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Farmers and Settