praised it. Neither has Hawthorne valued its expression too highly--the
expression of worldly splendor incarnated in a beautiful woman on the
tragical verge of an abyss. If she only were beautiful! Here the
limitations of the statue commence. Hawthorne says: "The sculptor had not
shunned to give the full, Nubian lips, and other characteristics of the
Egyptian physiognomy." Here he follows the sculptor himself, and it is
remarkable that a college graduate like William Story should have made so
transparent a mistake. Cleopatra was not an Egyptian at all. The
Ptolemies were Greeks, and it is simply impossible to believe that they
would have allied themselves with a subject and alien race. This kind of
small pedantry has often led artists astray, and was peculiarly virulent
during the middle of the last century. The whole figure of Story's
"Cleopatra" suffers from it. He says again: "She was draped from head to
foot in a costume minutely and scrupulously studied from that of ancient
Egypt." In fact, the body and limbs of the statue are so closely shrouded
as to deprive the work of that sense of freedom of action and royal
abandon which greets us in Shakespeare's and Plutarch's "Cleopatra."
Story might have taken a lesson from Titian's matchless "Cleopatra"
in the Cassel Gallery, or from Marc Antonio's small woodcut of
Raphael's "Cleopatra."
Hawthorne was an idealist, and he idealized the materials in Story's
studio, for literary purposes, just as Shakespeare idealized Henry V.,
who was not a magnanimous monarch at all, but a brutal, narrow-minded
fighter. The discourse on art, which he develops in this manner, forms
one of the most valuable chapters in the "Marble Faun." It assists us in
reading it to remember that Story was not the model for Hawthorne's
"Kenyon," but a very different character. The passage in which he
criticises the methods of modern sculptors has often been quoted in later
writings on that subject; and I suppose the whole brotherhood of artists
would rise up against me if I were to support Hawthorne's condemnation of
nude Venuses and "the guilty glimpses stolen at hired models."
They are not necessarily guilty glimpses. To an experienced artist the
customary study from a naked figure, male or female, is little more than
what a low-necked dress would be to others. Yet the instinct of the age
shrinks from this exposure. We can make pretty good Venuses, but we
cannot look at them through the same mental and moral atmosphere as the
cotemporaries of Scopas, or even with the same eyes that Michael Angelo
did. We feel the difference between a modern Venus and an ancient one.
There is a statue in the Vatican of a Roman emperor, of which every one
says that it ought to wear clothes; and the reason is because the face
has such a modern look. A raving Bacchante may be a good acquisition to
an art museum, but it is out of place in a public library. A female
statue requires more or less drapery to set off the outlines of the
figure and to give it dignity. We feel this even in the finest Greek
work--like the Venus of Cnidos.
In this matter Hawthorne certainly exposes his Puritanic education, and
he also places too high a value on the carving of buttonholes and
shoestrings by Italian workmen. Such things are the fag-ends of statuary.
His judgment, however, is clear and convincing in regard to the tinted
Eves and Venuses of Gibson. Whatever may have been the ancient practice
in this respect, Gibson's experiment proved a failure. Nobody likes those
statues; and no other sculptor has since followed Gibson's example.
Hawthorne overestimates the Apollo Belvidere, as all the world did at
that time; but his single remark concerning Canova is full of
significance: "In these precincts which Canova's genius was not quite of
a character to render sacred, though it certainly made them interesting,"
He goes to the statue gallery in the Vatican and returns with a feeling
of dissatisfaction, and justly so, for the vast majority of statues there
are merely copies, and many of them very bad copies. He recognizes the
Laocoon for what it really is, the abstract type of a Greek tragedy. He
notices what has since been proved by severe archaeological study, that
most of the possible types and attitudes of marble statues had been
exhausted by the Greeks long before the Christian era. Miss Hosmer's
Zenobia was originally a Ceres, and even Crawford's Orpheus strongly
resembles a figure in the Niobe group at Florence.
But Hawthorne's description of the Faun of Praxiteles stands by itself.
As a penetrative analysis of a great sculptor's motive it is unequalled
by any modern writer on art, and this is set forth with a grace and
delicacy worthy of Praxiteles himself. The only criticism which one feels
inclined to make of it is that it _too_ Hawthornish, too modern and
elaborate; but is not this equally true of all modern criticism? We
cannot return to the simplicity of the Greeks any more than we can to
their customs. If Hawthorne would seem to discover too much in this
statue, which is really a poor Roman copy, he has himself given us an
answer to this objection. In Volume II., Chapter XII., he says: "Let the
canvas glow as it may, you must look with the eye of faith, or its
highest excellence escapes you. There is always the necessity of helping
out the painter's art with your own resources of sensibility and
imagination." His cursory remarks on Raphael are not less pertinent and
penetrating. Of technicalities he knew little, but no one, perhaps, has
sounded such depths of that clairvoyant master's nature, and so brought
to light the very soul of him.
The "Marble Faun" may not be the most perfect of Hawthorne's works, but
it is much the greatest,--an epic romance, which can only be compared
with Goethe's "Wilhelm Meister."
HAWTHORNE AND HAMLET.
_A Reply to Professor Bliss Perry._
To compare a person in real life with a character in fiction is not
uncommon, but it is more conducive to solidity of judgment to compare the
living with the living, and the imaginary with the imaginary. The chief
difficulty, however, in Hamlet's case, is that he only appears before us
as a person acting in an abnormal mental condition. The mysterious death
of his father, the suspicion of his mother's complicity in crime, which
takes the form of an apparition from beyond the grave, is too much of a
strain for his tender and impressible nature. His mental condition has
become well known to physicians as _cerebral hyperaemia_, and all
his strange speeches and eccentric actions are to be traced to this
source; and it is for this reason that the dispute has arisen as to
whether Hamlet was not partially insane. If the strain continued long
enough he would no doubt have become insane.
As well as we can penetrate through this adventitious _nimbus_, we
discover Hamlet to be a person of generous, princely nature, high-minded
and chivalrous. He is cordial to every one, but always succeeds in
asserting the superiority of his position, even in his conversation with
Horatio. If he is mentally sensitive he shows no indication of it. He
never appears shy or reserved, but on the contrary, confident and even
bold. This may be owing to the mental excitement under which he labors;
but the best critics from Goethe down have accredited him with a lack of
resolution; and it is this which produces the catastrophe of the play. He
must have realized, as we all do, that after the scene of the players in
which he "catches the conscience of a king," his life was in great
danger. He should either have organized a conspiracy at once, or fled to
the court of Fortinbras; but he allows events to take their course, and
is controlled by them instead of shaping his own destiny. Instead of
planning and acting he philosophizes.
Of Hawthorne, on the contrary, we know nothing except as a person in a
perfectly normal condition. His wife once said that she had rarely known
him to be indignant, and never to lose his temper. He was the most
sensitive of men, but he also possessed an indomitable will. It was only
his terrible determination that could make his life a success. Emerson,
who had little sympathy with him otherwise, always admired the perfect
equipoise of his nature. A man could not be more thoroughly himself; but,
such a reticent, unsociable character as Hawthorne could never be used as
the main-spring of a drama, for he would continually impede the progress
of the plot. A dramatic character needs to be a talkative person; one
that either acts out his internal life, or indirectly exposes it.
Hawthorne's best friends do not appear to have known what his real
opinions were. This perpetual reserve, this unwillingness to assimilate
himself to others, may have been necessary for the perfection of his art.
The greater a writer or an artist, the more unique he is,--the more
sharply defined from all other members of his class. Hawthorne certainly
did not resemble Scott, Dickens, or Thackeray, either in his life or his
work. He was perhaps more like Auerbach than any other writer of the
nineteenth century, but still more like Goldsmith. The "Vicar of
Wakefield" and the "House of the Seven Gables" are the two perfect
romances in the English tongue; and the "Deserted Village," though
written in poetry, has very much the quality of Hawthorne's shorter
sketches. "And tales much older than the ale went round" is closely akin
to Hawthorne's humor; yet there was little outward similarity between
them, for Goldsmith was often gay and sometimes frivolous; and although
Hawthorne never published a line of poetry he was the more poetic of the
two, as Goldsmith was the more dramatic. He also resembled Goldsmith in
his small financial difficulties.
In his persistent reserve, in the seriousness of his delineation, and in
his indifference to the opinions of others, Hawthorne reminds us somewhat
of Michael Angelo; but he is one of the most unique figures among the
world's geniuses. |
Cognitive Instructions
Fern Gully
Australian Capital Territory Sharepoint Work On Document At The Same Time
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Introduction to Workflows in SharePoint Foundation
SharePoint and Teams Better Together Microsoft Tech. Enable Several People to Edit a Document Simultaneously MS Word to grant control each time. people can make changes to the same document in turn., One of the great capabilities of SharePoint is the ability for multiple users to work on the same document at the same time (also know as co-authoring)..
Resolving conflicts and OneDrive for Business sync problems
sharepoint Prevent Concurrent Editing of a List Item. 7/06/2016 · document libraries to work for your team. At the same time, ," try out the new document libraries in SharePoint Online and give us, With Office and OneDrive or SharePoint, multiple people can work When everyone is working at the same time, If there are others editing the same document,.
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20/12/2010В В· Microsoft MVP Award Program Blog so multiple editors can work on the same slide at the same time and a document that is sitting on a SharePoint 9/04/2013В В· New tools in Microsoft Office let you coedit documents in real time, can work on the document at the same time, hosted SharePoint and Lync
14/09/2012 · Word document for multiple users only one person can have control of the document at a time. more than one person editing the same file. 7/06/2016 · document libraries to work for your team. At the same time, ," try out the new document libraries in SharePoint Online and give us
One of the great capabilities of SharePoint is the ability for multiple users to work on the same document at the same time (also know as co-authoring). 7/06/2016 · document libraries to work for your team. At the same time, ," try out the new document libraries in SharePoint Online and give us
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The package of available features is absolutely the same for part placed on a SharePoint Document Library page or as an download only 100 MB at one time. "If you store an Excel file in a document library (via Office 365 SharePoint working in the same file at the same time with changes would work, until I
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... Skype for Business for real-time communication, and SharePoint to or documents and other content. They work Document conversation. The same Ultimate guide to SharePoint size and usage limitations. editing one document at the same time. that number, it may be time to rethink how you do work.
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Simultaneously edit a document with other To edit the document at the same time, You save the document to OneDrive or SharePoint Online, so others can work in 14/06/2012В В· Viewed - Yes, Edited - No. The inability of multiple users to edit a document at the same time is a limitation of Word and Excel, not SharePoint.
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In Sharepoint MOSS multiple users can edit the same item in a sharepoint list at the same time Prevent Concurrent Editing of a List Not a document in a 9/02/2014В В· hi, in office 2013 professional plus, can 2 user edit 1 word document at the same time? В· Hi, As far as I know, multiple users can not edit Word file in
With Office and OneDrive or SharePoint, multiple people can work When everyone is working at the same time, If there are others editing the same document, 11/02/2009В В· Both have been assigned to the same folder in SharePoint. I have tested both individually and they work The other every time a document changes
Multiple workflows can run simultaneously on the same running on the same item at the same time. SharePoint Workflow document library in the farm is 9/02/2014В В· hi, in office 2013 professional plus, can 2 user edit 1 word document at the same time? В· Hi, As far as I know, multiple users can not edit Word file in
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SharePoint and Teams Better Together Microsoft Tech. 14/06/2012В В· Viewed - Yes, Edited - No. The inability of multiple users to edit a document at the same time is a limitation of Word and Excel, not SharePoint., General rule: The newer, the better. Office 2013 allows multiple users to work on the same document at the same time, provided it is saved in a locatio.
Migrating to Office 365 Real Time Collaboration Sharegate. With Office and OneDrive or SharePoint, multiple people can work When everyone is working at the same time, If there are others editing the same document,, 20/12/2010В В· Microsoft MVP Award Program Blog so multiple editors can work on the same slide at the same time and a document that is sitting on a SharePoint.
sharepoint Prevent Concurrent Editing of a List Item
Migrating to Office 365 Real Time Collaboration Sharegate. Co-authoring Excel Documents Simultaneously. at the same time as another user! If you then try to edit the document in Excel, General rule: The newer, the better. Office 2013 allows multiple users to work on the same document at the same time, provided it is saved in a locatio.
14/09/2012В В· Word document for multiple users only one person can have control of the document at a time. more than one person editing the same file. Multiple workflows can run simultaneously on the same running on the same item at the same time. SharePoint Workflow document library in the farm is
I recently fielded a question from a potential client who wanted to know if Microsoft SharePoint or Google Docs with Google can work on same document same time. How can I share an excel document with my team to edit? you guys have to edit the document one at a time it doesn't work when the doc is in SharePoint.
The Ribbon in SharePoint 2010 displays many of the same document document libraries is that you can work document at a time, SharePoint 2010 Simultaneously edit a document with other To edit the document at the same time, You save the document to OneDrive or SharePoint Online, so others can work in
28/09/2016В В· Is it possible to have multiple users working on the same document offline/online at the same time? If so, what happens when they upload/save, does 16/10/2014В В· , Is it possible to work on the same document from a local network on the same Office (2013) document at the same time? on "SharePoint Online" tough, but
I recently fielded a question from a potential client who wanted to know if Microsoft SharePoint or Google Docs with Google can work on same document same time. 28/09/2016В В· Is it possible to have multiple users working on the same document offline/online at the same time? If so, what happens when they upload/save, does
SharePoint has, for a long time now, been a highly successful document management system. We work with many companies who have been using it as a central store and Enable Several People to Edit a Document Simultaneously MS Word to grant control each time. people can make changes to the same document in turn.
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The Ribbon in SharePoint 2010 displays many of the same document document libraries is that you can work document at a time, SharePoint 2010 Multiple workflows can run simultaneously on the same running on the same item at the same time. SharePoint Workflow document library in the farm is
SharePoint has, for a long time now, been a highly successful document management system. We work with many companies who have been using it as a central store and "If you store an Excel file in a document library (via Office 365 SharePoint working in the same file at the same time with changes would work, until I
Co-authoring Excel Documents Simultaneously. at the same time as another user! If you then try to edit the document in Excel, Microsoft Office 2016 has improved their collaboration features so multiple authors can work on a document in real time. How to Collaborate on Documents in Real
Migrating to Office 365 Real Time Collaboration Sharegate
Work at the Same Time in Word The LockerGnome Daily Report. 9/02/2014В В· hi, in office 2013 professional plus, can 2 user edit 1 word document at the same time? В· Hi, As far as I know, multiple users can not edit Word file in, Multiple workflows can run simultaneously on the same running on the same item at the same time. SharePoint Workflow document library in the farm is.
Resolving conflicts and OneDrive for Business sync problems. The first step towards a more efficient collaboration is to work on the same feature within SharePoint document the document at the same time., 25/03/2016В В· It allows you to publish a certain document work to SharePoint. Two or more users can use the same document and even make changes at the same time..
With Office and OneDrive or SharePoint, multiple people can work When everyone is working at the same time, If there are others editing the same document, Multiple workflows can run simultaneously on the same running on the same item at the same time. SharePoint Workflow document library in the farm is
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22/08/2018В В· At one time, people would share people make changes in a document stored on a allows multiple users to work on versions of the same spreadsheet in One of the great capabilities of SharePoint is the ability for multiple users to work on the same document at the same time (also know as co-authoring).
22/08/2018В В· At one time, people would share people make changes in a document stored on a allows multiple users to work on versions of the same spreadsheet in 15/12/2007В В· Does Microsoft have a Word product that allows you two people to open up the same document and edit it at the same time? thank you,
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One of the great capabilities of SharePoint is the ability for multiple users to work on the same document at the same time (also know as co-authoring). 11/02/2009В В· Both have been assigned to the same folder in SharePoint. I have tested both individually and they work The other every time a document changes
28/09/2016В В· Is it possible to have multiple users working on the same document offline/online at the same time? If so, what happens when they upload/save, does 5/06/2014В В· Download Discover SharePoint: download guides from Official Microsoft Download Center. See how to edit documents together at the same time,
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Document co-authoring in SharePoint 2013 is somewhat Document co-authoring improves productivity by allowing multiple users to work on a document at the same time. One of the great capabilities of SharePoint is the ability for multiple users to work on the same document at the same time (also know as co-authoring).
SharePoint comes with great co-authoring features, whereby multiple employees can work on the same document, at the same time. In big organizations, where there are 17/11/2018В В· How do you share an excel workbook so two people can work on it at the same time?
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In Sharepoint MOSS multiple users can edit the same item in a sharepoint list at the same time Prevent Concurrent Editing of a List Not a document in a 12/09/2013 · Word: Comparing two documents You have two versions of the same document and I don't know if these methods work on documents stored in SharePoint.
SharePoint has, for a long time now, been a highly successful document management system. We work with many companies who have been using it as a central store and The package of available features is absolutely the same for part placed on a SharePoint Document Library page or as an download only 100 MB at one time.
One of the great capabilities of SharePoint is the ability for multiple users to work on the same document at the same time (also know as co-authoring). The Ribbon in SharePoint 2010 displays many of the same document document libraries is that you can work document at a time, SharePoint 2010
SharePoint has, for a long time now, been a highly successful document management system. We work with many companies who have been using it as a central store and SharePoint comes with great co-authoring features, whereby multiple employees can work on the same document, at the same time. In big organizations, where there are
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General rule: The newer, the better. Office 2013 allows multiple users to work on the same document at the same time, provided it is saved in a locatio Enable Multiple People to Edit a Document Enable Multiple People to Edit a Document at the Same Time. There's no failsafe way to work with master documents,
Multiple users working on the same document at. Screenshot below shows an example of a Word document, opened in the browser, though same the documents have to reside in either SharePoint work with the files, Microsoft Office 2016 has improved their collaboration features so multiple authors can work on a document in real time. How to Collaborate on Documents in Real.
How does co-authoring of documents work in SharePoint?. 20/12/2010В В· Microsoft MVP Award Program Blog so multiple editors can work on the same slide at the same time and a document that is sitting on a SharePoint, In Sharepoint MOSS multiple users can edit the same item in a sharepoint list at the same time Prevent Concurrent Editing of a List Not a document in a.
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If you work on several different documents at a time, How to Open Multiple Word Documents at Once. Selecting files on the "Open" dialog box is the same as 25/03/2016 · It allows you to publish a certain document work to SharePoint. Two or more users can use the same document and even make changes at the same time.
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Simultaneously edit a document with other To edit the document at the same time, You save the document to OneDrive or SharePoint Online, so others can work in Enable Several People to Edit a Document Simultaneously MS Word to grant control each time. people can make changes to the same document in turn.
15/12/2007В В· Does Microsoft have a Word product that allows you two people to open up the same document and edit it at the same time? thank you, 15/12/2007В В· Does Microsoft have a Word product that allows you two people to open up the same document and edit it at the same time? thank you,
14/05/2018В В· Skype for Business for real-time communication, and SharePoint to or documents and other content. They work documents, are all in the same I recently fielded a question from a potential client who wanted to know if Microsoft SharePoint or Google Docs with Google can work on same document same time.
SharePoint has, for a long time now, been a highly successful document management system. We work with many companies who have by multiple users at the same time. SharePoint comes with great co-authoring features, whereby multiple employees can work on the same document, at the same time. In big organizations, where there are
Enable Several People to Edit a Document Simultaneously MS Word to grant control each time. people can make changes to the same document in turn. Staff can also work together, It allows many people to work on documents at the same time. SharePoint can be an on-premises, cloud based or hybrid solution.
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Teen Dies After Falling From Rocket Butte
A Portland teenager has died after a big tumble down Rocky Butte. Austin Fisher, 16, died at Legacy Emanuel Hospital where they were trying to treat his critical injuries sustained in the fall, officials said. The boy fell an estimated 80 feet off a cliff on the east side of the butte. "Another by passer found the young gentlemen who was around 16 years old, unconscious and then called 911. When fire crews transported him out as fast as they could. Paul Corah with Portland Fire said the boy was goofing around with his buddies when he fell. This appears to be an accident he says. Corah adds this was the third fall this year from Rocky Butte. Last June, a 19-year-old woman was rescued after she fell while hiking. And back in May, a climber from Austria fell about 50 feet and died. |
Every year the smartphones market surprises, and for 2023, there are already rumors that could be positive. Time to remember what happened most notably and project what is to come.
Looking at what can happen in the smartphone market, we can expect a lot of evolution, but little revolutionary news, at least not according to the rumors of December 2022.
Without a doubt, the primary function of a cell phone is its portability. Being able to perform different tasks in a device that can be easily transported. Similar to the tablet, which still has a larger screen, ideal for media consumption.
Check out what you can find on the cell phones present in stores or even inside your pocket next year on our list of expectations for smartphones in 2023.
We Reached 200 MP; Now What?
In 2022 we saw the first smartphone with a 200 MP sensor reach the market with the Motorola Edge 30 Ultra. Despite the high number in the sensor size, in practice, it was impossible to see so much difference between the 200 MP photos about the 120 MP lenses from other high-end devices.
The trend is that the new 2023 devices, in addition to having 200 MP sensors, reach the market by taking better advantage of such a wide sensor through post-processing and better-built cameras. Another specification that appeared well in 2022 and is even more present in 2023 smartphones is the hybrid camera between ultrawide and macro thanks to the autofocus capable of working even at small distances from the framed object.
Bigger Batteries Or Better Management Of Power Consumption?
In 2021, batteries exceeded the 6000 mAh and 7000 mAh marks, incredible values, which deliver autonomy of more than two days for less intense users who also demand more powerful chargers and thicker smartphones. In 2022, batteries returned to more conventional levels, averaging 5,000 mAh.
By 2023, batteries will likely remain 5,000 mAh or, at most, 6,000 mAh, with the ability to provide good autonomy and, combined with faster chargers, generate a combination that does not interfere with the user's life.
End Of HD Screen Among Entry-Level Devices?
If a specification is already working overtime on the market, it is the HD resolution on the screen of the virtual devices. We know that, usually, the novelties in the smartphone markets are launched in the most powerful devices of each manufacturer and are gradually being implemented in the other intermediate smartphones and later in the basic ones. As it is difficult to find an intermediate device with an HD screen, as most have Full HD resolution, HD will also become rarer on basic screens.
We cannot expect the same from IPS screens, which, in addition to making smartphone manufacturing cheaper, also have their virtues. In a few more years, we can find OLED screens also in the simplest smartphones.
iPhone With USB-C Port (Finally)
Even against its own will, the pressure exerted by the European Union has paid off, and Apple must implement the already consolidated USB-C port in all Android devices in its smartphones. By determining USB-C as the standard port for electronic devices in all countries that make up the bloc, the Union may have accelerated a movement that was already likely to happen at Apple.
The manufacturer has already officially announced that it will adopt the USB-C standard in the continent from the date stipulated by the European Parliament, which is until the end of 2024, so that all electronics sold in the region have USB-C as a universal connector. Although the possible iPhone 15 has the standard port, Apple has yet to confirm whether the change will be made in all markets it operates or only in those where it was forced.
Also Read: Galaxy S22 Success Surpasses The Previous Generation
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A 20-year veteran of technology deployment, data management, and mobile apps, Drew was the former VP of Strategy Services at Mashery and is an alumnus of salesforce.com Europe, BroadVision, and United Technologies. He is also the co-founder of CloudInsure, and frequently advises companies on various big data and mobile strategies via the consulting platform, www.apinomic.com.
As a data strategist since the 1990's, Drew has worked with various companies including American Express, Coca-Cola, Klout, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, PRIMEDIA, NYT, Kout, Foursquare, Google, Blue Cross, the GSA, and the US Army. He also serves in advisory functions for emerging start-ups such as RideScout and APX-Labs.
A West Point (BS) and Yale (MBA) graduate, Drew has been part of the World Economic Forum's Future of the Internet initiative since 2009, and he is a frequent writer / speaker on technology trends, assessing their impact on business models, human relationships, and the quality of life for the next generation of society. Over 75 publications have featured his work and commentary. Drew works in NYC and lives in Connecticut with his wife, Araceli, and three children, all of whom are faithful co-founders of the lettrs platform to revive, restore, and reinvent personal letter writing for the Digital Age. To the cloud we go. |
Concert Stampede Leaves Six Dead, Over 50 Injured
Six concert-goers, including five teenagers, have been killed following a stampede at an Italian rap concert.
The Sfera Ebbasta concert, which took place in the Italian town of Corinaldo's Blue Lantern disco, descended into panic after someone in the crowd unleashed an irritant spray, according to survivors.
Video footage from Italian news programme RaiNews24 shows members of the crowd rushing towards the disco exit.
Authorities claim that the concert organisers sold too many tickets for the space, with Ancona province's Chief Prosecutor Monica Garulli stating that 1,400 tickets were sold, but the disco is only able to hold an estimate of 870 people.
Premier Giuseppe Conte added that though the Blue Lantern disco features three rooms, only one was used for the concert itself - and it is estimated to hold approximately 470 people in total.
"The government must ask itself what to do so that such tragedies never happen again," said Conte.
One survivor was questioned by RaiNews24 as she left hospital about the stampede. "Whatever it was, it left me and others unable to breathe," she commented. "People started to panic."
Rapper Sfera Ebbasta has commented on Twitter that he is "deeply pained" by the tragedy, adding, "Stop and think how dangerous and stupid it is to use pepper spray in a discotheque."
Italian President Sergio Mattarella has demanded a full investigation into the incident.
"Citizens have the right to safety wherever they are, in workplaces as well as places of entertainment," said Mattarella. |
Alicia M. Todd Ph.D. - Alicia M. Todd Ph.D.
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I believe in a collaborative approach to psychotherapy. My clients and I are partners in their treatment. My style is interactive. My background is primarily in the area of cognitive behavioral therapy, however, my years in practice have demonstrated the importance of integrating biological, social, and spiritual aspects into treatment. I have expertise in mood disorders, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, substance abuse disorders and trauma and abuse.
Alicia Todd, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Falls Church, Virginia. She has studied and practiced meditation for over 25 years. Alicia understands the importance of integrating the psychological, biological, social, and spiritual aspects of our lives in order to live our fullest potential.
The National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology, the Virginia Psychological Association, and the Northern Virginia Academy of Clinical Psychologists.
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I, Cyborg: The UK Interested in Making its Soldiers 'Superhuman'
By Keelan Balderson February 25, 2022
Shocking UK Ministry of Defense report advocates human augmentation for warfighting purposes
The Detail has reviewed the disturbing dimensions of a report on human augmentation recently issued by the UK Ministry of Defense's Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre.
Drawn up in conjunction with Germany's Bundeswehr Office for Defense Planning, the document starts by noting that while "significant thought" has been given to the implications of "advances in life sciences" for "artificial intelligence, automation and robotics," comparatively little has been dedicated to "what this means from a human perspective."
The MoD considers this a grave shortcoming, for "our potential adversaries will not be governed by the same ethical and legal considerations that we are," and are allegedly "already developing human augmentation capabilities." As such, "establishing advantage in this field" is of paramount urgency.
"Advances in artificial intelligence, robotics and autonomy mean that human processing power, speed of action and endurance are being rapidly outpaced by machines," the report states. "People are defense's most valuable asset but also a key vulnerability; people get hungry, tired, scared and confused. Machines on the other hand are incapable of these things…The role of people is being challenged in three key areas: data, complexity and speed…Human augmentation is the missing part of this puzzle."
The implication of this view of people is that the legal and ethical considerations apparently holding back the MoD's vital work should be scrapped. People are just too weak to deserve the protections of legal rights preventing the military from implanting tech in their bodies to 'augment' them.
The report proceeds to delve deeply into a wide array of augmentation options, including wearable tech, psychedelic drugs, gene editing and engineering, exoskeletons, sensory augmentation devices, and invasive implants such as "brain interfaces." Bizarrely, it likens such sinister, sci-fi-reminiscent applications to "augmentation" such as "humans [adorning] themselves with decorative garments to increase their social standing."
Overwhelmingly too, the focus is on the theoretical positives of augmentation. Even a section noting that, "if not effectively regulated by law, such areas of inconsistency and/or ambiguity create the potential for individual privacy to be breached through what could come to be known as 'under-skin' surveillance methods," is negated mere pages later by a passage seemingly advocating augmenting soldiers "against their will," on the basis they could be "guilty of disobeying a lawful command" if they refused.
Accordingly, discussion of the hazards inherent in human augmentation is vanishingly rare in the report, beyond brief references to how "bioinformatic data, implants and wearables will create vulnerabilities that could be exploited by malign actors," the "electromagnetic signature" of devices such as exoskeletons "could be easily detected" on a battlefield, and "implanted technologies" or "data-reliant human augmentation" could be "disrupted at a moment of an adversaries [sic] choosing."
These prospective pratfalls are fairly severe failings, one might think, particularly given implanted brain-related tech could be hacked into, raising the horrifying prospect of someone's mind and body being infiltrated and hijacked by sinister external actors.
Naturally, the MoD does not consider itself to be a "malign actor," and the report argues such hacking to be a far lesser threat to that of "surrendering influence, prosperity and security" to countries more willing to experiment, invest and innovate in the field.
This cavalier approach extends also to ethical considerations regarding human augmentation. The report characterizes such concerns as "significant but not insurmountable," on the basis that getting bogged down in trifling moral debates on the topic would result in "the ethics of human augmentation [being] decided for us" by other states. Indeed, "the imperative to use human augmentation may ultimately not be dictated by any explicit ethical argument, but by national interest."
That is to say, if the MoD simply ignores ethical concerns and limitations, and adopts human augmentation regardless, ethical arguments become a moot point. Quite the vicious circle.
"National regulations dictating the pace and scope of scientific research reflect societal views, particularly in democracies that are more sensitive to public opinion. The future of human augmentation should not, however, be decided by ethicists or public opinion," the paper ominously states.
The analysis goes even further, demanding that Western governments not only adopt, but optimize their use of human augmentation, stating, "governments will need to develop a clear policy position that maximizes the use of human augmentation in support of prosperity, safety and security."
The Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre (DCDC) goes so far as to argue augmenting people may in itself be a "moral obligation…particularly in cases where it promotes well-being or protects us from novel threats," suggesting in fact that augmentation could even "controversially" produce "moral enhancement" of humans and personally "to prevent malicious activity."
If it looks like a dystopian nightmare, walks like a dystopian nightmare, and quacks like a dystopian nightmare, then it's probably a report from the MoD.
The DCDC's entry for the Philip K Dick award furthermore notes approvingly that "ethical perspectives on human augmentation will change and this could happen quickly," recording how "creating genetically modified humans has been widely considered unacceptable for many years and is formally prohibited in over 40 countries," but there are welcome indications this stance "is being challenged by the advent of new technologies." No doubt the British state would also be eager and able to "nudge" citizens into reconsidering their "ethical perspectives" on the matter.
"The impact of legislative changes on moral beliefs is also important, with some evidence suggesting that changes to morality are often caused by legislative changes," the report observes. "Defense, however, cannot wait for ethics to change before engaging with human augmentation."
Disquieting stuff indeed, although even more troublingly, a determination to transform soldiers and citizens alike into cyborgs isn't restricted to Britain. NATO's 'Innovation Hub' throughout 2020 and 2021 published a number of bizarre papers and convened several conferences on the subject of "cognitive warfare" - a doctrine seeking "militarization of brain science" and answers to the burning question of "how to free humanity from the limitations of the body."
The US-led military alliance aims to achieve dominance in this speculative, sinister sphere by 2040, and in service of the project the Innovation Hub employed a number of "futurists" to forecast scenarios for securing such primacy, and kickstarting "cognitive war."
One resultant contribution was a 33-page fable authored by a French evolutionary biology professor, which imagined how in 2039, autopsies conducted on Chinese soldiers killed in skirmishes with US and Australian troops over Beijing's Silk Road initiative in Zambia would find the dead were "supra-human," the product of gene-editing in a lab, which imbued them with superior muscles, night-vision, and "resistance to sleep deprivation, thirst, extreme heat and humidity." A "cognitive war" was duly declared the next year.
The academic concluded by declaring that the "human mind should be NATO's next domain of operation." Deranged doggerel the work may have been, but it was clearly influential – 10 months after publication, then-US Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe accused Beijing of "developing soldiers with biologically enhanced capabilities." Despite providing no evidence for the bombshell assertion, media outlets the world over eagerly amplified his incendiary remarks without criticism or question.
Clearly then, just as in the Cold War, where bogus claims of Soviet nuclear supremacy prompted a planet-threatening arms race lasting decades, and crazed conspiracy theories about Chinese brainwashing prowess triggered unconscionable experimentation on unwitting human subjects, fear mongering over purported enemy state progress in the field of human augmentation is being used to justify a whole host of immoral policies and practices.
This time round, though, rather than entrenched medical ethics being criminally and covertly circumvented, they're simply being rewritten to accommodate the national security state's wanton and egregious excesses. After all, the West must maintain "full-spectrum dominance" in all matters, at all times – even if the threat that's reportedly being countered is fantastical, farcical, or literally science-fictional. |
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Evil Dave's has an upbeat, contemporary interior featuring modern art, a stone-tiled fireplace, and comfortable leather seats. |
Electrical activity of the heart and ECG study guide by Caroline_91 includes 98 questions covering vocabulary, terms and more. Quizlet flashcards, activities and games help you improve your grades. Quizlet flashcards, activities and games help you improve your grades.... electrical signals that come from the heart�s natural �pacemaker� � a small area of the heart called the sinus node that is located in the top of the right atrium.
CHAPTER 13 The Electrical Activity of the Heart 227 1 P B A SA- R + B A AV T P Q S 2 B A Q - + R R 3 4 5 T B A B A B A Q - + S - S - + + FIGURE 13.10 The sequence of major dipoles giving rise the yet-to-be-repolarized region of the myocardium (negative) to ECG waveforms. raiders of the lost ark script pdf Many translated example sentences containing "electrical activity of the heart" � German-English dictionary and search engine for German translations.
ECG Chapter 3. STUDY. PLAY. Electrodes. Small sensors, metal plates or disposable units placed on the skin during an ECG to receive the electrical activity of the heart. Cable or Wires. Connects the electrode to the ECG machine (cardiac monitor) Lead. Is a recorded tracing of the heart electricityfrom one or two electrodes that provides a specific view of the heart. Bipolar. The waveform of critical discourse analysis the critical study of language fairclough pdf C 2. Electrical properties of the heart a. Explain the ionic basis of the spontaneous electrical activity of cardiac muscle cells (automaticity). |
now reading: The Anatomy of Long-Distance Call 66 Years Ago
Blaine McCartney/The Wyoming Tribune Eagle via AP
The Anatomy of Long-Distance Call 66 Years Ago
By Allan Golombek
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Sgt. Joe Friday of the radio and television series Dragnet serves as an excellent example of how far we have come by constantly improving technology. And it is a reminder of why we should not be afraid of new technologies, even though they may make some jobs obsolete.
Today we mark an anniversary of something that most millennials would probably have a hard time wrapping their head around – the anniversary of the first coast-to-coast direct-dial phone call. In an era when almost everyone carries a cell phone, and many do not have landlines at all, it is hard to believe that just 66 years ago we needed the assistance of a long-distance operator to make a call to another city. Completing a long-distance call cost time and money, with individual calls handled by several operators in different cities.
Take one call made by the Sgt. Friday character, on the radio version of the program. Based in Los Angeles, he placed a person-to-person long-distance call to a small town in Utah. Local calls within the Los Angeles area had long been direct dial, but a long-distance call, especially to a tiny town in another state, was a complex manual effort. First, Friday had to call the long-distance operator in Los Angeles, and give her (about 98 percent were women) the name and phone number of the party he wanted to reach. The operator then called a rate and route operator, who responded that the call should be routed through Salt Lake City and Mount Pleasant, Utah. The call, like all long-distance calls at that time, had a rate step, a number which the long-distance operator would quote to obtain the rate of the first three minutes and each additional minute.
The Los Angeles long-distance operator then plugged into a direct trunk to the Salt Lake City inward operator and asked her for Mount Pleasant. The Salt Lake operator rang the Mount Pleasant inward operator, and the Los Angeles operator asked the Mount Pleasant inward operator for Fountain Green, the town Sgt. Friday was calling. The Mount Pleasant operator rang the small town of Fountain Green, and the Los Angeles operator gave the local operator the number and name of the party Sgt. Friday was trying to reach there. The Fountain Green operator then rang the number, a party line where a specific ringing pattern summoned one of the subscribers sharing the line. A man answered; the Los Angeles operator asked for the called party and told him that Los Angeles was calling.
Hard to believe, but a telephone conversation between two participants required the assistance of five operators. The time it took just to make a long-distance connection at that time often exceeded the length of the call, as long-distance charges (inflated to keep down the costs of local calls) caused people to make as few long-distance calls as possible and to keep them as short as possible.
The process was unwieldy, costly and time-consuming. But on November 11, 1951, new ground was broken. The mayor of Englewood, New Jersey called the mayor of Alameda, California. They were connected automatically in 18 seconds. The inauguration of direct long-distance dialing made calls easier, cheaper and faster. It also caused a great many jobs to be shed. In the late 1940s, more than 350,000 operators worked for AT&T. But the introduction of increasingly sophisticated automatic switching devices reduced the need for operators.
Just like today, many looked at the change, and instead of seeing improved service for consumers only saw jobs that had been eliminated. Unions argued that AT&T had created what they called technological unemployment on a mass scale.
In fact, this was a two-fer for the economy. It brought efficiency, with people placing their own long-distance calls faster and far less expensively than the operator-driven system had allowed. And by eliminating jobs, it freed up hundreds of thousands of people to perform other tasks. People worried today about the elimination of jobs through the introduction of new technologies should consider this: Hundreds of thousands of jobs were eliminated by the introduction of direct dialing. But unemployment rates today are the same as they were 70 years ago. The modernization of cumbersome calling technologies didn't cause mass unemployment. It just allowed society to make better use of the labor force we have.
The myth is that improved technology makes us poorer by eliminating jobs. But the fact is, it makes us better off, leading to more efficient wealth production and more people available to perform other tasks. Never mind the myth. As Joe Friday would say: "Just the facts, ma'am."
Allan Golombek is a Senior Director at the White House Writers Group.
Related Topics: Phones, Communication, Allan Golombek
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In 2017, the Singapore Government raised the tax rates for individuals and this brought about an increase in the tax rates for high-income earners. As a Singapore resident who is looking for ways to pay less tax, the best way is to own investments that will yield tax-free income. A good accounting service in Singapore can point you in the right direction. Here's a few ways to do so.
Buy Shares in a Singapore Company.
There are a lot of companies that you can buy ordinary shares or preference shares from. Get expert accounting services in Singapore to give you pointers on which companies to purchase shares from. You don't have to pay taxes for any dividend you earn.
If you are in Singapore and you buy shares in a foreign company, you will not have to pay tax for any dividend you receive from the company. However, an exception is if you receive the dividends through a Singapore partnership. If that were the case, you would have to meet some conditions for the dividends to be tax-exempted.
Investing in Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) has proven to be a high dividend-yielding business. When it comes to tax payment for Real Estate Investment Funds, you are exempted from paying taxes on any dividends earned.
But if you're receiving your dividends through your business, partnership or trade based in Singapore, you will be taxed.
Tax exemption also applies to Singapore dividends received from Supplementary Retirement Scheme accounts. Any amount you put into your Supplementary Retirement Scheme account can enjoy tax relief in the year of contribution if you decide to claim it. From 2016, the yearly contribution cap for Singapore Retirement Scheme was increased to $15,300 for Singaporean citizens. What this means is that, for anybody who contributes this amount, such a person will save more on tax. The only disadvantage of this is that the money in an SRS account is meant to be kept and not withdrawn, so you have to consider the taxation rules and the penalty for making withdrawals from these accounts.
Dividends received from unit trusts in Singapore are not required to be taxed. Except, like in the case of REIT dividends, you are receiving the dividend through your business or partnership in Singapore. You can also use the money in your Supplementary Retirement Scheme account to invest in unit trusts so you can have different financial institutions to choose from, depending on their offerings and potential returns. An accounting service in Singapore expert can advise you on which trusts to invest in.
With these tips, you can keep all or most of your income without being obligated to pay any tax. For more tax efficient investment, get in touch with expert accounting services in Singapore. |
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Stell is dedicated to improving quality of life for current and future generations by providing knowledge and expertise to advance a healthy sustainable planet.Quality is integral to all that we do.
Our firm is committed to offering our clients a distinctive quality of service and unparalleled experience in all aspects of our business. Operating as a unified team and delivering our clients sound solutions contribute to our success and pride. Each of our professionals believes in hard work and focus against each engagement. We are committed to our employees and their success and promote a committed and supportive working environment, resulting in professional growth and higher levels of success along the way.
As our client, you can expect our approach toward our work to encompass the highest level of professionalism, transparency, and fairness. We hold ourselves accountable to our clients and don't cut corners. We're all professionals advocating for social considerations that help protect and sustain the interests of our clients and our planet.
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Lilith is a Hebrew name for a figure in Jewish mythology, developed earliest in the Babylonian Talmud, who is generally thought to be in part derived from a class of female demons Līlīṯu in Mesopotamian texts of Assyria and Babylonia.
The Hebrew term Lilith or "Lilit" (translated as "Night creatures", "night monster", "night hag", or "screech owl") first occurs in Isaiah 34:14, either singular or plural according to variations in the earliest manuscripts, though in a list of animals. In the Dead Sea Scrolls Songs of the Sage the term first occurs in a list of monsters. In Jewish magical inscriptions on bowls and amulets from the 6th century CE onwards, Lilith is identified as a female demon and the first visual depictions appear.
In Jewish folklore, from the 8th–10th century Alphabet of Ben Sira onwards, Lilith becomes Adam's first wife, who was created at the same time (Rosh Hashanah) and from the same earth as Adam. This contrasts with Eve, who was created from one of Adam's ribs. The legend was greatly developed during the Middle Ages, in the tradition of Aggadic midrashim, the Zohar, and Jewish mysticism. In the 13th century writings of Rabbi Isaac ben Jacob ha-Cohen, for example, Lilith left Adam after she refused to become subservient to him and then would not return to the Garden of Eden after she mated with archangel Samael. The resulting Lilith legend is still commonly used as source material in modern Western culture, literature, occultism, fantasy, and horror. |
package com.laytonsmith.core.constructs;
import com.laytonsmith.PureUtilities.Version;
import com.laytonsmith.core.natives.interfaces.Mixed;
/**
*
*
*/
public class Variable extends Construct {
public static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
private final String name;
private String def;
private boolean optional;
private boolean finalVar;
private CString varValue;
public Variable(String name, String def, boolean optional, boolean finalVar, Target t) {
super(name, ConstructType.VARIABLE, t);
this.name = name;
setDefault(def);
this.finalVar = finalVar;
this.optional = optional;
this.varValue = new CString(def, t);
}
public Variable(String name, String def, Target t) {
this(name, def, false, false, t);
}
@Override
public String toString() {
return "var:" + name;
}
public String getVariableName() {
return name;
}
public void setFinal(boolean finalVar) {
this.finalVar = finalVar;
}
public boolean isFinal() {
return finalVar;
}
public void setOptional(boolean optional) {
this.optional = optional;
}
public boolean isOptional() {
return optional;
}
public String getDefault() {
return def;
}
public void setDefault(String def) {
if(def == null) {
def = "";
}
this.def = def;
}
@Override
public String val() {
return varValue.toString();
}
public void setVal(CString val) {
this.varValue = val;
}
public void setVal(String val) {
this.varValue = new CString(val, this.getTarget());
}
@Override
public Variable clone() throws CloneNotSupportedException {
Variable clone = (Variable) super.clone();
if(this.varValue != null) {
clone.varValue = varValue;
}
return clone;
}
@Override
public boolean isDynamic() {
return true;
}
@Override
public Version since() {
return super.since();
}
@Override
public String docs() {
return super.docs();
}
@Override
public CClassType[] getSuperclasses() {
return new CClassType[]{Mixed.TYPE};
}
@Override
public CClassType[] getInterfaces() {
return new CClassType[]{};
}
}
|
The Arrow-Song Blog
~ by Scot Lahaie
Category Archives: News Articles
This category includes posts about recent events and accomplishments.
Mary, Mother of God
Posted by Scot Lahaie in News Articles
Alliance, OH – Professor Lahaie is proud to announce the completion of his latest play, Mary, Mother of God, which will premiere on the campus of the University of Mount Union in Alliance, Ohio in April 2017 under his own directorial hand.
SYNOPSIS: Dr. Amanda St. Claire, a psychologist for New York City's 14th Police Precinct, has been tasked to identify a vagrant woman who believes she is the Virgin Mary. As casual therapy gives way to more serious exploration, the good doctor grows despondent over the lack of progress concerning Mary's true identity. And though Mary remains good-natured and pleasant about the doctor's inquiry, she shows a stubborn insistence that she has been sent by God to meet the needs of the broken-hearted. The doctor is even more troubled by Mary's contagious attitude of joy and blessing—a textbook example of cognitive consonance—that carries with it a power to draw others into her delusion. St. Claire eventually resorts to hypnosis as a most invasive tool to break through Mary's delusional life story, only to come face to face with her own darkest secrets. In turn, the doctor becomes the patient as Mary's true identity is finally revealed.
Announcing the Publication of "So You Think You Can Worship"
San Diego, CA – The Script Company is proud to announce the acquisition of SO YOU THINK YOU CAN WORSHIP, a Christmas play, written by Scot Lahaie. The play is available for perusal upon request, and The Script Company stands ready to negotiate performance rights for interested producing groups.
SO YOU THINK YOU CAN WORSHIP is a Christmas Play intended for production in a Church setting. The play is comprised of seven vignettes with congregational singing separating each section. The vignettes each tell the story of various characters in the saga of Christ's birth (Mary, Joseph, Zachariah, Elizabeth, the shepherds, the wise men, and the angels). Speaking directly to the audience, these Biblical characters each share a different Hebrew word to describe their encounter with the Christ child, creating a coherent thread that runs through the whole of the play. Seven words for worship… seven unique encounters with the Word made flesh… one very unique night of worship.
Announcing the Publication of BIG BROTHER 2019
San Diego, CA – The Script Company is proud to announce the acquisition of BIG BROTHER 2019, an epic dystopian drama, written by Scot Lahaie. The play is available for perusal upon request, and The Script Company stands ready to negotiate performance rights for interested producing groups.
BIG BROTHER is a techno-savvy blend of theater and media that takes its inspiration from George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984. The play is set in a not-too-distant future in a declining America where political apathy has led to the rise of a secret organization whose express purpose is to control the nation through technological superiority. Big Brother's immediate goal is to make America ungovernable by pitting its citizenry against itself until Marshall Law can be declared, effectively destroying the democracy from within. The play follows a young hacker named Spartacus as he wages a one-man cyberwar against Big Brother, who in turn unleashes the full resources of the organization to eliminate him. The epic battle of wills that plays out across the Net ignites a grassroots uprising that promises to rekindle the flame of American democracy.
Click on the image above to visit The Script Company!
Announcing the Publication of Scot Lahaie's GADFLY, a cosmic cabaret
San Diego, CA – The Script Company is proud to announce the acquisition of GADFLY, a dramatic play, written by Scot Lahaie. The play is available for perusal upon request, and The Script Company stands ready to negotiate performance rights for interested producing groups.
GADFLY explores the power of the establishment to determine what we call accepted Truth, and chronicles how it has historically been the outsider that has moved our understanding of Truth forward. The play is a cosmic Cabaret where special guests are invited to defend their teachings or actions, to include Socrates, Copernicus, Columbus, Galileo, Einstein, Darwin, and science philosopher William Dembski, to name a few. These visitations are marshaled by a musical Poet Guide named Virgil, who is backed by a British threesome with a ukulele and a squeeze box. Virgil keeps the action moving forward as the "Idols of the Institution" play judge and jury over the minds of our history's greatest thinkers. The resulting journey beyond space and time sheds light on the present claims of science in the contemporary age as compared to the claims of our greatest thinkers down through the ages. It is, above all else, an exoneration of contemporary scholars to pursue truth wherever they find it.
Announcing the Publication of Scot Lahaie's LUMINARIUM
Armenian Church, Drama, Luminarium, playscript
San Diego, CA – The Script Company is proud to announce the acquisition of LUMINARIUM, a dramatic play, written by Scot Lahaie. The play is available for perusal upon request, and The Script Company stands ready to negotiate performance rights for interested producing groups.
Luminarium is a dramatic retelling of the conversion of King Drtad, the first of the Armenian kings to embrace the Christian faith. The action of the play is set in 284 A.D. in the Palace of King Drtad where Gregory has laid aside his noble pedigree to become a servant in the house of the King. The conflict rises when the King calls upon Gregory to make sacrifice to the goddess Anahid. Gregory declines the offer, which kindles the King's anger and lands him in the King's dungeon. Gregory endures torture with grace and patience, believing that his suffering will lead to the King's conversion. When the King discovers that Gregory is the son of the assassin that killed the King's father, he rejects Gregory's faith claims and sentences him to die in the dungeon without food or water, releasing a curse upon the kingdom and hastening the play's tumultuous conclusion—-the King's conversion and Gregory's miraculous survival.
GADFLY Published in the Prestigious Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies
Posted by Scot Lahaie in News Articles, RSS Export
The Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, a peer reviewed journal with a prestigious international editorial board, selected Professor Lahaie's newest play GADFLY for inclusion in their 2010 volume entitled "Intelligent Design and Artificial Intelligence: The Ghost in the Machine". Copies of the Journal may be ordered online at www.jis3.org.
GADFLY has also been published in a paperback edition with Clay Tablet Creative and is available for purchase at LULU.com.
DOGFALL's Professional Premiere at NC STAGE
03 Monday Jan 2011
The Sanguine Theatre Troupe presented the professional premiere of DOGFALL as a part of NC Stage Company's Catalyst Series on January 14th-16th and 21st-23rd 2011. The Sanguine Theatre Troupe presents DOGFALL, a new, award winning play, as a part of NC Stage Company's Catalyst Series on January 14th-16th and 21st-23rd.
The play stars Bradley James Archer, an Asheville native, as the radical Mike Howard in a follow-up role to his recent appearance as Treves in Carolina Actors Studio Theatre's (C.A.S.T.) production of THE ELEPHANT MAN, for which he received rave reviews. Appearing opposite Archer is Scot Lahaie, the author of the play and Professor of Theatre at Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, North Carolina. A veteran of the theater, Lahaie is making his regional debut as an actor in this production. Lahaie portrays Dr. Jake McKenzie, a doctor known for assisting his patients commit suicide because of terminal illness.
Now in its seventh year, the NC Stage Catalyst Series features performances from local, grassroots theatre companies. NC Stage collaborates with these exciting companies to expand its own programming while providing resources for innovative theatre. Visit www.ncstage.org/for more information about the series.
Photograph of Dogfall at NCSC
Lahaie's Drama Group Wins Big: GWU Theater Wins Six Awards at the Annual MTA Awards
BOILING SPRINGS, NC- The Gardner-Webb University Theatre Program won multiple awards at the much-anticipated Metrolina Theatre Awards (MTA) in Charlotte, NC this week. GWU made an outstanding showing by winning six awards (13 nominations) including key awards for "The Crucible".
The awards won by Gardner-Webb were:
Outstanding Production- "The Crucible"
Outstanding Lead Actor- Male -Ron Houser (John Proctor)- "The Crucible"
Outstanding Lead Actor- Female – Amy Elliot (Elizabeth Proctor)- "The Crucible"
Outstanding Choreography- Kenzie Conner- "Li'l Abner- The Musical"
Outstanding Lighting Design- Nicholas Laughridge- "The Crucible"
Outstanding Set Design- Christopher Keene- "The Crucible"
Ron Houser, the Gardner-Webb University MTA winner for Outstanding Male Lead Actor, said, "The fact that Gardner-Webb was able to win so many of the awards is proof that Christians can compete and succeed with the 'lions' of theatre." He also said, "The behavior and conduct of the Gardner-Webb nominees at the MTA awards were very professional and they were a good representation for the university."
The MTA organizes more than 80 peer nominations; this year, MTA nominators attended 105 adjucated shows, submitting thousands of nominations. The MTA represents more than 50 organizations, along with hundreds of theatrical artists, directors, and producers in the Charlotte region. The MTA also votes every year on performances and creative elements in seven categories: dramas, comedies, musicals, companies in the northern region, companies in the southern region, colleges and universities, and special events.
Photo of The Crucible
Scot Lahaie
Scot Lahaie is a playwright, screenwriter, actor, director, and university professor now living in Canton, Ohio. His full bio can be seen on his Home Page at ScotLahaie.com.
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Out for dinner on our 33rd Wedding Anniversary
Lahaie Family Christmas 2017
Church in Nashville today at Church of the Redeemer.
At the consecration of Bishop Ron Jackson.
Holiday Family Photo
The Pulaski Monument in Savannah.
DAR Cemetery in old Savannah.
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North Canton, Ohio |
How long it takes to add credits to account after receiving mail?
They don't accept cash payments, so I had to send money by cash with email, what I have done on the 2nd of May 2018.
I've sent 13 euro by mail from Munchen on 02 of May 2018.
How it will take to add credits to my account? |
Dr. Tanuj Palvia MD is double board certified in Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine. He received his medical degree from the University of North Carolina and completed his anesthesiology residency at NYU Langone Medical Center. He then completed his Interventional Pain Management Fellowship at the Center for Study and Treatment of Pain at NYU.
Dr. Palvia is well trained in acute, chronic, and cancer pain management, as well as a wide range of minimally-invasive interventional and ultrasound guided techniques. He believes in an evidence-based, multidisciplinary approach with personalized treatment plans tailored to patients' specific needs. He is dedicated to treating patients' pain and suffering while improving their functionality and quality of life.
Dr. Palvia grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, with roots in India. He is fluent in Hindi. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his family and friends. When possible, he loves to explore everything New York City has to offer.
"After speaking in depth with Dr. Palvia, he offered platelet rich plasma (PRP) therapy to me. I wanted to give that option a try before going straight to surgery. I got the PRP injection done in January. As time went by, I was feeling gradual relief. Towards the end of February is when I started feeling the positive effects of the treatment. By the time April came around I felt normal again."
"Dr. Palvia was instrumental in helping me lower the inflammation in my knee with cortisone shots. The injections were quick and painless. I have a significant amount of arthritis built up around my knee. The team at Physio Logic have successfully gotten my body to a point where I don't feel nearly as much irritation as I used to. I feel so much better these last 6 months than I have in the last 2 years of my life." |
Water damage is one of the most frequently reported problems these days. What is more, it is considered as a grave and potential hazard that is putting millions of people in a grievous health risk. Imagine the outbreaks that are associated with water damages these days - it is alarming.
You need to be smart enough to detect these issues early so that you can take rapid and appropriate steps towards restoring it. It can be emotionally and financially stressing when you have to spend a lot of your resources to carry out significant fixes because you kept procrastinating after you noticed the trouble. So, as soon as you notice water damages exhibited in your home, you need to take action without further ado.
In light of all these, you need to choose water damage restoration cottage grove firm that will deal with your issues adequately. From a plethora of firms that make tall claims, finding the right water restoration service can be a daunting task for many. It can be even more tasking if you have no clue on the element to look at when determining the suitability of the firm that you need.
The first thing that you need to do when searching for a water damage repair services is that you need to sample the ones that have valid certification. You see, you are going to entrust the safety of your home with a contractor, and so you need one that is trustworthy and honest. You need someone whose business is genuine. You need to ask them to share their accreditation as well as their license that gives them the authority to perform in your area. These credentials are must-have if you have to hire these professionals and no one else.
You also need to ask for references from the agency that you are considering. A good water damage restoration cottage grove mn firm should not find this difficult to do as they know they have done a commendable job. You might have to email or call the referees and ask about their opinions about the services that they got from the company in question. Find out if they treated their past clients professionally and completed their projects in good time. If you do this, you are, in essence assessing the quality of the services that they are offering.
You can also look at the reviews that they got on their website. Reviews can be trusted. Comments that are dropped in there can help paint that picture of the reliability, professionalism, and experience of the firm that you are about to hire. And of course, you will not miss finding one or two negative comments; but what is important is the general feeling and experience if the other clients. You need to choose a service that will give services that are worth your money and time.
It is also critical that you hire a firm that you can reach to anytime there a similar problem. Water and problems related to it are not going to be over anytime soon. Bear in mind that you are looking for someone who will work with you on a long-term basis. Such a firm needs to be there to handle your emergencies, such as leaking pipes. You can also learn more tips on where to find the best water damage restoration contractor by checking out the post at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yv32QGAJSDo.
It is also vital that you find a firm that offers a wide range of services in the same field. Such as cleaning water leakages, unblocking the entry of sewage, getting rid of the bad odor, restoring broken or blocked parts. They need to be knowledgeable and experience in all the water damage restoration spectrum. |
Section I — Definition and History of Garden Leave.
Garden Leave provisions originated in the U.K., and are prevalent across broad industry. Within Financial Services, Garden Leave policies have long been utilized by Global Banks, Investment Banks, Private Equity Firms, Hedge Funds, and Proprietary Trading Organizations due to the nature and confidentiality of their respective businesses.
As a firm that exclusively specializes within Financial Services and works across a multitude of organizations and infrastructures, DAK is privy to the policies and procedures of our clients, as well as the market place at-large. From time to time we see trends emerge that we are compelled to investigate further and report to our clients. As such, we have noticed a marked increase in the number of U.S. based organizations who are implementing Garden Leave provisions within their employment agreements and practices.
DAK contacted "Top 100" Financial Services organizations and other select participants. This included both domestically domiciled firms, as well as the U.S. arms of internationally based holding companies. The study group included traditional long-only Asset Managers, Hedge Funds, Insurance Companies, large Broker-Dealers, and Financial Services "Supermarket" organizations. Most of the participants are name-brand, market-leading and omnipresent institutions. The collective AUM for the study group participants surpassed $8.5 Trillion (excluding several top insurance companies and broker-dealers).
Do you employ a Garden Leave policy now?
If no, are you thinking about employing a Garden Leave policy now?
If yes, what duration are you contemplating?
How long ago did you install your Garden Leave policy?
How did you go about implementing your Garden Leave with existing employees? Was a signature required?
80% of our participants responded with a "signature required", 20% of our participants responded with "electronic acknowledgement". Many organizations included Garden Leave provisions within Severance Agreements, Long Term Incentive Plan (LTIP) Agreements, Confidentiality/Non-Compete Agreements, Employment Agreements, and Equity Reward Agreements. Some of the organizations that chose electronic acknowledgement methods did so with existing employees, but require signatures for new employees going forward.
What compelled you to enact a Garden Leave policy?
How is your Garden Leave policy applied?
60% of our participants responded with "Special Situation and/or case-by-case", 30% of our participants responded with "Senior Executive/Officer positions only", and 10% of our participants responded "Across all exempt employees including sales". Within the "Special Situation" group, the policy was mostly applied to all employees VP and above, all senior executives and officers, and any recipients of deferred compensation or equity awards.
What is the duration of your Garden Leave policy?
What is your compensation arrangement during a Garden Leave period?
50% of our participants responded "Base salary only", 30% of our participants responded "Base salary plus bonus and/or pro-rated bonus", 20% of our participants responded "Other". Responses from the "Other" camp mostly centered around the inclusion of benefits.
What measurable benefits, if any, have been realized as a result of your Garden Leave policy?
60% of our participants responded "Other", 20% of our participants responded "Higher employee retention", and 20% of our participants responded "Deterrent from having employees recruited". 60% of responses from the "Other" camp overwhelmingly were tied to a longer and orderly transitioning of employee responsibility, and 20% of responses were tied to the limiting of compensation claims from terminated employees. The remaining 20% responded that it was too early to tell and/or the benefits could not be measured.
Do you find Garden Leave to be a useful tool as a deterrent to employee departures and/or confidential confirmation concerns?
Overall, do you envision Garden Leave policies continuing to become more commonplace here in the US?
While it is clear that organizations have implemented Garden Leave provisions for a variety of reasons, it is also clear that there is an upward trend in adoption rates among US Financial Services organizations particularly over the last three years. The next biggest trend is the comprehensive use of Garden Leave across the exempt employee population, not just the executive suite. Furthermore, organizations are subjecting their sales professionals to Garden Leave policies at a much higher historical rate. A surprising area that has seen explosive adoption is the Financial Advisor/High-Net-Worth realm. Specifically, the Private Banks and Major WireHouseshave been subjecting their elite advisors and teams to Garden Leave policies in an effort to mitigate against household client loss in the aftermath of advisor departures and transitions to new firms or operating platforms.
American employers have begun including garden leave provisions in the employment contacts of key employees. However, as garden leave is a relatively new phenomenon, there is limited case law addressing enforcement. In Baxter International, Inc. v. Morris, one of the first cases to examine the enforceability of a garden leave provision, the Eighth Circuit affirmed a district court ruling, refusing to stop a research scientist from working for a competitor even though his previous employer was willing to pay him during the duration of his one year noncompeteagreement. The court held, "if [Morris' previous employer] paid Morris' salary for the year he would be forbidden to work by the covenant, Morris would suffer undue hardship." Baxter International, Inc. v. Morris, 976 F.2d 1189, 1197 (8th Cir. 1992).
Since Baxter, several cases involving garden leave have arisen in New York courts. These courts have upheld noncompetes with safety net clauses as well as noncompetes with provisions remarkably similar to traditional English garden leave provisions.
A New York court found the restrictive covenant reasonable "on condition that plaintiffs continue to receive their salaries for six months while not employed by a competitor." Maltby v. Harlow Meyer Savage Inc., 633 N.Y.S. 2d 926, 930 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1995).
A New York court upheld a six-month restrictive covenant, placing significant reliance on the employee's full compensation of salary and payment of health and life insurance premiums. Lumex Inc. v. Highsmith and Life Fitness, 919 F. Supp. 624, 629-36 (E.D.N.Y. 1996).
The Second Circuit, applying New York law, upheld a six month noncompetition agreement that did not contain any post-employment payment provision. The court held the employer's provision of the employee-salesman's annual compensation of $600,000, contingent upon the employee-salesman's agreement to abide by his contractual post-employment restrictions, was equivalent to the post-employment payments in Maltby, thereby alleviating the policy concern that noncompete provisions prevent a person from earning a livelihood. Ticor Title Insurance Co. v. Cohen, 173 F. 3d 63, 71 (2d Cir. 1999).
A New York court upheld a 30-day notice provision which was combined with the 90-day non-compete provision, holding that the safety-net payment provision made, "virtually nonexistent [the] concern that the former employee could lose his livelihood." Natsource LLC v. Paribello, 151 F. Supp. 2d 465, 472 (S.D.N.Y. 2001).
Finally, a New York court upheld a restrictive covenant containing a "sitting out" clause. The court granted the employer a five-month enforcement period of the restrictive covenant, holding that the risk to the former employee-executive of a loss of livelihood was mitigated by the continual payment of his salary. Estee Lauder Co. Inc. v. Batra, 430 F. Supp. 2d 158, 182 (S.D.N.Y. 2006).
In Bear, Stearns & Co., Inc. v. Sharon, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts refused to issue a preliminary injunction to enforce a contractual provision requiring an employee to provide 90 days' notice of termination of employment. Bear, Stearns & Co., Inc. v. Sharon, 550 F.Supp. 2d 174 (D. Mass. 2008).
Here, Sharon resigned from Bear, Stearns (Bear Stearns) on March 17, 2008, and immediately accepted employment with Morgan Stanley. Bear Stearns alleged that: 1) the terms of Sharon's employment required that he give 90 days' prior written notice before resigning; 2) Sharon misappropriated Bear Stearns' confidential information; and 3) Sharon wrongfully induced employees (and clients) of Bear Stearns to leave and become employed by (or customers of) Morgan Stanley.
The court denied the request for preliminary injunction enjoining Sharon from being employed during the 90-day garden leave period for three reasons: Bear Stearns could not establish irreparable harm because its harm could be recompensed by money damages; the hardship to Bear Stearns of permitting Sharon to resume his employment with Morgan Stanley was outweighed by the risk to Sharon's "professional standing and the inability to advise his clients in times of economic turmoil"; and specific performance of the 90-day garden leave provision would require Sharon to continue an at-will employment relationship against his will.
Court decisions can assist employers drafting garden leave provisions. However, many courts apply subjective standards to the enforcement of any restrictive provision. To protect long-term business interests, employers must recognize the practical, economic and legal implications of including garden leave provisions in employment contracts. Because Employers must pay the salary to their employees during the garden leave period, careful determination of the type of employee that necessitates a garden leave provision, how many employee contracts will include a garden leave provision, and the likelihood of one or more employees being on garden leave at any one time, should be considered prior to including a garden leave provision in any employment contract.
Terminology enjoining the employee from engaging in employment with any other employer for the duration of the garden leave.
A properly executed garden leave provision may safeguard an employer's proprietary information and allow the employer to effectively transition the business, thereby protecting the interests of the company. Employers would be wise to insure that garden leave provisions are specifically tailored to limit the employee's responsibilities during leave and that they are reasonable in duration. Even if all factors are met, a garden leave provision will still be subject to an equitable, somewhat subjective, test by the court, concluding with whether the agreement is enforceable.
DAK Associates, now in its 33rdyear, is a "Top 100" national retainer-based executive search and consulting firm that exclusively serves the broad-based Financial Services community spanning Asset Management, Wealth Management, Insurance& Retirement, Broker-Dealer, and Asset Servicing. The firm has pioneered a number of innovations including DAK Intelligent Search, DAK Diversity Mapping, and DAK Direct, in addition to a number of industry contributions within Financial Services. |
"""Minifier for Python code
The module exposes a single function : minify(src), where src is
a string with the original Python code.
The function returns a string with a minified version of the original :
- indentation is reduced to the minimum (1 space for each level)
- comments are removed, except on the first 2 lines
- lines starting with a string are removed (considered as doc strings), except
if the next line doesn't start with the same indent, like in
# --------------------------------
def f():
'function with docstring only'
print('ok')
# --------------------------------
"""
import os
import token
import tokenize
import re
import io
from keyword import kwlist
def minify(src, preserve_lines=False):
# tokenize expects method readline of file in binary mode
file_obj = io.BytesIO(src.encode('utf-8'))
token_generator = tokenize.tokenize(file_obj.readline)
out = '' # minified source
line = 0
last_type = None
indent = 0 # current indentation level
brackets = [] # stack for brackets
# first token is script encoding
encoding = next(token_generator).string
file_obj = io.BytesIO(src.encode(encoding))
token_generator = tokenize.tokenize(file_obj.readline)
for item in token_generator:
# update brackets stack if necessary
if token.tok_name[item.type]=='OP':
if item.string in '([{':
brackets.append(item.string)
elif item.string in '}])':
brackets.pop()
sline = item.start[0] # start line
if sline == 0: # encoding
continue
# udpdate indentation level
if item.type==tokenize.INDENT:
indent += 1
elif item.type==tokenize.DEDENT:
indent -= 1
continue
if sline>line: # first token in a line
if not brackets and item.type==tokenize.STRING:
if last_type in [tokenize.NEWLINE, tokenize.INDENT, None]:
# If not inside a bracket, replace a string starting a
# line by the empty string.
# It will be removed if the next line has the same
# indentation.
out += ' '*indent+"''"
if preserve_lines:
out += '\n'*item.string.count('\n')
continue
out += ' '*indent # start with current indentation
if item.type not in [tokenize.INDENT, tokenize.COMMENT]:
out += item.string
elif item.type==tokenize.COMMENT and \
line<=2 and item.line.startswith('#!'):
# Ignore comments starting a line, except in one of the first
# 2 lines, for interpreter path and/or encoding declaration
out += item.string
else:
if item.type == tokenize.COMMENT: # ignore comments in a line
continue
if not brackets and item.type == tokenize.STRING and \
last_type in [tokenize.NEWLINE, tokenize.INDENT]:
# If not inside a bracket, ignore string after newline or
# indent
out += "''"
if preserve_lines:
out += '\n'*item.string.count('\n')
continue
if item.type in [tokenize.NAME, tokenize.NUMBER, tokenize.OP] and \
last_type in [tokenize.NAME, tokenize.NUMBER]:
# insert a space when needed
if item.type != tokenize.OP \
or item.string not in ',()[].=:{}+&' \
or (last_type == tokenize.NAME and last_item.string in kwlist):
out += ' '
elif item.type == tokenize.STRING and \
item.string[0] in 'rbu' and \
last_type in [tokenize.NAME, tokenize.NUMBER]:
# for cases like "return b'x'"
out += ' '
elif item.type == tokenize.NAME \
and last_item.type == tokenize.OP and last_item.string == '.':
# special case : from . import X
out += ' '
out += item.string
line = item.end[0]
last_item = item
if item.type==tokenize.NL and last_type==tokenize.COMMENT:
# NL after COMMENT is interpreted as NEWLINE
last_type = tokenize.NEWLINE
else:
last_type = item.type
# replace lines with only whitespace by empty lines
out = re.sub('^\s+$', '', out, re.M)
if not preserve_lines:
# remove empty line at the start of the script (doc string)
out = re.sub("^''\n", '', out)
# remove consecutive empty lines
out = re.sub('\n( *\n)+', '\n', out)
# remove lines with an empty string followed by a line that starts with
# the same indent
def repl(mo):
if mo.groups()[0]==mo.groups()[1]:
return '\n'+mo.groups()[1]
return mo.string[mo.start(): mo.end()]
out = re.sub("\n( *)''\n( *)", repl, out)
return out
|
California Court Cannot Lasso Texas Resident into DVD Case
Electronic Frontier Foundation Wins Jurisdiction Argument
San Francisco - The California Supreme Court today ruled that a Texas resident who published a software program on the Internet cannot be forced to stand trial in California.
The court found that Matthew Pavlovich, who republished an open source DVD-descrambling software program called DeCSS, will not have to defend a trade secret lawsuit simply because he knew that his publication could cause "general effects" on the motion picture and technology industries in California. The court laid out clear jurisdiction rules for claims arising from publishing information on the Internet.
The Pavlovich decision is one piece of a larger legal struggle over Internet publication of DeCSS by thousands of individuals in fall 1999. European open source developers created DeCSS so they could play their DVDs on Linux computers, among other uses. DVD CCA, the sole licensing entity for a DVD-scrambling technology called CSS, sued hundreds of named and unnamed individuals and entities in the case on December 27, 1999.
Allonn Levy, an attorney with San Jose's Hopkins and Carley, represented Pavlovich pro bono with help from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).
"Mr. Pavlovich had no connections with California whatsoever," noted EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn. "This decision clearly puts to rest the notion that you can drag someone into California court simply because he should have known that a web publication could harm Hollywood."
The court noted that without reasonable rules for court jurisdiction in Internet cases, "plaintiffs connected to the auto industry could sue any defendant in Michigan, plaintiffs connected to the financial industry could sue any defendant in New York and plaintiffs connected to the potato industry could sue any defendant in Idaho."
The decision also impacts the numerous other defendants named or served in the legal struggle, all but one of whom are located outside California. The appeal of the preliminary injunction entered against the sole California resident named in the case, Andrew Bunner, is awaiting an argument date before the California Supreme Court.
DeCSS is free software that allows people to play DVDs without technological restrictions, such as region codes and forced watching of commercials imposed by movie studios.
Norwegian teenager Jon Johansen originally published DeCSS on the Internet in October 1999. Under pressure from Hollywood, he is still facing criminal prosecution in Norway.
DVDCCA v Bunner and DVDCCA v Pavlovich |
Q: Open executable file from graphics button without closing parent window I've created a game "dice poker" using Zelle's graphing package, and have a button on the main screen which opens a text file. The text file opens when the button is clicked, but the main window closes. How can I keep the parent window open?
The button class is below:
from graphics import *
from tkinter import Button as tkButton
class Button():
"""A button is a labeled rectangle in a window.
It is activated or deactivated with the activate()
and deactivate() methods. The clicked(p) method
returns true if the button is active and p is inside it."""
def __init__(self, win, center, width, height, label):
""" Creates a rectangular button, eg:
qb = Button(myWin, centerPoint, width, height, 'Quit') """
w,h = width/2.0, height/2.0
x,y = center.getX(), center.getY()
self.xmax, self.xmin = x+w, x-w
self.ymax, self.ymin = y+h, y-h
p1 = Point(self.xmin, self.ymin)
p2 = Point(self.xmax, self.ymax)
self.rect = Rectangle(p1,p2)
self.rect.setFill('lightgray')
self.rect.draw(win)
self.label = Text(center, label)
self.label.draw(win)
self.deactivate()
def clicked(self, p):
"Returns true if button active and p is inside"
return (self.active and
self.xmin <= p.getX() <= self.xmax and
self.ymin <= p.getY() <= self.ymax)
def getLabel(self):
"Returns the label string of this button."
return self.label.getText()
def activate(self):
"Sets this button to 'active'."
self.label.setFill('black')
self.rect.setWidth(2)
self.active = True
def deactivate(self):
"Sets this button to 'inactive'."
self.label.setFill('darkgrey')
self.rect.setWidth(1)
self.active = False
How can I include a command argument that can open an executable in a fashion similar to this tkinter implementation:
import Tkinter as tk
def create_window():
window = tk.Toplevel(root)
root = tk.Tk()
b = tk.Button(root, text="Create new window", command=create_window)
b.pack()
root.mainloop()
Where the command can be subprocess.run(['open', '-t', 'poker_help.txt']) and still keep the original window open?
A: I have to make some assumptions since you didn't include top level code (e.g. you're on a Mac):
Zelle graphics, unlike tkinter and turtle, which is also built on tkinter, doesn't have an explicit win.mainloop() call to turn control over to the Tk event handler to idle awaiting events to happen. Instead, you have to patch one together yourself, otherwise once you get the mouse click that fires off your button, the program falls through the end of the file and the main window closes:
import subprocess
from graphics import *
from button import Button
win = GraphWin()
help_button = Button(win, Point(150, 150), 50, 50, "Help")
help_button.activate()
quit_button = Button(win, Point(50, 50), 50, 50, "Quit")
quit_button.activate()
while True:
point = win.getMouse()
if help_button.clicked(point):
subprocess.call(['open', '-t', 'poker_help.txt'])
elif quit_button.clicked(point):
win.close()
Where from button import Button brings in your button code above. Another thing to check is your window is actually closing, and not simply being obscured by the new window opened atop it.
|
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SCORPION, inspired by a true story, is a high-octane drama about eccentric genius Walter O'Brien (Elyes Gabel) and his team of brilliant misfits who comprise the last line of defense against high-tech, complex threats of the modern age. At last, these nerdy masterminds have found the perfect job: a place where they can apply their exceptional brainpower to solve the nation's crises, while also helping each other learn how to fit in. SCORPION will air Monday nights at 9 PM. Pictured left to right: Jadyn Wong as Happy Quinn, Ari Stidham as Sylvester Dodd, Elyes Gabel as Walter O'Brien, Katharine McPhee as Paige Dineen and Eddie Kaye Thomas as Toby Curtis. |
NEW YORK Good intentions. They come round yearly and are virtually synonymous with champagne toasts on December 31.
On Monday, the World Health Organization declared the Zika outbreak an emergency due to proof that the mosquito-borne virus is linked to a spike in start defects in Brazil. The present outbreak has unfold to at the very least 25 nations and territories, most of them within the Americas. The CDC has advised pregnant ladies to avoid journey to areas with an active Zika outbreak.
The hurricane could dump 6 to 10 inches of rain over the jap Yucatan peninsula, and some streets in the main vacationer zone were already flooding on Wednesday. The fight for share of the holiday market has turn into more essential for Air Canada as important rival WestJet prepares to launch Encore, its Canadian regional airline. Encore guarantees to undercut Air Canada fares on home short-haul flights. On Wednesday, Royal Caribbean unveiled a few of the sights to be featured on the brand new ship, attributable to sail late next year.
The leisure sector has been an active arena for dealmaking. Last month, ski-resort operator Intrawest Resorts Holdings (SNOW.N) agreed to be bought to buyout firm KSL Capital Partners LLC and Aspen Skiing Co for around $1.5 billion. From Jamaica, Obama travels to Panama to attend a Western Hemisphere summit, the place Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has made clear he'll confront Obama over new U.S. sanctions. Journalists at an actual-time news company like Reuters thrive on watching world events unfold earlier than their eyes. Zika is often a mild illness with fever, rash and joint ache. There is not any preventive vaccine or remedy, in response to the CDC.
The Como Shambhala experience contains accommodation, return airport transfers for scheduled commercial flights, daily breakfast, lunch and dinner (three programs per meal per particular person excluding drinks), spa treatments, participation in complimentary scheduled actions, non motorised water-sports activities and use of the lodge gymnasium. Three-night applications from $four,000 for a garden view room (which you should not take) up to $12,000 for a one-bed seaside home. Off peak charges from late April onward. |
Speakers say at NOVOAIR discussion
We have to change mindset to increase aviation safety
_A Monitor Report01 Feb, 2019 | 378 Views|-+
Mofizur Rahman, Managing Director, NOVOAIR speaking at a discussion on "Role of Media : Promoting Airline safety" at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Dhaka in the city on January 29
Dhaka : Aviation safety has to be always kept in mind. All concerned have to change their existing mindset in this regard.
Besides airlines, the role of Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) is very important, specially their oversight, developing aviation infrastructure and keeping the security system updated with the times.
The technical efficiency of pilots, engineers, officials and staff has to be raised and passengers' awareness increased.
Speakers said this at a discussion on "Role of Media: Promoting Airline Safety" at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Dhaka in the city on January 29. The airline recently secured a place on world's safe airlines list.
It came up in the discussion that 40-year-old air traffic management system still existed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA), country's prime gateway by air. Air navigation facilities also have not kept up with the times.
While the aircraft is in the air, bird hits often cause accidents. The risks increase particularly while taking off or landing. In Bangladesh, air guns are still used to drive away the birds from the airport runways.
The surfaces of the runways at Jashore and Saidpur airports are not satisfactory, which can cause aircraft's landing wheel tyres to burst.
Mofizur Rahman, Managing Director, NOVOAIR said since its inception NOVOAIR was giving utmost importance to aviation safety. Media can play a key role to ensure aviation safety, he opined.
He said the importance of the role of the media in improving the infrastructure of airports, air traffic management, updating of rules, regulations and laws and in increasing passengers; awareness cannot be doubted.
He said NOVOAIR attained three-star ranking among the private airlines of the country. Had it earned six stars, NOVOAIR could have gone for IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA). Another three stars were needed for that. But the airline has not been allocated a place for hangar at HSIIA.
"We could have gone further had there been a level playing field", he said.
Captain Ashfaq Ur Rahman, Chief of Safety, NOVOAIR presented some important safety aspects before the journalists. He highlighted aspects like pilots having to pass difficult examinations at different stages, psychometric and psychological profiling, flight data examination and analysis, flight operational quality audit under the supervision of foreign specialists.
Hashibur Rashid, Director, NOVOAIR and journalists also took part in the discussion.
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About theFranaGroup
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theFranaGroup Clients Awarded Almost $1.5 Million in ACA Funding
by Admin | Aug 12, 2015 | News & Events
Local healthcare consulting firm assists three new Federally Qualified Health Centers receive ACA funds
ROCKFORD, IL: August 12, 2015 – US Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) announced today the awarding of $1,471,459.00 in Affordable Care Act funding to clients of theFranaGroup. Funding will help establish three new Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) in three states; one in Illinois, one in Indiana and one in Michigan. Awards ranged from $388,125 to $541,667 to each clinic in the first year. These are the initial awards which will be increased to $650,000.00 each for a total of $1,950,000.00 in the second year. HHS is committed to ensuring more people across the country have access to the quality patient-centered care they deserve. Health centers are key partners in improving access to quality, affordable primary health care services for persons in high risk populations. These awards build on the $101 million awarded to 164 new health center sites in May 2015.
FQHCs now represent the largest primary practice in the United States. They served more than 23 million patients and 87 million patient visits at 9,000 service sites in 2014 with a combined staffing of over 153,000 health care professionals. Health centers now provide primary care to one in fourteen people living in the United States.
theFranaGroup, founded in 1999, is a healthcare consulting firm that provides solutions for Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC), including a wide array of services tailored to CommunityHealthCenter operations and strategy, both before and after funding. With a proven track record of success, theFranaGroup offers a variety of services to achieve and maintain FQHC status including grant writing, strategic planning, management consulting and Board and staff development. The firm has helped clients earn more than $1 billion in direct funding and enhanced billing capabilities. In 2013 alone, theFranaGroup client clinics served more than 450,000 unduplicated patients with approximately 1,350,000 patient visits. As a result, these healthcare facilities better served their communities and improved the overall access and quality of health services provided to the most at-risk populations.
theFranaGroup Clients Awarded $1,300,000
theFranaGroup Administrative Assistant Retiring
theFranaGroup Clients Awarded $334,000
theFranaGroup Presents Scholarships to Local Students
theFranaGroup to Award Two $1,000 Scholarships
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Bensport Ltd
Rolls Royce and bentley specialist
WELCOME TO BENSPORT LTD
Rolls-Royce and Bentley Specialists with a difference.
Bensport Ltd have collectively over 100 years experience working with Derby and Crewe built Rolls-Royce & Bentley motor cars. Using this wealth of knowledge and expertise we have dedicated ourselves to producing La Sarthe. A coach built car of our own design, built using the best of traditional and modern techniques. Sitting on a lovingly restored, original R-Type or MkVI chassis, this is the Grand Tourer we believe encapsulates the spirit of Bentley in the style of the 1950s.
'Embiricos'
After the war and into the 1950s, no works cars were entered for Le Mans. However some Bentley cars were entered privately for competition in the 1930s and 50s. Eddie Hall used a 3 1/2L (later 4 1/4L) Derby built car in the RAC TT in 1934, 1935 and 1936.
The most famous, non works entered Bentley to race at Le Mans is the 'Embiricos'. On a Rolls-Royce built Derby Bentley 4 1/4 Litre chassis, unlike the old London built Bentleys, this car was never designed to be raced. Nevertheless, this pre-war car, fitted with streamlined bodywork by Pourtout in Paris, raced at Le Mans in 1949, 50 and 51. For a car that was basically outdated, it performed very well!
A return to traditional British coach building
Until the 1950s Rolls-Royce / Bentley could supply a rolling chassis and the coach builder of your choice would build your car to your specification. Bensport is once again offering this same bespoke service, not only with our own cars, but also a complete coachbuilding service all under one roof. We are one of the few companies in the UK to offer a coachbuilding service using traditional English wheeling techniques along with full in house mechanical restoration service. Keeping it all under one roof ensures adequate communication into all the interconnected aspects of building a coach-built classic car.
Why "Bensport"
When Rolls-Royce acquired Bentley Motors in 1931, they started developing the new model, the development was codenamed Peregrine. Rolls-Royce initially called the new car "Bensport" before it became known as the "Derby Bentley". For many years this was also used as their telegram address for Crewe and Park Lane.
Creating fine cars to a bespoke specification and to the exacting original standards or Bentley and Rolls Royce was never going to be easy, in fact each car takes thousands of expert hours. So, we started with one, something very special indeed.
What would a 1950 Rolls Royce Le mans beating car have looked like? Introducing the Bensport La Sarthe
Manufactured to customer's specific requirements, La Sarthe is an opportunity to own a beautifully built, bespoke classic car. We have made some careful and sympathetic improvements to the car's original 1950s engineering, making La Sarthe a pleasure in modern traffic. With its hand made in England craftsmanship and stunning all aluminium bodywork, La Sarthe is considered a sound investment as well as a prized addition to any collection.
In 1946, Rolls-Royce had replaced the 4 1/4 Derby Bentley with the new Mk6. With its independent front suspension and massively increased chassis stiffness, this car really did make the Derby Bentley feel very old.
What if the factory had entered a car for Le Mans in the 1950s? They would have used the Mk6 or the later R-Type chassis.
What would it have looked like, and could it have won?
This was our inspiration for designing La Sarthe. The car we believe could have entered Le Mans in the 1950s and won. Inspired by racing and built with the care and attention the modern Bentley marque demands.
We start with an original Bentley chassis
Starting with a carefully selected Mk6 or R-Type, the chassis is completely rebuilt to the highest standards with the latest modifications. The chassis pictured above is a LHD car. These are rare but can be found in suitable condition.
Our experts ensure the perfectly re-constructed chassis meets the demands of a La Sarthe
To see the full details on the bespoke build, including; Controls, Power steering, Controls, Engine, Transmission, Differential and more, go to Bensport Technical
Our exclusive New range from Bensport
Knowing little stops in the automotive and 'Continuation' sports car world, Bensport will be creating four New vehicles in the future, including an E-Le Sarthe and the Aurora. Details to follow on our website
To find out more about Le Sarthe and other Bensport Ltd cars, go to
www.bensportltd.co.uk/
[email protected]
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We have all had that friend, an individual who attaches himself or herself to us
without our encouragement—or approval, for that matter. For Debbie Woodruff, that friend was David Quinn. Debbie met David in the very first college accounting class that either of them took at the large public university they attended. Shortly before the instructor entered the room, David had rushed in and taken the seat to Debbie's left. Moments later, an out-of-breath David had leaned over and asked Debbie, "Is this Accounting 201?" That question was the beginning of a relationship that would last for decades.
Debbie had little trouble grasping the revenue recognition rule, accrual accounting, straight-line depreciation, and the other fundamental concepts and topics in the introductory financial accounting course. David, on the other hand, struggled to earn a "B" in the course. Debbie never questioned David's intelligence. The problem was that David simply had too many outside interests—campus politics, his social fraternity, and weekend parties—to devote sufficient time to studying for the rigorous departmental exams in ACCT 201.
Before each exam, David would ask Debbie if they could study together. Debbie was not particularly fond of David, but she agreed to tutor him while she prepared for each exam because explaining an accounting concept or principle to someone else made the given item "gel" in her own mind. During two of these tutoring sessions,
David asked Debbie for a date. The second time, Debbie told him that she did not mind studying together but that their "chemistry" made dating out of the question. David's outspoken and opinionated manner was the principal source of the chemistry problem between the two accounting majors. On most subjects—politics and economics, in particular—David had an opinion, an expert opinion, which he was more than willing to share with anyone who would listen. Debbie was much more reserved and preferred to spend her time focusing on her studies rather than debating whatever happened to be the front-page issue of the day.
Over the remainder of their college careers, Debbie and David sat side by side in most of their accounting courses and several other business courses, as well. Eventually, Debbie came to accept David's brash personality and considered him a friend—just not a close friend. Debbie maintained a near-perfect 3.9 average in her accounting courses, while David finished with a 3.2 in his accounting major. During her final year of college, Debbie accepted an audit staff position with a nearby office of a Big Eight accounting firm. As fate would have it, David accepted a job on the tax staff of that same office.
Debbie wasn't thrilled by the fact that she and David would be working for the same fi rm. She expected, however, that they would seldom see each other since she would be working primarily at client locations, while David would likely be "stuck" in the office completing tax returns and doing tax research. Debbie was right. During their first year in public accounting, she saw David only on the rare occasions that she was in the office, which was typically during the wrap-up phase of an audit to which she had been assigned.
Each time she was in the office, David would ask Debbie to go to lunch with him. Debbie always accepted. She didn't like to admit it, but the lunches served a useful purpose, namely, catching up on all the office scuttlebutt. David seemingly made it his business to know everyone else's business. He would joyfully tell Debbie which tax manager had not received a recommendation for promotion, which audit senior was interviewing for a position on a client's accounting staff, and which intra-office relationship was not "working out."
One Friday in early April, Debbie and David met for lunch to celebrate the end of her second busy season. Debbie was in the office tying up loose ends on the soon to- be-completed audit of her largest client. She was looking forward to the lunch because she hadn't spoken to David since the office Christmas party almost four
months earlier.
On their way to a nearby restaurant, David told Debbie that three of his friends on the tax staff of another Big Eight accounting fi rm would be meeting them for lunch. Debbie realized that the presence of those individuals would likely divert David's attention and deprive her of the latest news from the office grapevine. So, she resigned herself to a having a boring lunch. She could not have been more wrong.
During lunch, the four tax professionals swapped war stories regarding the latest returns on which they had worked. Debbie found the topic of the conversation inappropriate. In her mind, it was best to never discuss professional engagements, audit or otherwise, over lunch in a public setting. You just never knew who might be eavesdropping
at an adjoining table. Debbie became particularly uncomfortable when David began discussing the tax return of a wealthy local businessman who had previously served several terms on the city council.
"Yeah, you wouldn't believe the investments this guy has," David said to the friend on his left. "The guy is loaded. And I mean . . . loaded!" Debbie cringed. Anyone within 20 feet could have heard David's emphatic pronouncement. She attempted to change the subject of the conversation, but David refused to yield the floor.
"No, wait, Debbie, I gotta tell these guys about the latest racket this dude is running." Debbie cringed once more. "You wouldn't believe what he wants us to do. He wants to write off the cost of his daughter's wedding as an entertainment expense. And, you know what? I think we are going to let him do it!"
Debbie couldn't take it anymore. "David, you shouldn't be talking about this at lunch. You don't know who is listening."
"Come on, Debbie. No one's listening."
"David. I'm serious. This is inappropriate."
"What?" David was obviously surprised that his normally meek friend was challenging him. Over the five years that he had known Debbie, she had never behaved in this manner. He was not only surprised but also somewhat miffed that Debbie was running the risk of embarrassing him in front of three fellow tax professionals. "Look around us, Debbie. These people aren't listening to us. Besides, they are all strangers."
"David, that's the point. These people are strangers. And how do you know that they aren't listening? Isn't it possible that one of them might call up your client and tell him what they heard?"
David leaned back in his chair and shook his head. "Oh yeah, I'm sure Grandma over there wrote down every word I just said."
Debbie was flabbergasted at her friend's flippant attitude toward what she considered a very important topic. "David, does the phrase 'client confidentiality' mean anything to you? Surely you tripped across it when studying for the CPA exam?"
"Oh, so you are going to bring up the CPA exam? I guess you are trying to embarrass me in front of my friends. Just because you passed that stupid thing the first time and I am still working on it doesn't make you an expert on ethics issues."
"David. You know that's not what I meant," Debbie responded indignantly. "Even if 'Grandma' isn't listening, you are talking about sensitive issues regarding a tax client with three guys from a competing office."
"Oh, I see. My buddies here are going back to their office to report me to the state board, right?" David was no longer miffed; he was angry. "Now, you've gone too far, Debbie. My friends would never do anything to get me into trouble." He then added in a sarcastic tone, "If anyone 'reports me' it will be you, Miss Self-Righteous."
Debbie reached into her purse and counted out the money for her part of the bill. She then laid the cash on the table in front of her and, without speaking to David or his friends, left the restaurant.
David and Debbie did not speak again until their office's annual July Fourth golf tournament. To his credit, David approached Debbie and said that he hoped they could put their unpleasant encounter behind them.
"I'm sorry it happened. Why don't we just forget it, Debbie? We've been friends for a long time. There's no reason we can't get over this."
Debbie stepped forward and gave David a light hug and told him that they could be friends once more. Despite the nice overture by David, in the future Debbie made every effort to avoid him when she was working in the office.
ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS
1. Explain the meaning of the phrase "client confidentiality" in the context of a CPA's ethical responsibilities. In your opinion, did David Quinn violate the accounting profession's client confidentiality rule? (5 MARKS)
2. Assume the role of Debbie Woodruff. How would you have handled the situation that arose in the restaurant? (5 MARKS)
3. Did Debbie have a responsibility to report David's behavior to a superior in her practice office or to anyone else? Why or why not? Did Debbie have a responsibility to determine whether her fi rm's tax department was providing appropriate professional advice regarding the deductibility of the entertainment expenses being claimed by David's client? (15 MARKS)
Answer 1 Client confidentiality is the principle that an individual or an organization should not disclose client's material... View the full answer
CATEGORY Accounting, Business, Managerial Accounting
The question is attached note: advanced managerial accounting article analyses: Collect and analyze newspaper or magazine article relatin... Hello i need some help finishing up my master budget for my managerial acco... My class is managerial accounting need answer n question for thursday A) The following calendar year-end information is taken from the December 3... please assist with a managerial accounting case report,Rough answers from A...
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Blessing Okagbare Didn't Win 100m Race at IAAF World Championships – But She's Still a Champion
Blessing Okagbare Didn't Win 100m Race at IAAF World Championships - But She's Still a Champion
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Although Nigerian sprint champion, Blessing Okagbare, did not win gold in the 100 m final at the IAAF World Championship in Beijing, China, she's still a champion.
Several news sources describe how she came last in the women's race, and how Jamaica's Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce won the race, while European champion, Dafne Schippers came in second place, and American Tori Bowie finished third.
Despite her loss in this race, Okagbare is still considered Nigeria's fastest woman in the history of the world championships. For this reason, she is still a champion.
Besides, this isn't the end of the 2015 IAAF road for her, as the 200m and the 4x100m races are still forthcoming.
Go Blessing!
Related Topics:Blessing OkagbareDafne SchippersIAAFIAAF World Championship
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INEC to Conduct Voter Registration in Kogi & Bayelsa From Sept. 2 to Sept. 7
Concerned_Boyfriend
So are we celebrating her loss or what's the purpose of this news ?.
Fabulous B
Go blessing! I saw it in news this afternoon but wasn't disappointed at all. She has really made the country proud different times and she's still gonna do I it. Make yourself proud and we're proud of you. All the very best. Rooting for you ble ble
okagbare really disappointed us all. To see her coming last is shameful and she does not stand any chance in the 200m nor 4×100
Ms_Oyinkansola
Dear Christian, do u know how many times Serena has lost matches ? but did that deter her from making it back to the top? Dear Blessing, u can still do it. we are rooting for you. find your fast!!! the best time to cheer people (to victory) is when they are at low points, they need you more then.
Missy J
Lol..BN its not by force to report news.
xplorenollywood.com
Dear BN, i think a headline such as Blessing Okagbare,,, Still a champion would have been ideal. Also the write up should have had more focus and information. Maybe kick off with the state of the Nigerian track and field, how she started off her sprinting journey, support from the state government and the likes, this will further buttress why she is a champion not just her loss of this race. Also, is this a trend you intend to continue for other sporting events or is this just for Okagbare, that way we understand where you are coming from when these sort of news pops up.
Abeni Ebony
keechi
Man, I won't lie, I was disappointed bcos I was expecting her to destroy coz that's what she's been doing in previous races. BUT this is just a minor setback. She'll rise again on RIO! I believe in Blessing!
iyiscopy
yea….go blessing!!!
Yea, I have to agree. The Headline on this one was not tactful. 🙁 BN
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Nigeria wants to repay half of missing $150,000 to IAAF |
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d. that the Care Provider has adequate infrastructure, facilities and staffs to take care of the Customer while the Customer is rendered the Healthcare Services by the Care Provider.
e. that the Care Provider shall take utmost care in maintaining the dignity and integrity of their profession and shall not do anything which is against the accepted principles of humanity or morality.
f. that the Care Provider will delegate Administrators to access and update information on the Website on behalf of the Care Provider and to receive inquiries submitted on the Website. The Care Provider claims responsibility and liability for any information provided by the Administrator or usage of the Website by the delegated Administrator.
14.3. Mya disclaims any and all responsibility or liability for the accuracy, completeness, reliability or availability of Customer's data / information collated by Mya. The Customer's data / information is provided "as is" and is available without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied or statutory.
Mya's relevance algorithm for the Care Providers is a fully automated system that lists the Care Providers, their profile and information regarding their Practice on its Website. These listings of Care Providers do not represent any fixed objective ranking or endorsement by Mya. Mya will not be liable for any change in the relevance of the Care Providers on search results, which may take place from time to time. The listing of Care Providers will be based on automated computation of the various factors. Such factors may change from time to time, in order to improve the listing algorithm. Mya in no event will be held responsible for the accuracy and the relevancy of the listing order of the Care Providers on the Website.
The services, the website the system, access to the system and the information contained on the system is provided "as is" and "as available" basis without any warranty of any kind, expressed or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. You are solely responsible for any and all acts or omissions taken or made in reliance on the system or the information in the system, including inaccurate or incomplete information. it is expressly agreed that in no event shall we be liable for any special, indirect, consequential, remote or exemplary damages, including but not limited to, loss of profits or revenues, loss of use, or loss of information or data, whether a claim for any such liability or damages is premised upon breach of contract, breach of warranty, negligence, strict liability, or any other theory of liability, even if we have been apprised of the possibility or likelihood of such damages occurring. We disclaim any and all liability for erroneous transmissions and loss of service resulting from communication failures by telecommunication service providers or the system.
You acknowledge that other users have access to the system and are receiving our services. Such other users have committed to comply with these terms & conditions and our policies and procedures concerning use of the system; however, the actions of such other users are beyond our control. Accordingly, we do not assume any liability for or relating to any impairment of the privacy, security, confidentiality, integrity, availability, or restricted use of any information on the system resulting from any users' actions or failures to act.
NOTWITHSTANDING THE OTHER TERMS OF THESE TERMS, IN THE EVENT MYA CARE SHOULD HAVE ANY LIABILITY TO YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY LOSS, HARM OR DAMAGE, YOU AND MYA CARE AGREE THAT SUCH LIABILITY SHALL UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES EXCEED THE VALUE OF ANY FEES RECEIVED BY MYA CARE FROM YOU IN THE PRECEDING TWELVE. YOU AND MYA CARE AGREE THAT THE FOREGOING LIMITATION OF LIABILITY IS AN AGREED ALLOCATION OF RISK BETWEEN YOU AND MYA CARE.
18.1. The Parties shall indemnify, hold harmless and defend each other and its shareholders, officers, directors, employees and affiliates from and against all and any charges, claims, damages, costs, suits, judgments, decrees, losses, expenses (including reasonable legal fees), penalties, demands liabilities and causes of action, of any kind or stature ("Claims"), based upon, relating to, or arising out of a breach or claimed breach or failure of any of the covenants, representations or warranties under this Agreement.
18.2. The Care Provider shall also be liable to indemnify Mya and its shareholders, officers, directors, employees and affiliates for any unlawful disclosure of information of the Customer, damage, death, injury, other mishap or any complications that require additional treatment caused to the Customer due to the negligence of the Care Provider and/or its staff performing their duty or fulfilling their obligations under this Agreement. Further, Care Provider shall also be liable to indemnify and hold harmless Mya from Claims arising due to breach of or failure to protect the confidentiality of protected health information of the Customers.
18.3. It is expressly clarified that Mya shall not be liable for or be made a party to any claim that maybe made against the Care Provider by the Customer and/or his relatives or guardians concerning the Healthcare Services provided by the Care Provider.
18.4. Notwithstanding what is stated hereinabove, Mya shall not be liable for any liability for incidental, consequential, indirect, special, punitive damages or liabilities of any kind, or for loss of revenue, loss of business or other financial loss arising out of or in connection with this Agreement, regardless of the form of action, whether in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise, even if any representative of a Party has been advised of the possibility of such damages. Mya's aggregate liability arising or accruing under this Agreement for any damages shall not exceed USD 500 [Five Hundred USD].
19.1. The Parties agree to maintain and hold in strictest confidence, confidential information with respect to the affairs of the each other. "Confidential Information" means any non-public information that relates to the actual or anticipated business or research and development of the Parties including, but not limited to, this Agreement and its terms thereof, the scheme of the Arrangement between the Parties, the business model of Mya and its working methodology, Customer data, research, product plans or other information regarding either Party's products or services and markets therefore, customer lists and customers, finances or other business information. The Parties shall however be permitted to disclose the Confidential Information of the other Party to the Care Provider and/or the Customer to the extent required for the purpose of this Arrangement.
19.2. Care Provider also agrees to maintain adequate administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect the confidentiality of protected health information of the Customers. Any breach of security or unlawful disclosure of health information of a Customer shall be reported to Mya within two (2) days of the learning of such breach or disclosure and may be a ground for termination of this Agreement.
19.3. It is clarified that Mya shall not be responsible for any claim arising under this Clause due to breach of Confidentiality by the Care Provider and Care Provider shall be liable to indemnify Mya for any losses arising as a result of the same.
19.4. The provision on confidentiality under this Clause is binding and shall survive the termination of this Agreement.
Either Party may terminate this Agreement at will, after giving 15 days prior written notice of the same to the Other Party.
a. It is clarified that the termination of the Agreement will not affect the Healthcare Services to be provided by the Care Provider to the Customers.
b. Exercise of the right of termination shall not prejudice legal rights or remedies of the Parties to claim any outstanding monies arising up to the date of termination of this Agreement.
21.1 Any claim, controversy, difference or dispute between the Parties shall be attempted to be resolved through mutual negotiations within a period of 30 days from the date of such dispute arising.
21.2 If the dispute is not resolved by negotiation within the above referred 30 days, the Parties shall be bound to submit all disputes and differences howsoever arising out of or in connection with this Agreement to arbitration by sole arbitrator appointed by mutual agreement of the Parties, or in the absence of such an agreement within 15 days after a Party first proposes an arbitrator, the dispute shall be resolved by an arbitral tribunal composed of three arbitrators, one of whom shall be appointed by each Party within 15 days after expiry of the 15 days period. The third arbitrator shall be selected by the mutual agreement of the first two arbitrators within 15 days after the last of the first two arbitrators has been appointed. The place of arbitration shall be England and Wales.
The language to be used in the arbitration proceedings shall be English. The award of the arbitration proceedings will be final and binding on all Parties to the Agreement.
This Agreement is governed by and is to be construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales. The courts of England and Wales shall have exclusive jurisdiction with respect to all actions arising out of or in relation to this Agreement, its performance or breach thereof.
The Company respects the intellectual property rights of others and expects the users of its services to do the same. If you believe that any content appearing in the Product has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please forward the following information to the Company.
• A statement by you, under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner's behalf.
The Courts of England and Wales shall have exclusive jurisdiction with respect to this Agreement.
24.1. Survival: Termination of this Agreement will not terminate, affect, or impair any rights, obligations, or liabilities of either Party, which may accrue prior to such termination.
24.2. Non-Solicit: During the Term of this Agreement, Either Party will not, without the Other Party's prior written consent, directly or indirectly, solicit or encourage any employee or contractor of the Other Party or its affiliates to terminate employment with, or cease providing services to, the Other Party or its affiliates.
24.3. Assignment: This Agreement shall not be assigned, in whole or in part, by the Care Provider, without the prior written consent of Mya. However, Mya may assign this Agreement, at its discretion, to such affiliate/s as it may deem fit without prior notification to the Care Provider. Further, this Agreement shall continue and will remain unaffected by reason of change in control of Mya. This Agreement will be binding upon and will inure to the benefit of the Parties and their representatives and respective successors and permitted assigns.
For the purposes of this Agreement, 'change in control' shall mean the direct or indirect change in the ownership, operation or control of Mya whether resulting from merger, acquisition, share transfer / subscription, consolidation or otherwise.
24.4. Waivers: No Party will be deemed to have waived any of its rights, powers or remedies hereunder unless that Party approves such waiver in writing.
24.5. Entire Agreement: This Agreement, including any and all attachments/Exhibits hereto, constitutes the entire agreement between the Parties relating to the subject matter hereof, and all prior negotiations and understandings, whether oral or written, are superseded hereby.
24.6. Severability: Each section of this Agreement is severable. If any provision is held unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, such ruling shall not impair any other provision that remains intelligible and all other provisions shall continue in effect.
24.7. Counterparts: This Agreement may be executed in counterparts, with each counterpart being considered as the original Agreement.
24.8. Compliance with Laws: Each Party shall comply with all applicable laws and regulations in performing its obligations under this Agreement and shall be individually liable for any and all non- compliance of any regulation/law/guideline/order etc. on its part.
24.9. Notices: All notices required or desired to be given hereunder will be in writing and can be either be delivered personally or be sent by electronic communication (with a copy by ordinary mail) or by registered or certified mail. If sent by electronic communication, notices will be deemed to have been given on the same day on which the notice is sent. If notice is sent by registered or certified mail or is delivered personally, it shall be deemed to have been given on the day on which the notice is received or when delivery is refused. |
// Copyright (c) 2014-2015 Eberhard Beilharz
// This software is licensed under the MIT license (http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using BuildDependency.Artifacts;
using BuildDependency.Manager.Tools;
using BuildDependency.TeamCity;
using BuildDependency.TeamCity.RestClasses;
using Eto.Drawing;
using Eto.Forms;
namespace BuildDependency.Manager.Dialogs
{
public class ImportDialog: Dialog<bool>
{
private ImportDialogModel _model;
private readonly ComboBox _serversCombo;
private readonly ComboBox _projectCombo;
private readonly ComboBox _configCombo;
private readonly GridView _gridView;
private readonly CheckBox _win32;
private readonly CheckBox _win64;
private readonly CheckBox _linux32;
private readonly CheckBox _linux64;
private readonly SelectableFilterCollection<ArtifactTemplate> _dataStore;
private readonly Spinner _spinner;
public ImportDialog(List<Server> servers)
{
_serversCombo = new ComboBox();
_projectCombo = new ComboBox();
_configCombo = new ComboBox();
_win32 = new CheckBox {
Text = "Win 32-bit",
Checked = true
};
_win64 = new CheckBox
{
Text = "Win 64-bit",
Checked = true
};
_linux32 = new CheckBox {
Text = "Linux 32-bit",
Checked = true
};
_linux64 = new CheckBox {
Text = "Linux 64-bit",
Checked = true
};
_spinner = new Spinner {
Size = new Size(30, 30),
Visible = false
};
_gridView = new GridView();
_dataStore = new SelectableFilterCollection<ArtifactTemplate>(_gridView);
Init(servers);
}
private async void Init(List<Server> servers)
{
_model = new ImportDialogModel();
_serversCombo.SelectedIndexChanged += OnServerChanged;
_serversCombo.DataStore = servers;
_projectCombo.SelectedIndexChanged += OnProjectChanged;
_projectCombo.DataStore = await _model.GetProjects();
_configCombo.SelectedIndexChanged += OnConfigChanged;
var importButton = new Button {
Text = "Import"
};
importButton.Click += (sender, e) =>
{
Result = true;
Close();
};
var cancelButton = new Button {
Text = "Cancel"
};
cancelButton.Click += (sender, e) => Close();
_gridView.DataStore = _dataStore;
_gridView.Columns.Add(new GridColumn {
HeaderText = "Artifacts source",
DataCell = new TextBoxCell("Source"),
Sortable = true,
Resizable = true,
AutoSize = true,
});
_gridView.Columns.Add(new GridColumn {
HeaderText = "Artifacts path",
DataCell = new TextBoxCell("PathRules"),
Sortable = true,
Resizable = true,
AutoSize = true,
Editable = true
});
_gridView.GridLines = GridLines.Both;
_gridView.ShowHeader = true;
_gridView.Height = 300;
Title = "Import dependencies from TeamCity";
Width = 600;
Height = 600;
Resizable = true;
var content = new TableLayout {
ClientSize = new Size(600, 600),
Padding = new Padding(10, 10, 10, 5),
Spacing = new Size(5, 5),
Rows = {
new TableRow(new StackLayout {
Spacing = 5,
Orientation = Orientation.Horizontal,
Items = {
new Label {
Text = "Server:"
},
_serversCombo
}
}),
new TableRow(new Label {
Text = "Condition to apply to all dependencies:"
}),
new TableRow(new StackLayout {
Spacing = 5,
Orientation = Orientation.Horizontal,
Items = {
_win32,
_win64,
_linux32,
_linux64
}
}),
new TableRow(new Label {
Text = "Project"
}),
new TableRow(_projectCombo),
new TableRow(new Label {
Text = "Build Configurations"
}),
new TableRow(_configCombo),
new TableRow(new Label {
Text = "Dependencies"
}),
new TableRow(_gridView) {
ScaleHeight = true
},
new TableRow(new Label {
Text = "Click Import to import the dependencies of the selected configuration."
}),
new TableRow(new StackLayout {
Orientation = Orientation.Horizontal,
Spacing = 5,
Items = {
_spinner,
null,
importButton,
cancelButton
}
})
}
};
Content = content;
DefaultButton = importButton;
AbortButton = cancelButton;
_serversCombo.SelectedIndex = 0;
_projectCombo.SelectedIndex = 0;
}
private async void OnServerChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
using (new WaitSpinner(_spinner))
{
_model.TeamCity = _serversCombo.SelectedValue as TeamCityApi;
var projects = await _model.GetProjects();
if (projects == null)
return;
_projectCombo.DataStore = projects;
_projectCombo.SelectedIndex = 0;
}
}
private async void OnProjectChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
using (new WaitSpinner(_spinner))
{
var project = _projectCombo.SelectedValue as Project;
if (project == null)
return;
_configCombo.DataStore = await _model.GetConfigurationsForProjectTask(project.Id);
_configCombo.SelectedIndex = 0;
}
}
private async void OnConfigChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
using (new WaitSpinner(_spinner))
{
var config = _configCombo.SelectedValue as BuildType;
if (config == null)
return;
SelectedBuildConfig = config.Id;
await Task.Run(async () =>
{
_dataStore.Clear();
var artifactsTask = _model.LoadArtifacts(config.Id);
var depTask = _model.TeamCity.GetArtifactDependenciesAsync(config.Id);
await artifactsTask;
var dependencies = await depTask;
if (dependencies == null)
return;
foreach (var dep in dependencies)
{
if (dep == null || dep.Properties == null || dep.BuildType == null)
continue;
var artifact = new ArtifactTemplate(_model.TeamCity, new ArtifactProperties(dep.Properties), dep.BuildType);
_dataStore.Add(artifact);
}
});
}
}
public string SelectedBuildConfig { get; private set; }
public Conditions Condition
{
get
{
return AddOrEditArtifactDependencyDialog.GetConditionFromCheckBox(_win32, _win64, _linux32, _linux64);
}
}
public Server Server
{
get
{
return _serversCombo.SelectedValue as Server;
}
}
}
}
|
Brant Crenshaw grew up fishing from pangas in Mexico's Sea of Cortez. Those early experiences instantly hooked him, spurring a lifelong passion for the sea. Over the past 15 years, he's run several boats from 36 to 68 feet, fishing San Diego and points south of Zihuatanejo, Mexico. Currently, most of Brant's fishing takes place out of Puerto Vallarta where he spends approximately 50 days a year working on private boats. Whether it's delivering yachts to or from Mexico, firing iron at yellowtail, or slow-trolling live bait for marlin and yellowfin, Brant's philosophy is simple — keep your eyes open and you will see something that you've never seen before every time you're on the water. Brant has been involved with BD for several years, pitching in on sales and marketing efforts. |
Parafia Najświętszej Maryi Panny Wniebowziętej w Drzeczkowie – parafia rzymskokatolicka, znajdująca się w archidiecezji poznańskiej, w dekanacie rydzyńskim.
W parafii posługują księża archidiecezjalni. Parafia posiada kościół filialny w miejscowości Popowo Wonieskie.
Proboszczowie
Włodzimierz Lisek (2010–2022)
ks. Łukasz Ruciński (2022– )
Przypisy
Parafie archidiecezji poznańskiej
Parafie pod wezwaniem Wniebowzięcia Najświętszej Maryi Panny
Religia w gminie Osieczna (województwo wielkopolskie)
Drzeczkowo |
Ryan has been diagnosed with Group Strep A, which attacks your blood stream and muscles and can make your body go septic if not treated.
On Thursday night, December 15, Ryan began to complain of a pain/charlie horse in his left calf and right arm. At the time, we thought it may have been from shoveling earlier in the day.
On Friday, December 16, Ryan didn't feel well and had diarrhea and vomiting and laid in bed most of the day - we both assumed it was either the flu or food poisening. Around 1:30, when I went to check on him, he seemed to be breathing heavy and his tongue almost seemed swollen to me. I told him I thought he needed to get to a Doctor to be checked out. I think Ryan was just feeling so weak and that just laying in bed was the only thing he could do. After I helped him get dressed, down the stairs and into the car and back in to get Riley, it was about 4:30 and we were headed to Quick Care. After getting a few blocks from our house, I decided I probably should just go to the Emergency Room. I then called my Dad to meet me there to get our car and go get Carson and Allie from daycare. Upon entering the Emergency Room and looking him over, they immediately rushed him back to the room and numerous Doctors and Nurses began with IV's, tests and monitors. At this point, they began administering 4 of the strongest antibiotics that they have to potentially fight off any infection. While much of Friday night is a blur, between watching the staff care for my very sick husband and trying to care for my 2 week old baby boy, it was at this point that realized how serious this was. His kidneys had failed and he was in multi organ shutdown as his body was trying to fight off some infection. They still didn't know where it was or what had caused the infection. At one point they thought it might be meningitis, but were unsure. There were talks about transferring him to Loveland, Denver or Cheyenne because the ICU in Scottsbluff didn't have any beds open, but due to the winter storm all of the transpiration was grounded until the morning. In the mean time, a room had opened up in the ICU here. After the ICU Doctor reviewed Ryan's case, he recommended that Ryan be intubated and placed on a ventilator to give his body some rest and to let the machine do the breathing. After discussion and some things I never though I would need to tell my husband this soon, we agreed if the Doctors felt that was best for Ryan that we would proceed. Before being intubated, we were able to bring Carson and Allie up to see Dad. After a short version of Jingle Bells and some get wells and I love you's, then put in the breathing tube and moved him to ICU around 3:30 am.
On Saturday, December 17, The Doctor indicated that all of Ryan's vitals are either stable or improved from when he was admitted on Friday night and that the culture came back positive for Group Strep A. The Doctor seemed relieved that they now know what it is and can begin fighting the infection and bringing Ryan back to full recovery. He also mentioned that the timing of when I got him to the hospital and when the Emergency Room Doctor began the antibiotics may have saved his life. Praise the Lord! As the day progressed, he spiked a fever which showed the his body was still trying to fight the infection. On Saturday evening, Ryan began writing us notes on a clipboard, which was really good to see.
On Sunday, December 18, after taking the kids to mass and breakfast, Dad and I took them to the hospital to visit Ryan. This kids continue to amaze me with how they comprehend that their Dad is sick, but that he is in the hospital and the Doctors and Nurses and trying to get him feeling better. The kidney Doctor was in and indicated that his kidneys were responding and that he didn't feel like we would need to do dialysis at all. He also asked for his glasses and for me to turn on football, so I figure he must've been feeling better. His leg and arm sores are starting to blister, which is expected. They hope to leave them to pop on their own. They are almost like huge burns and will need wound care. He still is on the ventilator but they are beginning to wean him off that in hopes it will be removed tomorrow. When the Dr told him he was doing a good job and had a lot to fight for to get better he held up 3 fingers...... his 3 kids at home😊 Amen....brought tears to my eyes!
On Monday, December 19, his Kidneys continue to respond. They began weaning him off the ventilator and his breathing tube was removed at 11:15. Throughout the day his voice continued to get stronger. The Speech therapist came in today and he passed the swallow test and has been cleared to drink water and order food. The physical therapist also came in and did some basic leg and arm movements with them. The kids were up tonight and I think it was really good for them to hear Ryan tell them that he loves them!
On Tuesday, December 20, his kidneys continue to improve. Tuesday was a rough day for Ryan, lots of sleeping and resting in between nurses and Doctor visits. He has been struggling with the hiccups which seem to give him pain and the annoyance of them keeps him from being able to fully rest. Finally got a medicine to help with the hiccups which appeared to help, but later realize they still come and go. He also had his wounds on his arm and leg wrapped today to help prevent tearing of the blisters when he moves and also to protect from infection. |
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Orange is a deep-water port to the Gulf of Mexico, and shipbuilding and Navy involvement contributed to the growth of Orange's economy throughout its history. The city also boasts a strong chemical industry that is one of the area's leading sources of employment and revenue.
Orange is a city rich in history and culture. Hobbyists and historians alike can find many interesting places to explore. The Stark Museum of Art contains an expansive collection of 19th and 20th century Western American art. This museum brings the American West alive, showcasing items such as manuscripts and artifacts from a variety of people who lived in the American West, including Native Americans. Architecture buffs will enjoy the W.H. Stark House, a restored 1894 home built in the Victorian style. The First Presbyterian Church is also a beautiful building and example of Greek Revival architecture. Orange is also home to a community theater and several other local groups and businesses.
Allied Van Lines rises above other Orange moving companies because of our dedication to customer satisfaction. We have 85 years of experience in doing our best to ensure that your moving needs are met. Our experienced agents will ensure your move goes as smoothly as possible so that you are not burdened with unnecessary stress during an already difficult transition. Our services include securing movers, packing, providing packing materials, transporting cars and boats, storage, and anything else you may require during your move. Choose Allied Van Lines as your moving company, and we're sure you'll thank yourself later after getting settled in at your brand new home.
Contact Allied Van Lines today for a free moving quote or to arrange moving services! |
package com.citrix.netscaler.nitro.resource.config.wi;
import com.citrix.netscaler.nitro.resource.base.*;
import com.citrix.netscaler.nitro.service.nitro_service;
import com.citrix.netscaler.nitro.service.options;
import com.citrix.netscaler.nitro.util.*;
import com.citrix.netscaler.nitro.exception.nitro_exception;
class wipackage_response extends base_response
{
public wipackage wipackage;
}
/**
* Configuration for Web Interface resource.
*/
public class wipackage extends base_resource
{
private String jre;
private String wi;
private String maxsites;
/**
* <pre>
* Complete path to the JRE tar file.
You can use the Diablo Latte JRE version 1.6.0-7 for 64-bit FreeBSD 6.x/amd64 platform available on the FreeBSD Foundation web site.
Alternatively, you can use OpenJDK6 package for FreeBSD 6.x/amd63.The Java package can be downloaded from http://ftp.riken.jp/pub/FreeBSD/ports/amd64/packages-6-stable/java/openjdk6-b17_2.tbz or http://www.freebsdfoundation.org/cgi-bin/download?download=diablo-jdk-freebsd6.amd64.1.6.0.07.02.tbz.<br> Default value: "file://tmp/diablo-jdk-freebsd6.amd64.1.6.0.07.02.tbz"<br> Minimum length = 1<br> Maximum length = 255
* </pre>
*/
public void set_jre(String jre) throws Exception{
this.jre = jre;
}
/**
* <pre>
* Complete path to the JRE tar file.
You can use the Diablo Latte JRE version 1.6.0-7 for 64-bit FreeBSD 6.x/amd64 platform available on the FreeBSD Foundation web site.
Alternatively, you can use OpenJDK6 package for FreeBSD 6.x/amd63.The Java package can be downloaded from http://ftp.riken.jp/pub/FreeBSD/ports/amd64/packages-6-stable/java/openjdk6-b17_2.tbz or http://www.freebsdfoundation.org/cgi-bin/download?download=diablo-jdk-freebsd6.amd64.1.6.0.07.02.tbz.<br> Default value: "file://tmp/diablo-jdk-freebsd6.amd64.1.6.0.07.02.tbz"<br> Minimum length = 1<br> Maximum length = 255
* </pre>
*/
public String get_jre() throws Exception {
return this.jre;
}
/**
* <pre>
* Complete path to the Web Interface tar file for installing the Web Interface on the NetScaler appliance. This file includes Apache Tomcat Web server. The file name has the following format: nswi-<version number>.tgz (for example, nswi-1.5.tgz).<br> Default value: "http://citrix.com/downloads/nswi-1.7.tgz"<br> Minimum length = 1<br> Maximum length = 255
* </pre>
*/
public void set_wi(String wi) throws Exception{
this.wi = wi;
}
/**
* <pre>
* Complete path to the Web Interface tar file for installing the Web Interface on the NetScaler appliance. This file includes Apache Tomcat Web server. The file name has the following format: nswi-<version number>.tgz (for example, nswi-1.5.tgz).<br> Default value: "http://citrix.com/downloads/nswi-1.7.tgz"<br> Minimum length = 1<br> Maximum length = 255
* </pre>
*/
public String get_wi() throws Exception {
return this.wi;
}
/**
* <pre>
* Maximum number of Web Interface sites that can be created on the NetScaler appliance; changes the amount of RAM reserved for Web Interface usage; changing its value results in restart of Tomcat server and invalidates any existing Web Interface sessions.<br> Possible values = 3, 25, 50, 100, 200, 500
* </pre>
*/
public void set_maxsites(String maxsites) throws Exception{
this.maxsites = maxsites;
}
/**
* <pre>
* Maximum number of Web Interface sites that can be created on the NetScaler appliance; changes the amount of RAM reserved for Web Interface usage; changing its value results in restart of Tomcat server and invalidates any existing Web Interface sessions.<br> Possible values = 3, 25, 50, 100, 200, 500
* </pre>
*/
public String get_maxsites() throws Exception {
return this.maxsites;
}
/**
* <pre>
* converts nitro response into object and returns the object array in case of get request.
* </pre>
*/
protected base_resource[] get_nitro_response(nitro_service service, String response) throws Exception {
wipackage[] resources = new wipackage[1];
wipackage_response result = (wipackage_response) service.get_payload_formatter().string_to_resource(wipackage_response.class, response);
if(result.errorcode != 0) {
if (result.errorcode == 444) {
service.clear_session();
}
if(result.severity != null)
{
if (result.severity.equals("ERROR"))
throw new nitro_exception(result.message,result.errorcode);
}
else
{
throw new nitro_exception(result.message,result.errorcode);
}
}
resources[0] = result.wipackage;
return resources;
}
/**
* <pre>
* Returns the value of object identifier argument
* </pre>
*/
protected String get_object_name() {
return null;
}
/**
* Use this API to Install wipackage.
*/
public static base_response Install(nitro_service client, wipackage resource) throws Exception {
wipackage Installresource = new wipackage();
Installresource.jre = resource.jre;
Installresource.wi = resource.wi;
Installresource.maxsites = resource.maxsites;
return Installresource.perform_operation(client);
}
public static class maxsitesEnum {
public static final String _3 = "3";
public static final String _25 = "25";
public static final String _50 = "50";
public static final String _100 = "100";
public static final String _200 = "200";
public static final String _500 = "500";
}
}
|
Businesses are required to file a bond with the City of Albuquerque Department of Municipal Development (the "Obligee") to activate their license. The bond protects the Obligee by transferring to a surety bond company the cost of ensuring the public is compensated for damages resulting from a licensed business breaking licensing laws.
How much does the City of Albuquerque Department of Municipal Development Payment of Permit Fees for Department of Municipal Development bond cost?
City of Albuquerque Department of Municipal Development Payment of Permit Fees for Department of Municipal Development bonds cost 0.5% of the bond amount.
Is a Credit Check Required for City of Albuquerque Department of Municipal Development Payment of Permit Fees for Department of Municipal Development Bonds?
Credit checks are not required for the City of Albuquerque Department of Municipal Development Payment of Permit Fees for Department of Municipal Development bond.
Why is the City of Albuquerque Department of Municipal Development Payment of Permit Fees for Department of Municipal Development bond required?
Businesses are required to purchase and file a bond with the City of Albuquerque Department of Municipal Development to activate their license. The bond protects the Obligee by transferring to a surety bond company the cost of ensuring the public is compensated for damages resulting from the failure of a licensed business complying with the provisions of licensing laws.
How does the City of Albuquerque Department of Municipal Development Payment of Permit Fees for Department of Municipal Development bond work?
City of Albuquerque Department of Municipal Development Payment of Permit Fees for Department of Municipal Development bonds must be issued by an insurance carrier admitted by the NM Department of Insurance. The insurance company issuing any surety bond, such as the City of Albuquerque Department of Municipal Development Payment of Permit Fees for Department of Municipal Development bond, will also be referred to as the "surety company" or the "bond company". The business is referred to as the Principal, the surety bond company as the Obligor and the City of Albuquerque Department of Municipal Development as the Obligee. |
Q: Kubernetes DNS resolution issues with CoreDNS and Ubuntu 18.04 cluster deployed with Kubeadm I have a Kubernetes cluster deployed on an OVH baremetal servers. Cluster was deployed using Kubeadm and Operating system is Ubuntu 18.04.5 LTS. Calico is used as the CNI and I'm having intermittent DNS resolution issues with my PODs.
here is the output of the DNS resolution in a pod
bash-5.0# nslookup s3.amazonaws.com
Server: 10.96.0.10
Address: 10.96.0.10:53
Non-authoritative answer:
Name: s3.amazonaws.com
Address: 52.217.88.54
Non-authoritative answer:
bash-5.0# nslookup s3.amazonaws.com
Server: 10.96.0.10
Address: 10.96.0.10:53
Name: s3.amazonaws.com
Address: 52.217.88.54
bash-5.0# nslookup s3.amazonaws.com
;; connection timed out; no servers could be reached
bash-5.0# nslookup s3.amazonaws.com
;; connection timed out; no servers could be reached
bash-5.0# nslookup s3.amazonaws.com
;; connection timed out; no servers could be reached
bash-5.0# nslookup s3.amazonaws.com
Server: 10.96.0.10
Address: 10.96.0.10:53
Non-authoritative answer:
Non-authoritative answer:
Name: s3.amazonaws.com
Address: 52.217.102.142
I know some issues are there with Ubuntu and kubeadm clusters but any comment or answer was not able to fix my issues. Initially, I felt that this is because of the 127.0.0.1 nameserver entry in my /etc/resolv.conf file. If I update the file it is being updated by the /run/systemd/resolve/resolv.conf file and I have stopped the systemd-resolved.service and changed the DNS servers to google DNS. Even after that, I didn't see any improvements. If I changed the /etc/resolv.conf file inside the pod working as expected.
I also removed the files entry in the nsswitch.conf file to check the DNS servers directly as a troubleshooting step and it worked soon after the change and new pod is having the issue again.
here is the host entry
cat /etc/nsswitch.conf | grep hosts
hosts: dns
Since the intermittent connectivity I can confirm that no Firewall port issues and I'm clueless about this issue. Can anyone please assist me to fix this.
A: You can add this ConfiMap
apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
name: kube-dns
namespace: kube-system
data:
upstreamNameservers: |
["8.8.8.8"]
This will redirect the dns resolution to Google DNS
https://blog.yaakov.online/kubernetes-getting-pods-to-talk-to-the-internet
|
If you liked this show, you should follow AGodlyWomansView.
Special Guest & speaker: Pastor Mary J. White,First Zion Baptist Church, Middletown,PA Rev. White has been employed by the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the past 21 years, presently serving as the Office Manager of Tourism and Recreational Development Committee. This woman of God is walking in the manifestation of her healing. Tune in as she tells us her story of how God healed her body, when the doctors gave their report, she believed the report of the Lord! Healing belongs to you!!! |
Tag: Messianism
A Suffering Messiah Before Christianity? — the other side of the question
by Neil Godfrey
Filed under: Messiahs and messianism
Tags: Messiahs, Messianism
H. H. Rowley
Last month I posted an eight part series based on Joachim Jeremias's 1957 book The Servant of God arguing for a pre-Christian notion among Second Temple Jews of a messiah who was expected to suffer and/or die. This view is not the prevailing one among New Testament scholars today so I want to set out some of the arguments that have been marshalled against Jeremias's study. Statements like the following led me to think Morna Hooker's Jesus and the Servant (1959) would be a good place to start:
Jeremias's argument that the portrait of the messiah in Judaism of this era included the concept of vicarious suffering to expiate the sins of Israel has found little support.9
9. Among the more significant refutations are Morna Hooker, Jesus and the Servant (London: SPCK, 1959); and E. Lohse, Märtyrer und Gottesknecht (FRLANT, 64; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1966).
(Broadhead, 102)
A few decades ago it had become "almost an axiom of… New Testament study that most of the New Testament writers, and probably our Lord himself, were controlled in their Christological thinking by the figure of the Suffering Servant of the Lord." In this respect the work of J. Jeremias was very influential . . . . Today, however, many scholars are of the opinion that the importance of the idea of the suffering servant for early Christianity has been greatly overrated; moreover, it is difficult to demonstrate that Jesus himself interpreted his destiny in light of this passage from Scripture. This has been shown convincingly by C. K. Barrett in an important contribution to the memorial volume for T. W. Manson and by Μ. D. Hooker in her Jesus and the Servant.
(Jonge, 48)
13 The influence of Isaiah 53 on the NT has been contested famously by Morna D. Hooker, Jesus and the Servant: The Influence of the Servant Concept of Deutero-Isaiah in the New Testament (London: Nisbet, 1959).
(Jipp, 257)
So I got hold of Morna Hooker's Jesus and the Servant and very soon read this buck-passing passage:
It is impossible to consider in detail here the arguments which have been brought forward in support of a pre-Christian suffering Messiah. On this question the discussion by Η. H. Rowley in his essay 'The Suffering Servant and the Davidic Messiah' (published in The Servant of the Lord and Other , Essays on the Old Testament (1952)) appears to be conclusive.
(Hooker, p. 179 — Interestingly 1952 was the same year Zimmerli and Jeremias's The Servant of God was first published.)
Accordingly I will post the arguments of H. H. Rowley as an "answer" to the Jeremias series. You can compare and evaluate and decide which case you think is the stronger. Continue reading "A Suffering Messiah Before Christianity? — the other side of the question"
Author Neil GodfreyPosted on 2019-01-20 00:04:34 GMT+0000 2019-07-23 23:41:28 GMT+0000 Categories Messiahs and messianismTags Messiahs, Messianism5 Comments on A Suffering Messiah Before Christianity? — the other side of the question
Summing Up a Case for Pre-Christian Exegesis of Dying and Suffering Messiahs by J. Jeremias (8)
Tags: Messianism, Suffering Servant, Zimmerli-Jeremias: Servant of God
(1) messianic interpretation of the Deutero-Isaianic servant in Palestinian Judaism was limited to Isa. 42.1 ff.,332 43.10;333 49.1 f., 6 f.,334 and 52.13 ff.,335; with this New Testament data agree.336
(2) For Isa. 42.1 ff. and 52.13 ff. messianic interpretation is constant from pre-Christian times. Isa. 52.13 ff. is in this connexion regarded as a last judgement scene.337
(3) As far as the messianic interpretation of the passages about suffering in Isa. 53.1-12 is concerned, this can again be traced back with great probability to pre-Christian times.338 Here the suffering of the Messiah is thought of without exception up to the talmudic period as taking place before the final victorious establishment of his rule.339 When the meaning of messianic suffering is considered, the answer is that the Messiah suffers vicariously to expiate the sins of Israel.340
(pp. 77-78, my line breaks)
I have converted the footnote references to the relevant blog post below:
For pre-Christian messianic interpretations of Isa 42.1 ff. see:
A Pre-Christian Jewish Suffering Messiah (2)
Evidence for Belief in a Suffering Messiah Before Christianity (3)
Jewish Pre-Christian Prophecies of Suffering Servant Messiah (5)
Rabbinic Traditions that the Messiah was to Suffer? (6)
Isaiah 42.1 ff.
"Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will bring justice to the nations.
2 He will not shout or cry out,
or raise his voice in the streets.
3 A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.
In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;
4 he will not falter or be discouraged
till he establishes justice on earth.
In his teaching the islands will put their hope."
Only in the Targ. ad loc. See
(Messianic exegesis of Isa. 43:10 is not found in the N.T.)
"You are my witnesses," declares the Lord,
"and my servant whom I have chosen,
so that you may know and believe me
and understand that I am he.
Before me no god was formed,
nor will there be one after me.
For pre-Christian messianic interpretations of Isa.49 see Posts:
Evidence of a Suffering Messiah Concept before Christianity (1)
Isaiah 49:1f, 6f
Listen to me, you islands;
hear this, you distant nations:
Before I was born the Lord called me;
from my mother's womb he has spoken my name.
2 He made my mouth like a sharpened sword,
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me into a polished arrow
and concealed me in his quiver. [or, "hid me in the shadow of his hand"]
6 he says:
"It is too small a thing for you to be my servant
to restore the tribes of Jacob
and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth."
7 This is what the Lord says—
the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel—
to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation,
to the servant of rulers:
"Kings will see you and stand up,
princes will see and bow down,
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."
Continue reading "Summing Up a Case for Pre-Christian Exegesis of Dying and Suffering Messiahs by J. Jeremias (8)"
Author Neil GodfreyPosted on 2018-12-19 00:01:36 GMT+0000 2019-06-23 15:20:56 GMT+0000 Categories Messiahs and messianismTags Messianism, Suffering Servant, Zimmerli-Jeremias: Servant of God5 Comments on Summing Up a Case for Pre-Christian Exegesis of Dying and Suffering Messiahs by J. Jeremias (8)
So far we have presented the following seven witnesses to a Jewish, pre-Christian, belief in a Suffering Messiah:
Ecclesiasticus,
Interpreted the Servant Songs in Isaiah as references to a new coming of Elijah as the messiah.
the Testament of Benjamin,
Attributed to a messiah from the tribe of Joseph the atoning death found in Isaiah's Servant chapters.
and the Parables of Enoch.
Describe a messianic figure whose attributes are taken from Isaiah's Servant passages.
the Peshitta
A pre-Christian translation portraying Isaiah's Servant chapters as references to the messiah.
The mocking expression "the chosen one" most probably derives from pre-Christian
Aquila's leprous messiah translation of the OT
the messianic servant bore our sicknesses, that is, became a leper
Theodotion's second century translation
to counter Christianity he translated Isaiah 53 as a judgmental messiah
The eighth piece of evidence is the Aramaic translation of Isaiah per the Targum on Isaiah. I quote Jeremias in full.
(θ) The Aramaic translation of Isaiah must be considered here from a chronological point of view, although the Targ. on Isaiah289 in its present form is not older than the fifth century A.D., for the text was fixed much earlier. The history of the oral tradition of translation, the result of which the Targ, represents, goes back to pre-Christian times.290 In particular it can be shown that the messianic exegesis of the servant texts Isa. 42.1 and Isa. 52.13 in the Targ, Isa. is old. Of the nineteen servant passages in the Heb. text (cf. p. 50) only three are messianically interpreted in the Targ, Isa.: 42.1; 43.10; 52.13;291 in all three texts the Heb. עבדי is rendered עבדי משיחא by the Targ.292 Our conclusions so far make it certain that the messianic interpretation of Isa. 42.1 and 52.13 rests upon ancient tradition (cf. pp. 57 ff.).293 The observation that the description of the Messiah as servant of God is to be found only in the pre-rabbinic layer of late Jewish literature (II Esd. [IV Ezra], Syr. Bar., cf. p. 49) but nowhere in rabbinic literature outside the Targ. (cf. p. 50), points to the same conclusion. Above all, the ancient date of the messianic exegesis of Isa. 52.13 in the Targ. is clear from the fact that Targ. Isa. explains the whole context Isa. 52.13-53.12 uniformly in a messianic sense; for the messianic interpretation of 53.1-12 cannot, as we saw (p. 64), have first arisen in the Christian era.
The Targ. Isa. 52.13-53.12 runs:
(52.13) 'Behold my servant, the Messiah, will have success, will become exalted, great and strong.'
(14) 'As the house of Israel have hoped in him many days when their appearance was overcast in the midst of the peoples and their brightness less than that of the sons of men;'
(15) 'so will he scatter many peoples; for his sake kings will be silent, will lay their hand on their mouth; for they see what they had never been told and perceive what they had never heard of.'
(53.1) 'Who hath believed this our message ? and to whom hath the strength of the mighty arm of the Lord thus294 been revealed ?'
(2) 'And the righteous295 shall be great before him, yea, as sprouting branches and as a tree which sends out its roots beside water brooks, so will the holy generations increase in the land which was in need of him. His appearance is not like that of worldly things and the fear which he inspires is not an ordinary fear, but his brightness will be holy so that all who see him will gaze (fascinated) upon him.'
(3) 'Then (he) will be despised and will (make to) cease the glory of all kingdoms.296 They will become weak and pitiable—behold, like a man of sorrows and as one destined to ills and as if the shekina had turned its face from us—despised and disregarded'.
(4) 'Then he will make intercession for our transgressions and for his sake our iniquities shall be forgiven, though we were accounted bruised, smitten by Yahweh and afflicted.'
(5) 'But he will build up the sanctuary which was desecrated because of our transgressions and surrendered because of our iniquities, and by his teaching his peace297 will be richly upon us, and when we gather to listen to him our transgressions will be forgiven us.'
(6) 'We were all scattered as sheep, each one had gone his own way into exile; but it was Yahweh's will to forgive the transgressions of us all for his sake.'
(7) 'When he prays he receives an answer and hardly does he open his mouth, but he finds a hearing. He will deliver the strong from among the peoples to be slaughtered as a lamb, and as a ewe that is dumb before its shearers, and no one will (dare) to open his mouth and plead.'
(8) 'He will bring our exiles home from their suffering and chastisement. Who can tell the wonders which will come upon us in his days? For he will remove the dominion298of the peoples from the land of Israel; he will lay to their charge299 the sins of which my people were guilty.'
(9) 'And he will deliver over to hell the godless and those who have enriched themselves by robbery unto the death of (eternal) destruction, so that they who commit sin may not be preserved and may no longer speak cunningly with their mouth.'
(10) 'And it pleases Yahweh to refine and purify the remnant of his people in order to cleanse their soul from transgressions. They shall see the kingdom of their Messiah; they will have many sons and daughters;300 they will live long, and those who fulfil the law of Yahweh will by his good pleasure have success.'
(11) 'From subjugation by the peoples he will deliver their soul; they will see the punishment of them that hate them; they will be satiated by the plunder of their kings. By his wisdom he will acquit the innocent to make many servants of the law. And he will make intercession for their transgressions.'
(12) 'Hereafter will I apportion to him the plunder of many peoples and he will distribute strong towns as booty, because he surrendered301 himself to death and brought the rebels under the yoke of the law. And he will make intercession for many transgressions and for his sake the rebellious will be forgiven.'
It can be seen how, step by step, in Targ. Isa. 52.13-53.12 is depicted the glorious establishment of the messianic kingdom over Israel. The statements about the passion of the servant have been so radically and consistently removed by artificial contrivances that faint traces remain only in two places.302 Even allowing for the targumic translation technique, the section Targ. Isa. 52.13-53.12 stands out by the unusual freedom of its paraphrase in the context of Targ. Isa. 40-66,303 which elsewhere keeps more closely to the Heb. text. For this violent reinterpretation of the text there is only one possible explanation: we have here a piece of anti-Christian polemic.304 From the second century at the latest, Judaism was concerned in various ways to wrest Isa. 53 from its use by Christians as a christological scriptural text proof (cf. p. 75). The curious form of Isa. 53 in the Targ. shows to what extremes this attempt was carried through. The whole section was indeed messianically explained because the messianic interpretation of Isa. 52.13-53.12 was so firmly rooted that Targ. Isa. could not escape it, but the passages about suffering, in brusque contradiction to the original, are replaced by the current view of the Messiah. The fact that this thoroughgoing process of reinterpretation of Isa. 52.13-53.12 was applied to both the Greek (see pp. 65 ff.) and the Aramaic texts of Isa. 53 shows how firmly rooted in Palestinian Judaism was the messianic exegesis.
(pp. 66-71)
I would very much love to locate scholarly publications addressing Jeremias's presentations, not only for, but especially against the thrust of his interpretation of the evidence. Any reader who can direct me in this quest please do so. Continue reading "Jewish Pre-Christian Prophecies of Suffering Servant Messiah (5)"
Author Neil GodfreyPosted on 2018-12-16 00:01:09 GMT+0000 2019-06-23 15:20:56 GMT+0000 Categories Messiahs and messianismTags Messianism, Suffering Servant, Zimmerli-Jeremias: Servant of God6 Comments on Jewish Pre-Christian Prophecies of Suffering Servant Messiah (5)
Jewish Understandings of a Suffering Messiah before the Christian Era (4)
A free Vridar plug for a Rob Levinson book
The witnesses to a Jewish, pre-Christian, belief in a Suffering Messiah that we have heard from so far:
6. Aquila's "leper messiah" translation of the OT
Aquila's agenda was to replace the Septuagint that was seen as allowing too much room for Christian interpretations of the messiah. We must accept that Aquila was drawing upon pre-Christian interpretations of the messiah "bearing our sicknesses" to justify his translation.
At the beginning of the second century A.D.263 Aquila completed in Palestine a new translation of the O.T. into Greek, designed to replace the LXX, as the latter offered Christians too much scope for the production of christological proof-texts.264 Aquila's interpretation of the servant in Isa. 53 is to be inferred, inter alia, from his agreement with Test. B. 3.8 in the understanding of Isa. 53.5,265 and from his exegesis of 53.9 as referring to the judgement which the servant holds; messianism is implicit at both points.266 Further, Aquila translates (according to Jerome) נגיע (Isa. 53.4) by άφημένον267 (leprous, cf. Vulgate: quasi leprosum), a translation which is explained by the fact that the past participle of נגע in postbiblical Hebrew (Pu'al) and Aramaic (Pa'el) has the meaning 'leprous'. For our question this translation is very illuminating because the exegesis 'leper' for Isa. 53.4 is met with also in rabbinic literature and is here referred to the Messiah.268
We are thinking of two places in B. Sanh. 98 which alone in the Talmud, along with a late Midrash text,269 have preserved the curious conception of a leprous Messiah.270 One text is B. Sanh. 98b, from circa A.D. 200.271 In an enumeration of messianic titles it is here said 'And the teachers said "the leprous one", those of the House of Rabbi272 said "the sick man" is his name, for it is written: "Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, but we thought him stricken with leprosy (? גגו ), smitten and tormented by God" (Isa. 53.4)'.273 The other text is B. Sanh. 98a (alleged experience of R. Jehoshua' ben Levi, circa A.D. 250), where it is described how the Messiah sits outside the gates of Rome among the wretched people who 'bear pain' (cf. Isa. 53-4),274 and alone among them unbinds and binds just one wound at a time, so that without delay he may fulfil the summons to save Israel.
Aquila's translation of Isa. 53 permits us to trace back this reference of Isa. 53.4 to the leprous Messiah as far as A.D. 100.275 But we must go back yet a step further; the messianic interpretation of Isa. 53.4 cannot have arisen first circa A.D. 100, for quite apart from the messianic exegesis of Isa. 53 in Test. B. (cf. p. 57) and Peshitta (cf. p. 60), it is completely out of the question that the Jews should have begun to interpret messianically the passion texts of Isa. 53 only at a time when Christians were already using Isa. 53 as the decisive christological proof text.276
(Jeremias, 63 f.)
To see how Aquila's translation is dated to the beginning of the second century scroll down to the end of the this post where you will see the footnote #263. Continue reading "Jewish Understandings of a Suffering Messiah before the Christian Era (4)"
Author Neil GodfreyPosted on 2018-12-15 00:01:21 GMT+0000 2019-06-23 15:20:57 GMT+0000 Categories Messiahs and messianismTags Messianism, Suffering Servant, Zimmerli-Jeremias: Servant of God4 Comments on Jewish Understandings of a Suffering Messiah before the Christian Era (4)
Modern Scholars on Pre-Christian Jewish Beliefs in Suffering Messiahs and Atoning Deaths
Filed under: Biblical Scholars, Biblical Studies, Messiahs and messianism
Tags: Jewish Messianism, Messianism
I am currently sharing the evidence for a pre-Christian Jewish beliefs in a suffering servant, even dying, messiah set out by Joachim Jeremias, but in response to a reader's comment I would like to list here some contemporary scholars who have presented similar or related arguments. I can only list the few whose works I have read and no doubt there are many more I am yet to discover.
In one or two of the linked articles below are citations by a contemporary scholar suggesting that the same evidence we have been reading from Jeremias is not "absolutely conclusive"; others, however, continue to see the evidence as more clear cut.
The first name to come to mind is the prominent Jewish scholar, Daniel Boyarim. Boyarim points out that Jewish ideas of a sacrificed messiah logically have to precede Christianity since the rabbis would never have copied the idea from the Christians.
Suffering and Dying Messiahs: Typically Jewish Beliefs
Suffering Messiah Is a Very Jewish Idea
Martha Himmelfarb discusses pre-Christian interpretations of a dying messiah.
Other scholars such as Jacob Neusner point to similar views but their works can hardly be said to be still "contemporary".
Thomas L. Thompson, whose thesis on the nonhistoricity of the Genesis patriarchs at first excluded him from academia but has now become a mainstream view, has in various publications argued that
the first royal messiah died and David poured out a lament over him
the Pentateuchal high priest was an anointed, a messiah, whose death led to the return of certain exiles
the Davidic messiah figure is depicted as a pious man who suffers greatly, even faces death, yet is ultimately vindicated
"Minimalist" Thomas Thompson's take on The Messiah Myth
Old Testament Messiahs as the Raw Material for the New Testament Christ
An Old Testament Messiah Struck Down by God
What might a Davidic Messiah have meant to early Christians?
Matthew Novenson in his book, Christ Among the Messiahs, rejects the idea that pre-Christian Jews could only conceive of a conquering royal messiah and argues that Paul, far from being completely at odds with Jewish thought of his day, uses χριστός within the range of conventional Jewish understanding of the Messiah.
Archive: Novenson, Christ Among the Messiahs
Leroy Huizenga agues that the author of the Gospel of Matthew based his Christ figure upon Isaac who was offered as a sacrifice to atone for all the sins of (future) Israel. Some Jews interpreted the Genesis account to mean that Abraham did in fact kill Isaac and shed his blood but then brought him back to life again. His shed blood was to cover the sins of God's people.
Jesus with Isaac in Gethsemane
Jon Levinson similarly argues for the centrality of the early Jewish belief in the atoning power of the blood actually shed by Isaac in his sacrifice prior to his return from the dead.
Archive: Levinson, Death & Resurrection of Beloved Son
Crispin H.T. Fletcher-Louis points to indicators of an early Jewish belief in a messianic high priest offering a ransom and that one "like a son of man" in Daniel was believed to have been sacrificed to the Ancient of Days and that these interpretations found their way into the gospels.
Jesus as the High Priestly Messiah in the Gospel of Mark
David C. Mitchell posits the belief that Zechariah 12:10 applied to a future Messiah ben Joseph to come in the last days and be slain at the dawn of the messianic age and that this belief was at extant before the destruction of the temple in 70 CE.
How Early Did Some Jews Believe in a Slain Messiah son of Joseph?
Continuing a case for an early Jewish belief in a slain messiah
Joshua Jipp has pointed out that the messianic (pre-Christian) Psalms of Solomon 17-18 are based on our canonical Psalm 2 which refers to a royal son of God facing threats to his life by early rulers.
Further Evidence of a Pre-Christian Concept of a Suffering Davidic Messiah
Of course most readers are aware of Richard Carrier and his arguments, similar in some ways to those of Thomas Thompson.
Jewish Expectations of a Slain Messiah — the Early Evidence
Questioning Carrier: Was the Book of Daniel Really a "Key Messianic Text"?
The Dying Messiah (refrain)
Other posts of relevance, though some of their references are to scholars from around the same time as Jeremias.
https://vridar.org/2010/07/26/jewish-scriptures-as-inspiration-for-a-slain-messiah/
https://vridar.org/2014/11/10/addendum-the-power-of-the-death-of-the-anointed-high-priest/
https://vridar.org/2010/11/25/the-meaning-of-anointed-messiah-christ-in-the-time-of-jesus/
https://vridar.org/2011/10/07/the-dying-messiah-refrain/
https://vridar.org/2014/09/14/the-dying-messiah-before-christianity/
https://vridar.org/2017/04/16/the-priestly-messiah-and-the-royal-messiah/
Author Neil GodfreyPosted on 2018-12-14 22:02:08 GMT+0000 2019-07-22 22:50:25 GMT+0000 Categories Biblical Scholars, Biblical Studies, Messiahs and messianismTags Jewish Messianism, Messianism32 Comments on Modern Scholars on Pre-Christian Jewish Beliefs in Suffering Messiahs and Atoning Deaths
So far we have seen evidence for a pre-Christian belief that the "suffering servant" passages in the Book of Isaiah spoke of a future Messiah in three sources:
We have dusted off a 1957 book with yellowing pages, The Servant of God, and are following the trail of evidence according to the book's co-author J. Jeremias. Where I can I have been supplementing the posts with critical information from more recent scholarship.
4. Peshitta
Next witness to take the stand, the Peshitta. The Peshitta is a Syrian translation of the Bible but we are interested in its translation of the Suffering Servant passages in the Book of Isaiah, probably dating from the of)early second century. Jeremias:
The next source which gives us information about the exegesis of 'ebed texts in late Judaism is the Peshitta; it is probably of pre-Christian origin.257 Peshitta explains Isa. 53 — including the passages about suffering — in a messianic sense.258 This is clear from the passages where Peshitta discloses its understanding of Isa. 53 by deviations from the Heb. text. Thus Peshitta saw in the servant
a figure awaited in the future (52.14)
who shall 'cleanse' many peoples (52.15);
this figure is denied (53.2),
despised (53.3)
and slain (53.5)
but exalted by God
and (at the last judgement) will convey forgiveness (53.5: healing).
These statements can only refer to the Messiah.259
(Jeremias, 60 f. My formatting and highlighting)
The devil is usually found in the detail so here are the relevant footnotes:
257 P. Kahle, The Cairo Geniza, 1947, 184, 186; also Hegermann, 22-27.
258 Hegermann, 127.
269 Hegermann, ibid.
Unfortunately I have no further information on the "pre-Christian origin" of the Peshitta's translation of the 'ebed (Servant) texts in Isaiah. I present Jeremias's statement "as is". If anyone has more up to date corrective or confirming information feel free to add it to the comments.
5. The Gospel of Luke
Continue reading "Evidence for Belief in a Suffering Messiah Before Christianity (3)"
Author Neil GodfreyPosted on 2018-12-14 00:01:13 GMT+0000 2019-06-23 15:20:57 GMT+0000 Categories Messiahs and messianismTags Messianism, Suffering Servant, Zimmerli-Jeremias: Servant of God6 Comments on Evidence for Belief in a Suffering Messiah Before Christianity (3)
Tags: Enoch, Messianism, Suffering Servant, Zimmerli-Jeremias: Servant of God
Can anything good come out of such an old and dowdy looking book, one retrieved from an off-site library stack, and with no more than 100 yellowing pages of text?
In the previous post we saw the first two items of evidence for a belief among pre-Christian Jews in a suffering messiah to come. This post looks at a third item, the Parables of Enoch. Follow up posts will address several more.
I begin by presenting Jeremias's argument in his own words but in the next section of the post I update his terminology and the state of the discussion to accord with current terms and scholarly views concerning the dating of the key passage.
Joachim Jeremias's third item of evidence is a section from the Ethiopic Book of Enoch. His references to Deut. Isa are to the second (deutero) part of Isaiah, chapters 40 to 55. I have reformatted Jeremias's text to allow for easier following of each of the points where Enoch draws upon an Isaiah servant passage:
(γ) The next relevant source from the point of view of time is the so-called Visionary Discourses of the Ethiopian Enoch (chs. 37-71) which are certainly pre-Christian. Here the Messiah is depicted to a quite striking extent by means of traits drawn from Deut. Isa. Apart from the titles 'son of man' and 'Messiah' he bears constantly the name 'the chosen one' but only occasionally that of 'the righteous one'. 'The chosen one' is, however (Isa. 42.1), the title of the servant of God and the same applies to 'the righteous one' (Isa. 53.11). Thus we are led straight away to those two sections of Deut. Isa. which, also in the subsequent periods, are the ones interpreted messianically: Isa. 42.1 if., 52.13 ff.
In En. 48.4 the son of man is called 'the light of the peoples'; this is an attribute of God's servant (Isa. 42.6; 49.6).
It is said further that his name was named before creation 'in the presence of the Lord of spirits' (En. 48.3); this is an amplification of Isa. 49.1: 'my name he named when I was not yet born'.
Then he was 'hidden before God' (En. 48.6, cf. 62.7) which is a reference to Isa. 49.2 ('He hid me in the shadow of his hand').
Again, in the description of the revelation of the son of man the Visionary Discourses constantly depict the humiliation of kings and the mighty before him with a reminiscence of Isa. 49.7; 5 2.15. It is said that they will see him in his glory (En. 55.4; 62.1, 3), rise before him (En. 46.4; 62.3), and cast themselves down (48.10 v.l.; 62.9; cf. 48.5), thus with an allusion to Isa. 49.7; 'Princes and kings will see it and arise and cast themselves down'.
It is said further that their countenance will be fallen (En. 46.6; 48.8) alluding to Isa. 52.15: 'Kings will shut their mouths before him'.
In particular in En. 62.1 ff. the conduct of kings, the mighty and those who possess the earth, is depicted in close connexion with Isa. 52.13 ff.; thus En. 62.5 f.: 'They will be afraid (cf. Isa. 52.14), they will lower their eyes (cf. Isa. 52.15), and pain will seize them when they see the Son of Man sitting on the throne of his glory; kings (cf. Isa. 52.15), the mighty and all who possess the earth will glorify, praise and exalt him who rules over all (cf. Isa. 52.13), who was hidden (cf. Isa. 52.15)'.
Again it is the passages Isa. 42.1 ff.; 52.13 ff. (cf. p. 59) which are messianically interpreted; together with 49.1-2, 6-7.
Finally there are the following statements which have a loose connexion with Deut. Isa. The chosen has the spirit of righteousness (En. 62.1 f; cf. [besides lsa. 11.2,4] 42.1: 'My chosen . . . I have laid my spirit upon him'). He executes judgement (En. 41.9; 45-3; 49.4; 55.4; 61.9; 62.2 f.; 69.27; cf. Isa. 42.4 Ά, Θ, Targ.). En. 48.4b: 'He will be the light of the peoples and the hope of the sad' combines Isa. 42.6 ('fight of the peoples') with its context (42.7: salvation of the blind and wretched).
The son of man of the Visionary Discourses is thus to a large extent depicted with traits which are borrowed from servant passages of Deut. Isa. (42.1-7; 49.1 f., 6 f; 52.13-15; 53.11).
The author of the Parables of Enoch interpreted Isaiah's servant passages, including those passages announcing a suffering servant, as references to a future messiah.
Continue reading "A Pre-Christian Jewish Suffering Messiah (2)"
Author Neil GodfreyPosted on 2018-12-13 00:01:57 GMT+0000 2019-06-24 00:07:23 GMT+0000 Categories Messiahs and messianismTags Enoch, Messianism, Suffering Servant, Zimmerli-Jeremias: Servant of God4 Comments on A Pre-Christian Jewish Suffering Messiah (2)
When I recently posted Further Evidence of a Pre-Christian Concept of a Suffering Davidic Messiah I was patiently waiting for a certain book to be collected from an off-site library stack. I had two reasons for wanting to read that particular work. The first was from a Mormon scholar, hence slightly dubious, but nonetheless I was curious . . .
Robinson, Stephen E. 1977. "The Apocalypse of Adam." Brigham Young University Studies 17 (2): 131–53.
Pre-Christian Judaism had a doctrine of a suffering Messiah as Jeremias has shown 21
21 Walter Zimmerli and Joachim Jeremias, The Servant of God, Studies in Biblical Theology, no. 20, (London: SCM Press, 1957), pp. 57ff
And again, this time from an article that seemed somewhat of a turning point in discussions of the Apocalypse of Adam:
MacRae, George W. 1965. "The Coptic Gnostic Apocalypse of Adam." The Heythrop Journal 6 (1): 27–35.
Böhlig has suggested that in the redeemer-myth that appears here we have a confrontation of Iranian notions of a redeemer and the Jewish idea of the suffering Servant-Messiah which J. Jeremias has shown to have been accepted in pre-Christian Judaism.2
2 Cf. W. Zimmerli and J. Jeremias, The Servant of God, Studies in Biblical Theology 20 (London, 1957), pp. 57 ff. . . .
That settled it. I had to locate Zimmerli and Jeremias's The Servant of God.
Now that I have it, it is clear that there is too much content for a single post so I'll write it up here one, maybe two, arguments at a time.
The first piece of evidence given for a pre-Christian Jewish concept of a suffering messiah is found in Ecclesiasticus (also known as Sirach).
(c) Messianic exegesis (Isa. 42.1; 43.10; 49.6; 52.13; 53.11.) Messianic interpretations of certain Deut. Isa. servant passages can most probably be traced back to pre-Christian times (cf. p. 41).
(α) In Ecclus 48.10 one of the three tasks of the returning Elijah (cf. TWNT, II, 93 3,12 ff.) is described as להכין שבטי ישראל; the expression comes from Isa. 49.6 where the 'ebed receives the mission of להקים ואת־שבטי ןעקב. The restoration of the twelve tribes is a messianic task and its assignment to Elijah must have marked the latter as the coming saviour. But since only a broad allusion to Isa. 49.6 is in question, conclusions about a messianic interpretation of Isa. 49.6 from Ecclus 48.10 alone are not quite secure (but cf. n. 305). In any case it is significant that Ecclus. explained the servant in Isa. 49.6 in an individual sense.
And here is Isaiah 49:6
And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.
For anyone like me who is not familiar with Ecclesiasticus 48:10 here it is in context
1 Then stood up Elijah the prophet as fire, and his word burned like a lamp.
2 He brought a sore famine upon them, and by his zeal he diminished their number.
3 By the word of the Lord he shut up the heaven, and also three times brought down fire.
4 O Elijah, how wast thou honored in thy wondrous deeds! and who may glory like unto thee!
5 Who didst raise up a dead man from death, and his soul from the place of the dead, by the word of the most High:
6 who broughtest kings to destruction, and honorable men from their bed:
7 who heardest the rebuke of the Lord in Sinai, and in Horeb the judgment of vengeance:
8 who anointedst kings to take revenge, and prophets to succeed after him:
9 who wast taken up in a whirlwind of fire, and in a chariot of fiery horses:
10 who wast ordained for reproofs in their times, to pacify the wrath of the Lord's judgment, before it brake forth into fury, and to turn the heart of the father unto the son,and to restore the tribes of Jacob.
But note the next point:
The pre-Christian Testament of Benjamin is said to draw upon the "suffering servant" passage in Isaiah when it speaks of the future Messiah. And for those readers who (like me) are quick to claim that the Testament of Benjamin is riddled with much later Christian interpolations, do read on….
(β) In the Testament of Benjamin (second or first century B.C.) the patriarch at the beginning puts forward his brother Joseph as a model because he made intercession for his brothers with his father Jacob. In this connexion it is said in Test. B. 3.8 (Armenian):
'In thee (Joseph) will the heavenly prophecy be fulfilled which says that the innocent one will be defiled for the sake of the guilty and the sinless one will die for the impious.'
The heavenly prophecy must mean Isa. 53. The possibility that Test.B. 3.8 (Armenian) is a Christian interpolation does not come into the question, for nowhere is there ascribed to Jesus descent from the tribe Joseph-Ephraim, but always Davidic descent (cf. υίος Δαυίδ) from the tribe of Judah (Heb. 7.14). Since further the idea of a vicarious atoning death of the patriarch Joseph himself is nowhere else attested, the phrase
'in thee will the heavenly prophecy be fulfilled',
probably refers not to Joseph himself but to his posterity (cf. for this type of phrase I Sam. 3.12-14), i.e., the Messiah from the house of Joseph.
In Test. B. 3.8 we have probably the oldest testimony to the expectation of a Messiah from the tribe of Joseph. This passage should therefore be regarded as the oldest witness to the messianic exegesis of Isa. 53 (next to LXX, cf. p. 41).
We know that many Christians have always interpreted the Suffering Servant passages in Isaiah as prophecies of the suffering messiah Jesus. Jeremias's chapter offers several lines of evidence that before Christianity some Jews likewise interpreted those Isaiah passages messianically. The first two of those arguments are
Ecclesiasticus, a pre-Christian text, suggests that at least one messianic function of an Isaiah servant passage applies to a future appearance of Elijah, presumably as the messiah;
The Testament of Benjamin, another text believed to be pre-Christian in its original form in one surviving manuscript line (Armenian) applies a suffering servant passage in Isaiah to a coming messiah descended from Joseph.
(Two down, eight to go. Then I will need to locate and dig out scholarship that has since, presumably, shown Jeremias's case to be flawed.)
Zimmerli, Walther and Joachim Jeremias. 1957. The Servant of God. Revised edition. London : SCM Press.
Author Neil GodfreyPosted on 2018-12-11 22:00:25 GMT+0000 2019-06-23 15:20:57 GMT+0000 Categories Messiahs and messianismTags Messianism, Suffering Servant, Zimmerli-Jeremias: Servant of God10 Comments on Evidence of a Suffering Messiah Concept before Christianity (1)
Filed under: Biblical Studies, Messiahs and messianism
Tags: Gospel of Luke, Messianism
It is commonly recognized that the Gospels depict Jesus' crucifixion as an ironic royal enthronement.
We know the evidence for this statement: the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem; the riddle of Psalm 110 over the messiah being David's Lord; the parable of the pounds; the dressing up of Jesus in royal garb; the ironical mocking of Jesus as a messiah and king when he is on the cross; and the Gospel of Mark's ironical Roman triumph and mock acclamation of Jesus as emperor. Some have questioned whether pre-Christian Jews ever contemplated the idea of a messiah who suffers. I have posted some of the reasons we have to think that some Jews did speculate on the possibility of a suffering messiah and this post will be one more addition to that archive.
The point is not so much that David is the paradigmatic example of a "righteous sufferer" so much as he is the "righteous suffering king."
William Hole. David fleeing from Jerusalem, cursed by Shimei. Wikipedia Commons
I recently posted an excerpt from Martin Goodman's discussion of Second Temple Jewish beliefs about a coming messiah:
In some Jewish texts the central figure in these events of the last days is called the Messiah, 'the anointed.' Some texts, like the Psalms of Solomon, describe the Messiah as a human figure, descended from David:
Behold, Lord, and raise up for them their king, the son of David, to reign over your servant Israel in the time which you did foresee, O God. Gird him with strength to destroy unrighteous rulers, and purge Jerusalem from the nations who trample her down to destruction … And he will be a righteous king over them, taught by God. There will be no unrighteousness among them in his days, for all shall be holy, and their king shall be the anointed Lord. [Psalms of Solomon 17:21-22, 32]
Interestingly another scholar, Joshua Jipp, has pointed out that that messianic Psalm of Solomon is based on our canonical Psalm 2 which speaks of a suffering messiah.
One may ask if there are any specific examples of pre-Christian messianic appropriation of the psalms. Psalms of Solomon 17 and 18 use Psalm 2 in their description of a coming Davidic Messiah. Moreover, one could describe Ps. Sol. 17:21-32 as a midrash on Psalm 2. For example, the coming Davidic figure is depicted as bringing forth punishment ἐν ῥάβδῳσ ιδηρᾷ ("by an iron rod"; Ps. Sol. 17:24), an exact replication of Ps 2:9.
The vocabulary of Ps 2:9 of σκεῦος κεραμέως συντρίψεις αὐτούς ("you will crush them into pieces as a potter's vessel") is echoed in Ps. Sol. 17:23b-24a with ὡς σκεύη κεραμέως . . . συντρῖψαι.
The use of Psalm 2 by Psalms of Solomon, therefore, provides further evidence of the eschatological and messianic nature of Psalm 2.
Perhaps most important, however, is the psalms' frequent depiction of a Davidic figure, under intense duress and persecuted by his enemies. While suffering and hostility at the hands of one's enemies are potentially common to all humanity, it is King David who is portrayed as the righteous, royal sufferer par excellence (Pss 7:4; 69:4; 109:3). His enemies surround him to mock and afflict him (e.g., Psalms 22; 69; 89). David's plight frequently brings him to the point of despair, wondering if God has abandoned and forsaken him, giving him over to death and Hades (Pss 22:14-18; 38:5-8; 69:16-20). Yet despite his sufferings and persecution, David maintains his fidelity and hope in God. In the Davidic psalms one finds the paradoxical combination of kingship and righteous suffering. The point is not so much that David is the paradigmatic example of a "righteous sufferer" so much as he is the "righteous suffering king."21 This anomaly, namely, that David, God's anointed one, undergoes persecution and suffering, has great importance for Luke's conception of Jesus, the suffering Anointed One.
21 In other words, though the psalms' characterization of David as a "righteous" sufferer is extremely significant, it is his royalty and kingship that are crucial for Luke's appropriation of the Davidic psalms.
(Jipp, 258f)
Continue reading "Further Evidence of a Pre-Christian Concept of a Suffering Davidic Messiah"
Author Neil GodfreyPosted on 2018-12-07 06:25:21 GMT+0000 2019-07-22 08:30:16 GMT+0000 Categories Biblical Studies, Messiahs and messianismTags Gospel of Luke, Messianism17 Comments on Further Evidence of a Pre-Christian Concept of a Suffering Davidic Messiah
Is Josephus Evidence that a Messianic Movement caused the Jewish War?
Tags: Josephus, Mason: A History of the Jewish War A.D. 66-74, Messianism
A historian specializing in the study of Josephus, Steve Mason, presents a case that the war that led to the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple was not prompted by any messianic movement among the people of Judaea. Rather, Mason suggests that the prophecy of a ruler to come out of the east and rule the entire world was a product of hindsight and that there is little reason to think that there was a "messianic movement" propelling the Jews to rebel against Rome.
I can't hope to cover the full argument set out by Mason in A history of the Jewish War, AD 66-74 in a single post but I will try to hit some key points from pages 111 to 130 here.
To begin. It is a misunderstanding to think that we can read the works of Josephus as if they were a chronicle of facts happily shedding light on the background to the rise of Christianity.
History as Tragedy
To get the most reliable data from Josephus we need to study his works in the context of other historical writings of his day. In that context it is evident that Josephus is writing a "tragic history" — a narrative that he presents as a tragedy, a form of narrative with which his Greco-Roman audience was familiar. As a tragedy Josephus seeks to elicit tears of sympathy from his audience by using all of his rhetorical skills to portray graphic suffering and misfortune. In War Josephus opens with the proud Herod whose hubris is brought low by the misfortunes that follow. The audience knows how the story ends and knowing that only adds to their awareness of the tragedy in each scene. The irony of temple slaughter at Passover time would have been as clear to Roman as to Jewish readers: Passover was known to have been the festival of liberation.
A tragedy needs villains and Josephus fills his narrative with an abundance of "robbers" or "bandits" who polluted the temple, just as per Jeremiah 7:11 said they would.
"Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes?"
Josephus was in good literary company since we find the same motif being drafted by the Roman historian Tacitus when narrating the destruction of the central temple in Rome:
Thus the Capitoline temple, its doors locked, was burned to the ground undefended and unplundered. This was the most lamentable and appalling disaster in the whole history of the Roman commonwealth. Though no foreign enemy threatened, though we enjoyed the favour of heaven as far as our failings permitted, the sanctuary of Jupiter Best and Greatest solemnly founded by our fathers as a symbol of our imperial destiny . . . was now, thanks to the infatuation of our leaders, suffering utter destruction. (Hist. 3.72 — I am using my Penguin translation and not the one used by Mason)
Josephus blends Jewish and Greek literary motifs in his tragic narration (Mason, pp. 114-121). A stock motif in tragic narrative were omens of imminent disaster and ambiguous prophecies that would mislead the hapless victims.
Tragedy's Stock Omens and Prophecies
A motif that was virtually universal in ancient historiography was that a change of ruler should be preceded by omens and prophecies. We see it in the history of Tacitus describing the ascent of Vespasian (I quote from LacusCurtius, Histories, Book 2.78- the extract is not quoted by Mason): Continue reading "Is Josephus Evidence that a Messianic Movement caused the Jewish War?"
Author Neil GodfreyPosted on 2018-11-30 00:25:02 GMT+0000 2020-12-17 08:42:25 GMT+0000 Categories Biblical Studies, Messiahs and messianismTags Josephus, Mason: A History of the Jewish War A.D. 66-74, Messianism31 Comments on Is Josephus Evidence that a Messianic Movement caused the Jewish War?
The Hidden Messiah
Tags: Messianism
Just another mild-mannered reporter
Tim recently cited a few of my old posts in which I draw attention to evidence that Jewish ideas about the Messiah were far more varied in the Second Temple era than commonly supposed. Another variant I have not covered in any of those posts was "the hidden messiah", the view that the messiah was thought to have been born and waiting somewhere in the wings, unrecognized, until the critical moment when God would bring him to the fore to answer a climactic hour of need.
In other posts I have addressed Jewish writings of the seventh century (CE, late antiquity) positing a messiah who was born a while back but was being kept hidden by God for "the right time". But what I am interested in here is the Jewish idea that the messiah was born incognito and living somewhere on earth unrecognized. Not even he himself knew he was to become the messiah.
I refer to William Wrede's discussion of "the hidden Messiah in Judaism" in The Messianic Secret. Wrede is addressing the possibility that the author of the Gospel of Mark knew of an existing idea that the messiah would live for a time on earth without anyone being aware of his true identity.
The first witness Wrede calls upon is Justin and his "Dialogue with Trypho" (written early to mid second century).
The idea is clearly expressed in Justin. Trypho the Jew says in the Dialogue, ch. 8:
But even if the Christ has already been born and lives somewhere (kai esti pou) he is unknown, and does not even know himself. Nor does he have any sort of power until Elias has come, and anointed him and revealed him to everybody.
Similarly in ch. 110 Justin cites as a Jewish idea the notion that even if the messiah had come nobody would know who he is but that they would rather learn this only when he is made manifest and appears in glory, hotan emphanes kai endoxos genetai.
(Wrede, p. 213)
That is, Superman has not yet appeared but a few people in Smallville, Kansas, know a Clark Kent who is an entirely ordinary nobody.
Wrede points out a similar idea in the Gospel of John:
A related idea is presupposed by the Gospel of John when in 7.27 the Jews say "When the Christ appears no-one will know where he comes from." The hiddenness of his origin appears as a characteristic of the messiah.
So we can conclude that the idea was known as early as the time the Gospel of John was being put together.
How much earlier? Wrede warns that Jewish ideas and speculations would have been influenced by Christian beliefs, but one must ask how likely it is that the Jews would have moved their ideas in the direction of accommodating Christian ones.
It appears, then, that at the time the gospels were being composed some Jews did hold a notion that the messiah was possibly alive somewhere, hidden, not recognized (yet) as the messiah.
(Does Mark's claim that there would be false claims that the Messiah was to be found "there" or "over here" tie in with such an idea? Mark 13:21 — "At that time if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Messiah!' or, 'Look, there he is!' do not believe it…")
Wrede, William. 1971. The Messianic Secret: Das Messiasgeheimnis in Den Evangelien. Translated by J. C. G. Greig. First Edition edition. Cambridge: James Clarke.
Author Neil GodfreyPosted on 2018-03-08 10:09:07 GMT+0000 2019-06-23 15:22:03 GMT+0000 Categories Messiahs and messianismTags Messianism10 Comments on The Hidden Messiah
The Priestly Messiah and the Royal Messiah
In the previous post we looked at ancient Jewish concepts of multiple messiahs, each with a distinctive role. There was Davidic messiah who for most of existence lives like a destitute vagabond or beggar, despised, rejected and unrecognized in the streets of "Rome". Then there was a messiah from the tribe of Joseph who emerged as a warrior to lead Israel in a battle against the ultimate forces of evil but who was killed in that battle. His death was the cue for the Davidic messiah to emerge from obscurity and call upon God for the resurrection of the fallen messiah.
We also saw other messiahs, one from the tribe of Levi or family of Aaron, who was a priest-messiah. Associated with these messiahs was a prophet, Elijah.
We looked at some reasons for believing such ideas were familiar (if not unanimously embraced) by Jews prior to the fall of the Temple in 70 CE. In a future post I will look at additional evidence for assigning such beliefs as early as the period from 200 BCE to 70 CE. I will also address the midrashic processes by which Second Temple era Jews could well have arrived at such characters and scenarios according to Daniel Boyarin.
And most interesting of all, at least for me, I will post on how all of these ideas relate to what we read in the Gospel of Mark about the figure of Jesus and the reason for his crucifixion.
But in this post we will look at other types of messiahs, or at least one other: the priest-messiah and his subordinate companion (political) messiah from Israel or Joseph. Continue reading "The Priestly Messiah and the Royal Messiah"
Author Neil GodfreyPosted on 2017-04-16 12:36:34 GMT+0000 2019-06-23 15:20:58 GMT+0000 Categories Messiahs and messianismTags Messianism14 Comments on The Priestly Messiah and the Royal Messiah
Well I never knew that was in the Bible
Filed under: Biblical Studies, Messiahs and messianism, Old Testament
Tags: David, Isaiah, Messianism
Circle of Juan de la Corte (1580 – 1663)
Title: The Burning of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar's Army
Despite having been familiar with the Bible for many years I have had to confess that much of my understanding has been at a layman's level and only sporadically informed by more thorough scholarly insights. One assumption that most lay readers are likely to bring to the Bible is that it speaks with a uniform voice about a future time when a Messiah figure descended from King David will once again restore Israel to a power exceeding the comparable status she held in the days of King Solomon.
So I was taken aback when I read that one of the contributors to the book of Isaiah had no such vision about a future Davidic messiah, but on the contrary accepted that David's dynasty had finished, been terminated. But don't we read in 2 Samuel 7 and Psalm 89 that God promised an everlasting dynasty for David? Did our Isaiah writer not know of this prophecy? How could that passage be included in the canon if it contradicted other "sacred scriptures"?
Part of the answer emerged when I recollected my earlier post, How Bible Contradictions Began. Notice what our author does to God's eternal promises.
That second Isaiah was keen to reinterpret what he could of Isaiah's oracles can be seen in his handling of the Davidic convenantal tradition. Though political realities would not allow him to simply repeat Isaiah's promises to the Davidic monarchy, he skillfully actualizes this tradition by "democratizing" it, and applying the Davidic promises to the entire nation (55:1—5). (David Meade, Pseudonymity and Canon, 1986. p. 34)
Again 5 pages later,
We already saw how the Davidic promises were applied by second Isaiah to all Israel (55:1— 5).
If you're confused by the above reference to "second Isaiah" then understand that scholars have long believed that the 66 chapters of our book of Isaiah are a composite of different writings: "first Isaiah" wrote chapters 1-39 during the time of the Assyrian empire; "second Isaiah" wrote the rest at the time of the Babylonian empire. Some even add a "third Isaiah" responsible for chapters 55-66.
The New Living Translation of the key passage: Isaiah 55:1-5 Continue reading "Well I never knew that was in the Bible"
Author Neil GodfreyPosted on 2017-03-06 01:06:56 GMT+0000 2019-06-26 12:15:32 GMT+0000 Categories Biblical Studies, Messiahs and messianism, Old TestamentTags David, Isaiah, Messianism2 Comments on Well I never knew that was in the Bible
Questioning Carrier and the Conventional Wisdom on Messianic Expectations
Tags: Carrier: On the Historicity of Jesus, Messianism, Second Temple messianism
Here for convenience is an annotated list of the recent posts on "the myth of messianic expectations".
1. Questioning Carrier and the Common View of a "Rash of Messianism" at the time of Jesus
Carrier's claim "Palestine in the early first century ce was experiencing a rash of messianism" is introduced. His assertion that "The early first century ce was in their prediction window" is tested against his footnoted authority, "The Expectation of the End in the Dead Sea Scrolls" by John Collins.
2. Questioning Claims about Messianic Anticipations among Judeans of the Early First Century
Carrier's claim that "That Jewish expectations of some kind of messiah in the early Roman Empire were widespread, influential, and very diverse . . . has been well established by experts on ancient messianism" is tested by examining seven of the nine "experts in messianism" cited by Carrier.
3. Questioning Carrier and the "Myth that the Jews Expected a Messiah" (#3)
An examination of the evidence of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Gospels and various purported "messianic" figures (the Samaritan, Theudas, the Egyptian and the anonymous "imposter") in Josephus. Argues that reading what Josephus does say about the prophetic role of these figures, as opposed to what he does not say about their supposed messianic role, has too often been overlooked.
4. Origin of the Myth that the Jews Expected a Messiah
I put Richard Carrier's arguments on hold to point out what J. H. Charlesworth calls "the myth that Jews expected a Messiah and knew what functions he would perform." I would even say William Scott Green's "Messiah in Judaism: Rethinking the Question" . . . is obligatory reading and discussion for anyone interested in this question.
5. How Do You Spot a Messiah? — Myth of Jewish Messianic Expectations continued
Examines Carrier's dismissal of Horsley, Freyne and Goodman's views; shows Carrier inconsistencies in the application of his definition of "messiah"; and surveys Goodman's analysis of the "ambiguous oracle" in Josephus and messianism in the first Jewish war with Rome, and the evidence for "messianism" between 70 and 132 CE.
6. Questioning Carrier: Was the Book of Daniel Really a "Key Messianic Text"?
Another look at origins of the "myth of messianic expectations" in the "apocalyptic hypothesis"; a companion argument to Green's discussion in post #4 Origin of the Myth. Considers the evidence used to claim Daniel was a popular messianic text in the early first century. Also refers to evidence for attempts to calculate the time of the arrival of messiah from Daniel's prophecies.
The posts also stress the difference between apocalypticism and messianism. Apocalyptic literature was for most part unconnected with messianic expectations.
Note, also, that there is no dispute about the existence of a wide variety of messianic concepts. In fact it is the research into these that has been a significant contributor to undermining the conventional view that Second Temple Jews were experiencing messianic fever.
Author Neil GodfreyPosted on 2016-08-02 12:29:13 GMT+0000 2019-06-23 15:22:48 GMT+0000 Categories Messiahs and messianismTags Carrier: On the Historicity of Jesus, Messianism, Second Temple messianism11 Comments on Questioning Carrier and the Conventional Wisdom on Messianic Expectations |
Q: Why are a lot of users' weekly reputation negative? I came across this page. Why does every user on this page have a negative weekly change?
A: First, in your specific case, the only reputation activity those users had so far this week was setting a 100 point bounty. You probably could also find many with -50 for the week (probably even more than the -100's) Of course, two 50 point bounties would also add up to -100.
There are other reasons users could have negative net changes, and it's possible these could total -100, or any other value. But the -100 is 'special' due to what I noted above.
Other possibilties (which could of course occur in combination)
*
*The user was down voted for more points than up voted.
*Another user who had up voted numerous posts of theirs was deleted, or the votes were invalidated.
*Posts the user edited for 2 points each were deleted.
*Posts the user had recently had up voted were deleted.
*Votes were reversed through the automatic serial vote detection tool.
*A user that had upvoted their posts was deleted, thus undoing their votes.
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The nightlife in Brooklyn is always changing, always recognizing when it needs to be refreshing. That's the case with Kick Axe, located at 622 DeGraw Street.
The first-time bar owners — Ginger Flesher-Sonnier and Darren Sonnier — had only known the escape room industry. But the duo had this idea for a bar that was too good to pass up: an axe-throwing themed bar. Yes, it does sound crazy -- it's booze and axes involved. But the instant novelty of the idea has catapulted the bar through the stratosphere since it opened.
Sonnier employed "axperts" to create a safe setting at the 7,000-square-foot location, and remain within safety regulations.
This is the first axe throwing bar in New York City. Sonnier told the Brooklyn Eagle that axe throwing has become hugely popular in Canada and believes the bar could evolve into a major player in axe throwing leagues.
The owners plan to start league play at the bar sometime in 2018.
The bar itself is set up much like a shooting ranging with a lodge-like setting. There's more than 8 axe throwing stations that are separated with netting, and there are targets to hit and you will gain points — just like darts.
Even though there's alcohol being served, the owners of Kick Axe have put a "safety first" attitude as priority.
Gowanus has been known for attracting gimmicky — but highly-successful — bars. There's the Royal Palms Shuffleboard Club that has become a major attraction in the city. |
<div class="portlet light portlet-fit ">
<div class="portlet-title">
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<i class="icon-settings font-dark"></i>
<span class="caption-subject font-dark sbold uppercase">General web application settings</span>
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</div>
<div class="portlet-body">
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-12">
<?=form_open_multipart($form_action,' role="form" ')?>
<table id="user" class="table table-bordered table-striped">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width:15%">Company name : </td>
<td style="width:50%">
<input autofocus class="form-control form-control-solid placeholder-no-fix form-group" type="text" autocomplete="off" placeholder="Company name" minlength="1" maxlength="255" name="company" value="<?=$settings->company;?>" required/>
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<td style="width:35%">
<span class="text-muted"></span>
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<td>Address : </td>
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<input autofocus class="form-control form-control-solid placeholder-no-fix form-group" type="text" autocomplete="off" placeholder="Address" name="address" minlength="3" maxlength="255" value="<?=$settings->address;?>" required/>
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<td>City : </td>
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<input autofocus class="form-control form-control-solid placeholder-no-fix form-group" type="text" autocomplete="off" placeholder="City" name="city" minlength="3" maxlength="60" value="<?=humanize($settings->city);?>" required/>
</td>
<td>
<span class="text-muted"></span>
</td>
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<tr>
<td>Contact Person : </td>
<td>
<input autofocus class="form-control form-control-solid placeholder-no-fix form-group" type="text" autocomplete="off" placeholder="Contact person" minlength="3" maxlength="150" name="contact_person" value="<?=humanize($settings->contact_person);?>" required/>
</td>
<td>
<span class="text-muted"></span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Contact Number : </td>
<td>
<input autofocus class="form-control form-control-solid placeholder-no-fix form-group" type="text" autocomplete="off" placeholder="Contact number" maxlength="15" name="contact_number" value="<?=humanize($settings->contact_number);?>" required/>
</td>
<td>
<span class="text-muted"></span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>User credential email subject : </td>
<td>
<input autofocus class="form-control form-control-solid placeholder-no-fix form-group" type="text" autocomplete="off" placeholder="Credential email subject" maxlength="150" name="credentials_mail_subject" value="<?=$settings->credentials_mail_subject;?>" required/>
</td>
<td>
<span class="text-muted"></span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>User password reset subject : </td>
<td>
<input autofocus class="form-control form-control-solid placeholder-no-fix form-group" type="text" autocomplete="off" placeholder="Password reset subject" maxlength="150" name="pw_reset_mail_subject" value="<?=$settings->pw_reset_mail_subject;?>" required/>
</td>
<td>
<span class="text-muted"></span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Logo : </td>
<td>
<div class="fileinput fileinput-new input-group" data-provides="fileinput">
<div class="form-control" data-trigger="fileinput">
<i class="glyphicon glyphicon-file fileinput-exists"></i>
<span class="fileinput-filename"></span>
</div>
<span class="input-group-addon btn blue btn-default btn-file">
<span class="fileinput-new">Select file</span>
<span class="fileinput-exists red">Change</span>
<input type="file" name="logo">
</span>
<a href="#" class="input-group-addon btn red fileinput-exists" data-dismiss="fileinput">Remove</a>
</div>
</td>
<td>
<span class="text-muted"><span class="label label-danger">NOTE!</span> Max picture dimention is 800x800</span>
<br/><br/>
<center><img src="files/media/<?=$settings->logo;?>" alt="Logo" width="30%"></center>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Email : </td>
<td>
<input autofocus class="form-control form-control-solid placeholder-no-fix form-group" type="email" autocomplete="off" placeholder="Email" name="email" maxlength="150" value="<?=$settings->email;?>" required/>
</td>
<td>
<span class="text-muted"></span>
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<td>Domain : </td>
<td>
<input autofocus class="form-control form-control-solid placeholder-no-fix form-group" type="url" autocomplete="off" placeholder="Domain" name="domain" maxlength="60" value="<?=$settings->domain;?>" required/>
</td>
<td>
<span class="text-muted">Full URL to your web application installation. Including subfolder i.e. http://www.yoursite.com/webapp/</span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>User Idle time : </td>
<td>
<input autofocus class="form-control form-control-solid placeholder-no-fix form-group" type="number" name="idle" min="1" value="<?=$settings->idle;?>" required/>
</td>
<td>
<span class="text-muted">Number of seconds before the system locks down when user is idle.</span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Rectangle logo : </td>
<td>
<div class="fileinput fileinput-new input-group" data-provides="fileinput">
<div class="form-control" data-trigger="fileinput">
<i class="glyphicon glyphicon-file fileinput-exists"></i>
<span class="fileinput-filename"></span>
</div>
<span class="input-group-addon btn blue btn-default btn-file">
<span class="fileinput-new">Select file</span>
<span class="fileinput-exists red">Change</span>
<input type="file" name="small-logo">
</span>
<a href="#" class="input-group-addon btn red fileinput-exists" data-dismiss="fileinput">Remove</a>
</div>
</td>
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<span class="text-muted"><span class="label label-danger">NOTE!</span> Max picture dimention is 94x14</span>
<br/><br/>
<center><img style="background-color: #000; width: 60%;" alt="Logo" src="files/media/<?=$settings->small_logo;?>"></center>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="border-collapse: initial;">
<td>Maintenance mode : </td>
<td>
<div class="form-group">
<input type="checkbox" name='maintenance' class='checkbox-fullsize' data-labelauty="Maintenance mode disabled|Maintenance mode enabled" <?php echo ($settings->maintenance)? "checked": "";?>/>
</div>
</td>
<td>
<span class="text-muted"></span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> Short website description : </td>
<td>
<textarea name="short_description" maxlength="1000" class="form-control" rows="13"><?=$settings->short_description;?></textarea>
</td>
<td>
<span class="text-muted"></span>
</td>
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<tr>
<td> Full website description : </td>
<td colspan="2">
<textarea name="full_description" maxlength="10000" id="settings_about"><?=$settings->full_description;?></textarea>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3">
<div class="form-action pull-right">
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</div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<?=form_close();?>
</div>
</div>
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</div>
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Many of you may not know that over forty years ago I started a business, which then morphed into a criminal search company with three employees. Now Sterling is the largest identity and screening business in the world. From 1975 to 2013 we grew the company by automating the criminal record check process, investing in cutting-edge technology and hiring the best, client-obsessed team. Together with our clients we created an industry focused on helping them hire faster while protecting the reputation of their brands.
When I stepped into my Chairmanship role in 2014, I stepped away from day-to-day operations of the company to focus on strategy. In that time, I've seen massive industry changes take place, from changes to the regulatory landscape affecting how businesses hire, to the emergence of on-demand hiring and a more global workforce. It became clear to me that the industry that I helped to invent was ready for re-invention. So, last month when Sterling's Board asked me to come back as CEO, the opportunity to work with clients to re-invent the industry we invented together was too good to pass on. I couldn't resist coming back.
I am proud and excited to return to the CEO role at Sterling. We're the best team in the industry, with the strongest balance sheet, and the biggest commitment to innovation…bar none. The quality and speed of our services – which keep people around the globe safer and help people find jobs faster – is better than anyone's.
At a time when many background check companies are consolidating and cost-cutting for efficiencies, Sterling, with our financial strength and Goldman Sachs backing, is spending money for innovation, partnership and growth. We've added 900 new employees to our talented team in the last year alone. We're building an excellent Global platform; we're building the best Global HR Tech company in the world. With our industry expertise and the commitment from our team to our clients, I am looking forward to leading the Sterling team into the future. I know it will be a bright one. |
Selina Norris Gray (December 1823 – 1907) was an African American woman known for saving some of George Washington's heirlooms when Union soldiers seized and occupied Arlington House, the home of Confederate Army General Robert E. Lee on May 24, 1861.
When Lee and his wife fled Arlington House, Gray was given the keys to the mansion and responsibility for the main house. The house had heirlooms from George Washington—china, furniture, and art work—because Mary Anna Custis Lee was the great-granddaughter of Martha Washington. Mary Lee's father, George Washington Parke Custis, who built the house, had also been raised by the Washingtons.
Union soldiers took over the house, cut down much of the surrounding trees for firewood and treated the house poorly. Gray noticed that some items were missing. She told the soldiers not to touch "Mrs. Lee's things" and later complained to Union General Irvin McDowell, after which the remaining heirlooms including "a bookcase, knife boxes, dinner plates, a creamer and other china, and a side table" were sent to the Patent Office for safekeeping.
Early life and legacy
Gray was the daughter of Leonard and Sally Norris; she was a second-generation enslaved person, a descendant of enslaved people from Mount Vernon. She worked as the personal maid to Mary Lee while she was at Arlington House, becoming head housekeeper. She was married to Thornton Gray around 1847 and the couple had eight children—Emma, Annice, Florence, Sarah, Ada, Selina, John and Harry—who were all born into slavery. She and her family were freed in December 1862, according to the will of George Washington Parke Custis, who ordered that his slaves be freed "no later than" five years after his death which occurred in 1857.
Her family continued to live at Arlington House for several years. Her children were pivotal in the restoration of the building in the 1920s and 1930s; two of her daughters assisted the War Department with the restoration of the house. The house where they lived as enslaved people has been restored by the National Park Service. She and her family bought a 10-acre property in Green Valley, where they grew and sold vegetables and lived the rest of their lives. She died in 1907. One of her sons, Harry, became a skilled mason and worked with the Department of the Interior. His house, the Harry W. Gray House, is on the National Register of Historic Places. His grandson, Thornton H. Gray, was a lawyer who fought with the U.S. Army in World War I, died in 1943, and is buried in Arlington Cemetery.
A rare photograph of Selina Grey surfaced in 2014 on eBay and was purchased by the National Park Service's nonprofit partner, Save Historic Arlington House, for $700. It is the only existing image of an identified enslaved person owned by the Custis and Lee family. There is a park, Selina Gray Square, named for her in Arlington, Virginia.
References
19th-century African-American women
African-American history of Virginia
African Americans in the American Civil War
History of slavery in Virginia
History of Virginia
People from Virginia
19th-century American slaves |
An Eternity Rose, a 24K gold dipped rose, is an amazing gift for someone who already has everything and would be a joy to gift and even receive. Yes, you heard me correctly, a real rose dipped in certified 24K gold! If you've ever gifted or received flowers, you know their guarantee is definitely not a lifetime one. Some often don't like gifting or receiving roses or flowers for this reason alone. An Eternity Rose, however, will indeed last forever.
An Eternity Rose comes in a magnificent PU leather display case, which definitely adds a little something to the gift and gives it something beautiful to display it in. Since this stunning gift is dipped in 24K gold, it also comes with a double-sided certificate to make this gift more than golden.
The rose itself is almost like a piece of art with a mirror finish fit for a king or queen. It's amazing to see a rose encased in gold. I mean, what a beautiful symbol of love!
The rose stands at approximately 11.5″ and feels sturdy, however delicate the rose was when picked, which was at its peak of beauty. There are other similar gifts on the website, such as a rose in a silver shade of gold and even jewelry that can be worn. There is something for everyone! Spoil someone with this eternal symbol of love. |
Over the generations, people have always tried to change the sefardim. The Ashkenaz wanted them to be like them and slowly but surely, many of the sefardi traditions have died out. Instead of this, it is the Askenazim whom should have wanted to draw close to the sefardi traditions. Most of the greatest Kabbalists, Tzaddikim, were sefardim! The Arizal, the Ben Ish Chai and Rav Yosef Karo to name a few.
PLEASE SEND ME PHOTOGRAPHS, VIDEOS, AUDIO AND INFORMATION ON SEFARDI RABBIS. |
Q: The right Way to instantiate xserver-xorg-video-dummy driver at boot time for CRON scheduled WINE app The context: I have a Windows based apps provided by a data service provider. I have managed to get this to work in WINE. The app requires a GUI (initial configuration, login credentials and exception data management) for initial and adhoc tasks. I configured remote RDP into tightvncserver/xfce4. It works well.
I need to schedule data updates (multiple times per day). However the app does require a GUI environment so I setup the headless display manager (xserver-xorg-video-dummy driver). From a terminal I can manually start "X &" and then instantiate the windows app. Loving Ubuntu so far :)
...
DISPLAY=:0 wine start C:\MyUpdater.exe update=1 close=1
...
However I need to schedule this via cron under a normal user. I believe I should only start X only once (to maintain the correct headless DISPLAY=:0 ref).
I am a big fan of doing things right and am wondering on the correct way to set this up so X starts on boot but is accessible by the crontask.
A pointer would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Lex
A: Start headless X on boot:
sudo /var/systemd/system/headlessx.service
With content:
[Unit]
Description=Headless X server
[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/X
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
Then test/install:
Start it:
sudo systemctl start headlessx
Enable it to run at boot:
sudo systemctl enable headlessx
Stop it:
sudo systemctl stop headlessx
Hope this helps someone. Running my windows GUI based app from the command line works a treat. Now if only I could make is work as a cron task life would be perfect. ;)
|
M/s. Alcon Electronics Pvt. Ltd. Vs. Celem S.A.
Addanki Adilakshmamma and ors. Vs. District Collector and ors.
C. Arjun Rao Vs. Dr. T. Ramamohana Rao and anr.
Umesh Chandra Saxena and ors. Etc. Vs. Administrator General and ors.
S.R. Ramalingam Vs. R. Vivekanandan and ors. |
Everyone knows that as a world organization, nothing symbolizes unity, cooperation and understanding more than the United Nations. Better known as the UN, the United Nations is an international organization founded in 1945, at the heels of the Second World War. The UN was intended to replace its predecessor, The League of Nations, by providing a platform for dialogue among its now 193 member nations. The six official languages of the United Nations are used in conducting business.
The primary aims of the UN are to promote security and international law, protect human rights and push for economic development and social progress in its member nations in the hopes of achieving lasting peace in the world.
With such lofty goals in mind set against such a backdrop of diversity, open and effective communication is of utmost importance in order to be able to coordinate all the member nations. This is why the United Nations has official languages at its arsenal.
After all, if they can't even agree on what language to use when communicating, how else can the members strive to realize their great and very ambitious ideals and goals? One of the basics of effective communication is being able to speak the same language in order to properly understand one another.
The United Nations uses six official and working languages in conducting business: these are English, French, Chinese, Spanish, Arabic, and Russian.
During meetings, speeches are simultaneously interpreted into all the six official languages by UN interpreters and are relayed to the delegates.
Also, all documents released by the UN must be printed in all six official languages.
Those who speak Portuguese may be wondering why their language isn't on the list, the same way those who speak Italian, German or even Swahili may be thinking. In fact, even the members of the UN sometimes feel that the UN uses English more than the other five listed languages.
Combined, these languages are spoken by some 2.8 billion people in the world. Spoken as either a primary or secondary language, the majority of the world's population use any of these six. In fact, almost half of the population of the world use any of these six languages are their official language.
As with anything, majority rules.
In the early years of the UN, there were five official languages, English, French, Russian, Chinese and Spanish. However, English and French were deemed the two working languages.
By 1948, Spanish was designated a UN working language, followed by Russian in 1968.
In 1973, Arabic was later added as an official working language, along with Chinese.
With the world population growing and people continuing to evolve, it's possible that other languages may be designated as official and working languages of the UN.
Bengali may one day be an official spoken language. It is now the fifth or sixth most spoken language in the world. Portuguese, Hindustani and even Turkish have been proposed at some point. |
Both the 4- and 6-person tent has 2 sleeping compartments.
You can bring your own bed linen or use our bedding sets.
Click here for an inventory list.
The campsite is open from the 15th of April until the 1st of October.
Is this accommodation no longer available?
This fully equipped caravan is for 2 persons with a spacious awning and garden furniture.
The caravan is set in a spacious area, so if you come with more than two persons it is possible to add an additional tent.
The caravan has a fixed double bed and a kitchen unit with refrigerator.
The sanitary unit is at a short walking distance.
Fully furnished rental tent. Dogs are not allowed in the rental tents.
Both the 4 and 6 persons tents have 2 sleeping areas.
You can bring your own bed linen or we can provide this for you.
Nicely furnished cabin for 2 persons, with a double bed, table and 2 chairs, refrigerator and cooker.
There is a picnic table and 2 sun loungers are provided. If desired, kitchen inventory is available.
Excluding tourist and environmental taxes: 0.70 € per person, per night. |
Xcèntric 2017
Things of my life: the ethnographic cinema of Chick Strand
The CCCB's cinema
Chick Strand, joint founder with Bruce Baillie of the Canyon Cinema cooperative in 1961, was a pioneering filmmaker with her poetic combination of documentary elements and experimental techniques. In the course of her 30-year career, she made several summer trips to Mexico, during which she made the ethnographic films that make up this session, some of the most important of the avant-garde cinema.
Most of the films that Chick Strand made between the sixties and eighties are made up of portraits of the people she met on her journeys around Guanajuato. The trilogy Anselmo, Cosas de mi vida and Anselmo and the Women (1966-1987) centres on the life of a street musician, his wife, his family, his children, social and identitary roles, and the exploration of cooperation and the couple's emotions from an ethnographic viewpoint. Señora con flores is the last portrait Strand made before her death: in it we see her intense close-ups, the liveliness of her colours and the harshness of life, but we also feel the weight of memory and hear the voice of the woman with purple flowers of the title. This film, the loveliest that Strand ever made, was edited posthumously.
Anselmo, 1967, 3 min
Cosas de mi vida, 1976, 25 min
Anselmo and the Women, 1986, 35 min
Señora con flores, 1995/2011, 15 min.
16mm screening.
Copies restored by the Acedemy Film Archive (Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences)
Directors: Chick Strand
This activity is part of Xcèntric 2017
4 € / 3 € Concessions
5-session pass: 15 € / 12 € Concessions
Friends of the CCCB: free of charge
Xcèntric. Programme January - February 2017
Val del Omar, Manon de Boer, Patrick Bokanowski, Chick Strand, Teo Hernández, Anne Rees-Mogg, Robert Beavers, Fred Halsted, Kazuo Hara, Barbara Rubin, Kenneth Anger, Jack Smith, James Herbert, Stan Brakhage are the filmmakers featured in the 2017 Xcèntric ...
Illuminated Hours. Installation: "17 Reasons Why", by Nathaniel Dorsky
13 — 30 January 2022 Audiovisuals
Creation is a political protest. The cinema of Djouhra Abouda and Alain Bonnamy
30 January 2022 Audiovisuals
Ghosts of the Future
3 February 2022 Audiovisuals |
Product ID T2816
1 g $50.00
25 g $542.20
5 g $171.40
L-Theanine is an amino acid that can be found in Camellia and Boletus; it is a glutamic acid analog. L-theanine exhibits neuroprotective, cognition enhancing, anxiolytic, and antipsychotic activities. L-Theanine is a weak agonist at AMPA and NMDA receptors, increasing brain DA, 5-HT, and GABA levels. This compound improves memory, cognition, mood, and attention in clinical settings. In animal models of cerebral ischemia, L-theanine inhibits apoptosis of hippocampal neurons, improving spatial memory.
N-Ethyl-L-glutamine
(2S)-2-amino-5-(ethylamino)-5-oxopentanoic acid
210-215°C (dec)
Solubility
Soluble in water or ethanol.
T2816 MSDS PDF
T2816 Info Sheet PDF
Park SK, Jung IC, Lee WK, et al. A combination of green tea extract and l-theanine improves memory and attention in subjects with mild cognitive impairment: a double-blind placebo-controlled study. J Med Food. 2011 Apr;14(4):334-43. PMID: 21303262.
Ritsner MS, Miodownik C, Ratner Y, et al. L-theanine relieves positive, activation, and anxiety symptoms in patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder: an 8-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 2-center study. J Clin Psychiatry. 2011 Jan;72(1):34-42. PMID: 21208586.
Haskell CF, Kennedy DO, Milne AL, et al. The effects of L-theanine, caffeine and their combination on cognition and mood. Biol Psychol. 2008 Feb;77(2):113-22. PMID: 18006208.
Egashira N, Ishigami N, Pu F, et al. Theanine prevents memory impairment induced by repeated cerebral ischemia in rats. Phytother Res. 2008 Jan;22(1):65-8. PMID: 17705146.
Nathan PJ, Lu K, Gray M, et al. The neuropharmacology of L-theanine(N-ethyl-L-glutamine): a possible neuroprotective and cognitive enhancing agent. J Herb Pharmacother. 2006;6(2):21-30. PMID: 17182482. |
State auditor to survey water prices in the area (August 14, 2014)
APPLE VALLEY — The State Auditor will conduct an audit of water rates in and around the town in an effort to identify the reasons for escalating water costs.
The action was requested by state Sen. Steve Knight, R-Lancaster, through the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, which approved the survey request in a Thursday afternoon session.
Knight's request was prompted by Apple Valley residents' concerns and frustrations with Apple Valley Ranchos Water Co.'s general rate case application, his letter to the committee said. The company seeks an increase of about 30 percent over the next three years.
The audit will survey Apple Valley Ranchos, the system of Golden State Water Co. also serving parts of Apple Valley, and the city water departments of Hesperia and Victorville.
Residents of Apple Valley are subject to disproportionately higher water rates in comparison to residents of the surrounding communities, Town Manager Frank Robinson said. An objective review of how rates are established is overdue.
The town is contesting AVR's rate case for 2015-17 now before the California Public Utilities Commission. Hundreds of Apple Valley Ranchos water customers attended two CPUC public hearings on April 30, principally to air their objections.
Officials of Apple Valley Ranchos expressed support for the audit process and requested that it include a review of compliance with state and federal drinking water standards.
It is important that our customers have confidence that the price of water service is established in a fair and reasonable fashion, said Chris Schilling, CEO of Park Water Co., AVR's owner. Equally important is that customers expect the water they drink is safe and that adequate investments are being made to ensure reliable operations now and into the future.
Schilling said rate hikes have averaged 3 percent a year since 2003.
He said some of the information in Knight's letter to the commission seems to be based on the town's calculations, with which he disagrees.
AVR serves about 19,500 in the town and adjacent unincorporated areas, and Golden State serves about 2,900 customers, the State Auditor said in an analysis of the committee's request.
It is uncertain when the audit will begin or end, Knight's Chief of Staff David Orosco said, but results will be submitted to the audit committee upon completion. A similar audit was recently conducted in the Antelope Valley, he said.
Hesperia spokeswoman Rachel Molina said her city has no objections to participating in the water-rate audit.
Spokesmen for Golden State Water and the Victorville Water District did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the audit.
Source: Gary Brodeur, Daily Press
Files related to water rates
2010 Water rate comparison table
20110629 Final Report: County of San Bernardino Grand Jury
2014 Estimated total monthly water cost
20140814 State auditor to survey water prices in the area
20140814 State Auditor to audit water rates in Apple Valley and surrounding areas
20140815 AVRWC to participate in state audit of regional cost of water service
20150428 TOAV Town Hall presentation (for May 2014)
20150430 California State Auditor's Report: Apple Valley area water rates
20150727 State Audit Confirms Reasonableness of Apple Valley Area Water Utilities' Costs and Rates
20150430 Audit questions millions spent by Victorville's water district
20150430 Audit: Private water more costly
20150430 AVRWC: State Audit Affirms Distinctions and Differences of Government-Owned and Private, Regulated Water Utilities
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20160913 Eric Larsen (Liberty Utilities) corrects the Town Council and staff (video)
20160926 Understanding your water bill
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20170312 Editor's Notebook: The water world we live in
Missing water bill information
Filling in the facts
Hidden costs, revisited
20181221 Hesperia reinstates water connection fee for future homes
"As taxpayer advocates, we're concerned whenever government attempts to take over a private business, using the power of eminent domain. The promises are rarely kept, and costs invariably exceed projections. Taxpayers need to be fully informed and extremely cautious."
— John Coupal, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers' Association |
Giants and Dodgers Make Offer for RHP Ricky Nolasco
Jul 3, 2013; Atlanta, GA, USA; Miami Marlins starting pitcher
Ricky Nolasco
(47) pitches in the first inning against the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports
Per an article by Joe Frisaro of MLB.com both the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers have submitted offers for RHP Ricky Nolasco, whom would be a free agent after the 2013 season. The team receiving Nolasco may not give him a qualifying offer since he will not have played with his new team for the entire 2013 season. Friasro reports the two deals as such:
The Giants would trade:
Two pitching prospects
Some of the remaining money on Nolasco's contract
The Marlins would trade:
RHP Ricky Nolasco (3.85 ERA, 3.51 FIP — both would be second on the team to Madison Bumgarner)
Of course, it depends on which pitchers the Giants would send to decide how worth it this exchange would be, but chances are I'd be more against this deal than for it, and I'm glad they're not willing to take on all the money. Going into Friday's game, the Giants are 4.5 games back of the first place Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Dodgers would trade:
One pitching prospect
All of the remaining money on Nolasco's contract
RHP Ricky Nolasco (would have third best ERA and FIP on the staff, below Clayton Kershaw and Hyun-jin Ryu)
So, which would you rather have? Likely a better pitching prospect and saving all the money, or two lesser prospects and save some money? That could be the decision the Marlins have to make, assuming teams like the Padres, Rockies, and Yankees are unwilling to make stronger offers. Going into Friday's game, the Dodgers are 3.5 games back of the first place Arizona Diamondbacks. |
Just some house keeping info for ordering. There are two ways to order coffee.
For orders submitted weekly there is the "quick order" tab. it's a simple and fast process.
For those of you who want to setup a reccurring order we offer that now as well. It provides a reccurring order to be shipped based on the amount of time (in weeks) that you desire. It will require a card but will only charge when the order ships. It takes the hassle of weekly or bi-weekly orders off your plate. You can always adjust your reccurring order to meet your growing needs. Additionally orders can be placed on top of a reccurring order!
if you have questions please reach out to [email protected] and I will square everything away! |
Swisscom Capex focus on mobile network quality and coverage
Swisscom reported that it made an investment of CHF 1.083 billion (+0.7 percent) in the first half of the year, focusing on the mobile network quality, coverage and performance of the network infrastructure in Switzerland.
Swisscom connected over 4.6 million or 86 percent of homes and businesses in Switzerland to its ultra-fast broadband service (speeds in excess of 80 Mbps) at the end of June 2021. Over 3.6 million or 68 percent of homes and offices benefit from fast connections with bandwidths exceeding 200 Mbps. Of these, more than 1.8 million have been upgraded to FTTH.
Swisscom intends to make ultra-fast broadband available in every Swiss municipality by the end of 2021, even in remote locations. By the end of 2025, FTTH fibre-optic coverage is set to increase to up to 60 percent.
Swisscom came out on top in numerous mobile network tests in the first half of 2021 thanks to its Capex in telecom network. Swisscom covered 99 percent of the Swiss population with its 4G LTE network at the end of June 2021. Swisscom supplies 98 percent of the Swiss population with a basic version of 5G. Swisscom had 1,558 antennas in 693 locations with full 5G+.
Swisscom Group revenue rose by 2.6 percent to CHF 5,583 million. In the Swiss core business, revenue increased slightly by 0.5 percent to CHF 4,103 million as a result of the IT solutions business with business customers and a higher number of smartphones sold.
Previous articleVi non-Executive Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla steps down
Next articleThree UK Capex touches £307 mn due to 5G network investment
Forecast on Capex by telco, webscale, and carrier-neutral operators
VEON Capex intensity to decline to below 20% by 2024
Telstra, Optus and TPG investment in mobile infrastructure in Australia
Foxconn India iPhone plant to reopen on Wednesday |
Trending Now in Food
Tiki on 18th
drink company
DC Restaurants and Bars Close, Take Precautionary Measures During Water Emergency
The city has issued a boil water advisory for large swaths of Northwest and Northeast DC
Written by Anna Spiegel
, Jessica Sidman
and Christian Paz
| Published on July 13, 2018
Photo via iStock.
DC Water issued an emergency message on Friday morning that residents in large swaths of Northwest and Northeast Washington should boil all water for consumption due to possible contamination. On Thursday evening, a pumping station valve lost pressure, which could potentially allow contaminants in the water. The affected area includes hundreds of restaurants, bars, and coffee houses, all of which are grappling with how to go about business on a busy summer weekend—if at all.
Some have already closed for the day. Slim's Diner owner Paul Ruppert says he temporarily shuttered his Petworth restaurant "out of an abundance of caution."
"We wanted to go through everything we had here that was touched by water since last night—emptying the ice, draining and cleaning the coffee machines, and that sort of thing," says Ruppert, who plans to take the day to boil water and source ice so the diner can reopen tomorrow with cold brew coffee.
Peregine Espresso owner Ryan Jensen, who has one shop in the contaminated zone, did some early-morning problem solving to remain open. The 14th Street coffee shop is serving a limited menu of pour-overs made with boiled water and steamed coffee drinks that get up to scalding temperatures. Meanwhile, the business is driving cold brews and coffee in from the Union Market location, which is outside the potentially contaminated area.
"Most of the city has no idea this happened," says Jensen. "We have customers coming in going out their daily lives and not realizing they shouldn't have brushed their teeth this morning. It's unlikely there's anything in the water, but we've been warned and we can't take that chance."
Larger restaurant groups are in a similar process of finding quick solutions. Clyde's Restaurant Group Managing Director David Moran says only two of their restaurants are affected: 1789 and Clyde's of Georgetown. The group, though, was quick to have a plan of attack. The prep teams have been in the kitchen since 6 AM this morning boiling massive pots of water. Meanwhile, the dining rooms will only be serving canned and bottle sodas and waters—no fountain drinks. They're buying ice, which is a pain, but not a disaster. Moran points out that every restaurateur has had their ice machine go down before at one point or another and had to buy ice.
"It looks like it's uncharted territory for the District, so we're hoping for more information shortly," Moran says. "The challenge will be if this goes on for more than today, then it's going to probably start affecting larger things."
At the Schlow Restaurant Group (Riggsby, Tico) pastry chef Alex Levin says the kitchen is taking extra precautions to ensure customer's safety. All salad greens and fruit that might have been washed with contaminated water during the morning prep have been discarded, and that produce will be washed with boiled and cooled water throughout the day.
"We would never put someone at risk. It's not going to happen," says Levin, who adds signs are going up in all the restaurants informing customers of the various precautionary measures.
The ability to wash produce with clean water has become a concern and priority for a number of restaurants. Salad chain Sweetgreen decided to close seven of its shop locations today within the potentially contaminated water zone.
"The advisory specifically states buildings that have lost water pressure or are running cloudy water should close until further notice," says co-founder Nicolas Jammet in a statement issued by Sweetgreen. "While all of our water is running clear and we have not experienced a loss of pressure, we are closing restaurants in the advisory area as a precaution. The safety of our guests and team members is always our first priority."
One major factor for restaurants, and especially bars, is ice production—or lack thereof. Peter Frank, owner of Talbert's Ice & Beverage Service in Bethesda, says his phones have been "falling off the hook" all morning.
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"We have plenty of ice. We just cannot deliver all of the ice as fast as people are asking to," says Frank, who adds that road closures around the Nationals Park for the All-Star Weekend are affecting deliveries. "The capabilities were not set up for this emergency, but we are taking care of customers. They are besieging us for emergency ice because their ice is bad."
Daniel Perkal, the general manager of Hank's Oyster Bar in Dupont, says he placed an order for 1,200 pounds of ice from Talbert's around 8:30 AM and got it delivered a few hours later. But the ice supplier told him that if he had called 30 to 45 minutes later, he probably wouldn't have gotten it today.
Bars, which essentially run on ice, are especially hard hit in a water emergency. Many will have the afternoon to figure out their plan, and whether they can open for a busy weekend of service–one in which many have applied to stay open until 4 AM for MLB All-Star week.
"Oh my god, what a nightmare," says Bar Pilar and Cafe Saint-Ex co-owner Jonathan Fain. "All of the soda systems, they all run off DC water. You have ginger beer on some guns. You have Coca Cola. Jack and Cokes. All that stuff—it's all DC water." And then there's the ice. A little before 10 AM this morning, Fain was on his way to Costco in the hopes of picking up 2-liter sodas, bottled water, and ice. But already, he was stressing that he might be too late. "I could get there any they might be sold out of everything."
The ultimate irony? Fain just got back from Myanmar, where you can't drink the tap water. "I come back to America just to have to boil my water?" he says. "Crazy."
This is a developing story that will be updated.
More: BarsRestaurantsWater Emergency
Anna Spiegel
Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University's MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.
Jessica Sidman
Jessica Sidman covers the people and trends behind D.C.'s food and drink scene. Before joining Washingtonian in July 2016, she was Food Editor and Young & Hungry columnist at Washington City Paper. She is a Colorado native and University of Pennsylvania grad.
Christian Paz
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We welcome papers (in German or English) on any topic to do with the conference theme. Please submit an extended abstract (max. 400 words, prepared for blind review) by 5th May 2019 through the conference website. Papers should be suitable for 20-25 minutes' panel presentations. |
GMA on the road
GMA News | August 1, 2019 | By: IFAI
April and May are always busy months for the Geosynthetic Materials Association (GMA). Construction season is gearing up and the association is preparing to kick off its spring government relations activities. This year was no exception. GMA conducted its third state visit of the fiscal year by traveling to Wyoming; members attended key environmental and infrastructure meetings in Washington, D.C.; and our executive council held its second meeting of the calendar year. All these activities are member led and funded; without the generous support of our member companies and employees of those companies, GMA would not be able to achieve its mission and support the industry.
GMA completes its 20th state visit in Wyoming
The Geosynthetic Materials Association began its state and local government program in 2012 with a visit to Ohio. Since that time, members of our executive council have visited states from coast-to-coast and even as far away as Alaska. State visits provide our members with a unique opportunity to engage state engineers, regulatory agencies and lawmakers to educate them on best practices pertaining to geosynthetic uses in applications such as containment and transportation. Following these visits, GMA focus groups have had opportunities to provide input on multiple state specifications pertaining to environmental, erosion control, geotextile and geogrid applications.
In April 2019 a delegation of eight GMA member companies visited Wyoming to discuss opportunities for increased adoption of geosynthetic products and a review of the current geosynthetic usage in the state. Topics included road building, coal ash containment facilities and farming applications. GMA members met with the governors' offices, departments of transportation and environmental quality, and many other key groups. GMA members answered questions related to best practices for a wide array of geosynthetic products and state specifications, and learned from state leaders about geotechnical challenges facing Wyoming. GMA focus groups plan to follow up to provide technical guidance and education opportunities.
Infrastructure and the environment in D.C.
GMA members and industry leaders gathered in Washington, D.C., during the week of May 20 to advocate for greater consideration of geosynthetic products used in environmental and transportation applications.
GMA's environmental focus group leaders—led by representatives from Owens Corning, Raven Industries, HUESKER Inc., Tensar International Corp., and Engineered Polymer Technologies—kicked off the week by meeting with associations from the energy sector and officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Key topics of conversation during these meetings were subtitle D of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, liner performance, coal combustion residuals (CCR) impoundments and municipal solid waste landfills. GMA's environmental focus group will be starting work on these issues. If you are interested in participating in these conversations, please reach out to me to discuss.
The association's spring Lobby Day kicked off on the evening of May 21, with a three-hour meeting of GMA's executive council to discuss the association's priorities for the coming fiscal year, some of which include passage of the Innovative Materials for America's Growth and Infrastructure Newly Expanded (IMAGINE) Act, industry-led marketing efforts, state and local outreach, and education initiatives. A listing of executive council members can be found by visiting www.gmanow.com.
On May 22, GMA conducted 29 meetings on Capitol Hill, 19 with offices of members of the House of Representatives and 10 with offices of members of the United States Senate. The prospect of a $2 trillion infrastructure package was top of mind during all morning meetings, but the mood soured in the afternoon when word spread that an infrastructure meeting between President Donald Trump and Speaker Nancy Pelosi imploded, effectively dooming the prospects of a bill in the near future. That said, there is a silver lining; members of Congress and their staffs were quick to point to the good work being done at the state level to fund new investment in infrastructure, and the majority of offices seemed very focused on renewing the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act in 2020, to shore up the Highway Trust Fund. Through the tireless efforts of our member advocates, GMA continues to position itself well to take advantage of legislation that can fund growth in our industry and increase the adoption of geosynthetic products.
Left to Right: Carl Baca (Owens Corning), Jim Olsta (HUESKER), Doug Brown (Tensar), Fred Chuck (HUESKER), Anthony Ahmed (Raven Industries), Jonathan Curry (GMA)
Thank you, Andy Durham
Second vice chair of the GMA executive council, Andy Durham, recently became president of Suncoast Geosystems Inc. in Tallahassee, Fla. As a result of taking on this exciting new role, Durham informed me he would have to conclude his term on the council. Durham has been an invaluable member of the GMA executive council since joining the group in 2016 as Owens Corning's representative. In addition to serving as GMA's second vice chair, Durham served as the chair of the association's environmental focus group and leader of our education task force. Durham helped strengthen GMA's relationship with state and federal regulatory agencies and helped expand GMA's webinar program by developing partnerships with external groups and state agencies. On behalf of GMA, I would like to say thank you to Durham for his time on the council and his commitment to GMA's mission. We all wish him the best of luck.
Fall Lobby Day, GeoNashville and Geosynthetic Materials Association Executive Council happenings
GMA Fall 2021 Lobby Day registration opens
GeoNashville and fall Lobby Day
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Chair's corner and GMA happenings |
Curtis Cup players in England's European team
Two of GB&I's victorious Curtis Cup golfers are among the six players selected to represent England Golf in the European girls' team championship at St Leon-Rot Golf Club, Germany, from 10-14 July.
Charley Hull (Woburn) and Bronte Law (Bramhall) will be joined by Georgia Hall (Remedy Oak), Elizabeth Mallett (Sutton Coldfield Ladies'), Emily Taylor (Hillside), and Meghan MacLaren (Wellingborough).
Four of the players were members of the England team which won the silver medal at last year's championship: Georgia Hall, Bronte Law, Elizabeth Mallett and Emily Taylor.
The players:
Charley Hull, 16, is the fifth ranked amateur in the world and the reigning English strokeplay champion. She and Bronte Law, 17, were members of the GB&I team which won the Curtis Cup earlier this month, for the first time in 16 years. Bronte was runner-up in the French lady junior championship earlier this season.
Georgia Hall, 16, was runner-up in the English amateur championship at Royal Birkdale in May; Elizabeth Mallett, 17, is a past English girls' champion; Emily Taylor, 17, is the Irish strokeplay champion; and Meghan MacLaren, 18, won the U18 trophy at the French lady junior championship.
Georgia, Charley and Bronte were all members of England's winning team at the 2011 ladies' Home Internationals, while Georgia, Bronte, Emily, Elizabeth and Meghan were in the successful team at the girls' Home Internationals. |
Striped High-Low Knit tunic: Figure flattering tunic top with graphic stripe print is styled with elbow sleeves, a scoopneck and a modern high-low hemline. Slits at hem and sleeves.
"Price was good on clearance, but not a great top. The fabric was thinner than I expected and the sleeves were tight. Wanted to like it but ended up returning it."
"Love my new top it's lightweight without being cheap and it's very forgiving. Would love more in this style and fabric."
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Pilgrims to America: A Pictorial History - GOODBYE TO HOLLAND
1. A PERSECUTED PEOPLE
2. ESCAPE FROM ENGLAND
3. LIFE IN AMSTERDAM
4. LIFE IN LEIDEN
5. GOODBYE TO HOLLAND
6. BACK TO ENGLAND
7. TO AMERICA
8. STORMS AT SEA
9. A NEAR-MUTINY
10. THE MAYFLOWER COMPACT
Wenceslaus Hollar (1607–1677), a prolific illustrator, created this image of Delfshaven. The "Pilgrim" families would have passed by this area as they left The Netherlands, en route for their new life in America. The image is part of the University of Toronto Wenceslas Hollar Digital Collection, online via Wikimedia Commons. Click on it for a better view.
Brewster's publishing efforts were financed by Thomas Brewer. Not content to merely circulate their books in Holland, the men had them smuggled elsewhere - which greatly annoyed the English monarch, King James I (son of Mary Queen of Scots).
The printing operations ended, thanks to pressure on Dutch authorities by the English ambassador, and both Brewster and Brewer were arrested. Leiden's official court registry, regarding the case, still exists.
Although Leiden's Sheriff freed Brewster, Thomas Brewer was not so fortunate. His home (across the street from the Rogers family) is still standing, but he was sent back to England where he was imprisoned fourteen years for his religious beliefs.
Despite the relatively good life they'd had in Leiden, it was time for the Pilgrims to leave. The growing lack of religious toleration made clear to these Englishmen that if they wished to freely worship God as they saw fit, they would have to leave Europe. There were other reasons to leave, as well.
As often happens to immigrants, the Pilgrims were unable to work at the best (or the highest-paying) jobs. Their children were assimilating into Dutch culture. And, not the least of their worries, it appeared that Spain might once again go to war with Holland.
William Brewster arranged for members of the group to leave Holland and sail (after first stopping in England) to America.
On 21 July 1620, they left Leiden (their adopted city of eleven years), traveling initially down the Vliet Canal (in Leiden) on river barges and then, on the Rapenburg Canal, through Delft (made famous by the Porceleyne Fles and the paintings of Jan Vermeer) to Delfshaven.
There they boarded a ship called the Speedwell and, after living in The Netherlands a dozen years, sailed to Britain on the 22nd of July.
Further complications awaited them in England.
Original Release: May 01, 2006
Updated Last Revision: Jun 06, 2018
Bos, Carole "GOODBYE TO HOLLAND" AwesomeStories.com. May 01, 2006. Jan 18, 2020.
<http://www.awesomestories.com/asset/view/GOODBYE-TO-HOLLAND-Pilgrims-to-America-A-Pictorial-History>.
Religious Persecution - Case Against Thomas Brewer
Leiden - Home of Thomas Brewer
Leiden - Pilgrims' Departure Point
Pilgrims - Leiden to Delfshaven
Pilgrims - Journey on the Vliet Canal
Pilgrims - Travel on Dutch River Barges
Leiden - View of the Rapenburg Canal
Pilgrims - Passage Through Delft
Pilgrims - Port of Delfshaven
Pilgrims - Route from Holland to England
Speedwell - The Pilgrims' Ship
Famous Historical Topics & Events
Pilgrims to America: A Pictorial History |
Telecommunication is very vital in the development of this world. Telecommunication has made the world to become a small globe and people are now able to communicate effectively regardless of the distances. The market is now flooded with so many devices of communication in these days of technological advancement. There are many communication devices available. The latest phone in the market is the VOIP phones. The phones do not use airtime but use internet services to pass information from one person to another. They are more convenient in places that require communication efficiently, This includes businesses, offices, hospitals, and even homes. The reason is because they are cheap compared to using the standards phones.
The phone is becoming known to many people these days. A number of people are changing their phones to VOIP because of their wonderful benefits. The device can be used by anyone regardless of their age and education background since it is easy to operate. These phones calls are very cheap because internet rates are charged at flat rates all over the world. This calls are very suitable for callers that are located far from each other. People that regularly travel can be relieved from the trouble of changing their number each time they go in a foreign county. They don't have to change their number when they get to another country.
business people should think of changing to VoIP phones because of their convenience. Time is always equated with money, finding phones that do not consume the employees time interns leads to increase in productivity. The phones are very convenient regarding reading messages because they are merged in the mailbox and read in voice mail. The feature of call forwarding makes clients not to miss important businesses deals. This phones are handy because you don't have to own another cell phone to pick calls from home or friends, you can still use the phone to call other people that are not in your business.
So many advantages of vocal over internet protocol phones have been discussed in this article. Without doubt these phones are the best to be used in business premises and even our homes. The the most important thing is to identify the best place to get this phones in the market. Several dealers are distributing this phones across the globe. The dealers are distributing the phones all over the world up to the countries living below the poverty line. Buying the phones online is the best option instead of traveling for long distances asking after the phones. The company should be legit and should only sell original phones with a warranty for the phones. It should also offer delivery services to their clients. |
THE European Union wastes too much of your money. It pokes its nose in where it is not needed and it gets too much in the way of British businesses when it should be bending over backwards to help.
Conservatives get that. The Prime Minister gets that. I get that.
Before becoming an MP I started up a printing firm. It still operates more than 20 years later even though it was a struggle in the early days.
When we were trying to hire people red tape, some of it pumped out from Brussels, made it harder to create jobs.
Since then working in Government has made me more sceptical about the EU, not less. Radical change is needed.
If you are tired of people coming here purely to claim benefits rather than to work, I hear you.
If you are sick of EU bureaucrats trying to give prisoners the vote, I hear you.
If you think it is about time we brought some powers back to Britain's Parliament and then had a proper in/out referendum on our membership of the EU, I hear you.
If you want real change you have to vote for it. And you have to vote Conservative on May 22 in the European Parliamentary elections.
Change will not happen if you vote for Ed Miliband's Labour Party or the Lib Dems because they want to tangle us further in European laws.
They want to give more of Britain's hard-won power and prestige away.
Change will not happen if you vote Ukip either. It is no surprise that EU President Jose Manuel Barroso says he "likes" having Ukip MEPs in Brussels because all they do is shout from the sidelines. They cannot deliver anything.
Let me deal with Ukip head-on because these elections matter.
Nigel Farage may be good with a joke and a pint but he does not have a plan to secure Britain's future, or to get the change in Europe that we need.
As he himself admits Ukip cannot deliver anything it says.
Farage has been taking voters for mugs in this campaign, repeatedly saying one thing and then doing another.
He claimed migrants were taking British jobs then hired his German wife as a secretary and left you the taxpayer picking up the bill.
He (rightly) attacked EU waste but then voted against David Cameron's plan to slash more than £8billion from the EU budget.
Farage also claims he is "not a career politician" but has tried six times to become a Ukip MP in Parliament.
The list goes on. Farage says immigration needs to be controlled and I agree but he opposed the Government's Immigration Bill, which is bringing in rigorous new border controls.
Farage has tried to claim Ukip is not a racist party. So why did he ask Zimbabwean builder Andre Lampitt, who said Africans should "kill themselves", to appear in Ukip's political broadcasts?
Why did he go further and ask Lampitt to stand as a Ukip candidate on May 22? This goes to the heart of Ukip's problem: it is not credible.
Here's another example: Ukip claims that reform of the Common Fisheries Policy is one of its "main campaigning issues" because it leads to the discarding of dead fish but when it had a real chance to do something about it and support a proposal in the European Parliament to end discards of dead fish, what did it do?
Ukip sat on the fence and abstained.
Farage did not even bother to turn up.
Again and again in this campaign we have seen the same old pattern. Farage is a skilful TV performer but on the serious issues he is making it up as he goes along.
Ukip cannot deliver the real changes in Europe that people want to see because it does not have a plan for Britain's future.
So what is the Conservative plan?
It's simple: Yes to the Single Market.
Yes to turbo-charging free trade. Yes to working together where it boosts British jobs. No to benefits tourism.
No to "ever closer union" in the EU. No to unnecessary interference on how we tackle crime and justice.
Some people say we'll never do it. Well they used to say that about vetoing an EU treaty because it was not in Britain's interests, about getting us out of Labour's euro bailouts that would have cost billions and about cutting the EU budget for the first time in its history.
David Cameron has already delivered these things and he has a plan to deliver more.
In a few weeks the polls will open.Think seriously about your vote.
Take a long, hard look at the parties. Can they deliver what they say? Are they credible?
Do they have a track record? These are critical elections. If you pay your council tax and if you want a real say on Europe your vote matters.
Britain is an island. We import 40 per cent of the food we need to survive. We are no longer self-sufficient in oil and gas.
Around us the planet is getting more hazardous. A violent crisis is erupting in Ukraine.
A brutal conflict is disfiguring Syria and the Eastern Mediterranean. Extreme unemployment is scarring families in southern Europe.
Three out of five youngsters in Greece have no work.
Britain needs serious leaders for serious times.
Security cannot be takenfor granted. Prosperity is not something guaranteed just by pulling a lever in the Treasury.
We have to work for it: maintaining our energy sovereignty, keeping a tight control on our borders and locking in recovery at home by working through the Government's long-term economic plan.
Only the Conservative Party and our Prime Minister David Cameron, with a strong team of Conservative MEPs in Europe, can and will deliver economic security at home, real change in Brussels and a better future for Britain.
Crucially we will give you the final say: either to remain in the European Union or to leave it. However first you have to vote for it and you have to vote Conservative on May 22.
Next PostNext Post Is it full…..? |
Being a grandparent is truly a unique and wonderful experience, and for most grandparents, nothing is more magical than a day spent with their grandchildren. In the event of conflict between parents–and parents and grandparents–a grandparent's visitation rights with the grandchildren may be in jeopardy. If your grandchild's parents have divorced or/and you have been denied visitation with your grandchild, our grandparents' rights lawyers are here to help you understand your options.
The child and the grandparent maintained a close relationship for 12 months or more, and the parents chose to sever that relationship for reasons other than abuse or harm to the child.
In the event that one of the above is true, the grandparent has the right to a hearing before the court. The court will likely grant the grandparent visitation rights if the grandparent can prove that he or she has a significant and loving relationship with the child, the grandparent is a primary caregiver, and the disruption of this would result in harm to the child, or/and the loss of the relationship would be harmful to the child. In addition, the best interests of the child will always be considered.
The good faith of the grandparent.
Things like a parenting time schedule will also be considered when making a determination in a grandparent visitation case.
Being denied visitation rights with your grandchild can be a heart-wrenching experience. With the exception of cases involving abuse, grandparents deserve to spend time with the grandchildren they dearly love.
At the law offices of The Long Firm, LLC, we know that you may be intimidated by the process of filing a petition for visitation, going to court, and asking for time with your grandchildren. Our lawyers are here to handle all the legal elements of your case and represent you throughout the process. We can gather evidence to support your case, file your petition, and advocate for you in the courtroom.
For your free consultation, please send our lawyers a message, or contact us by phone today. |
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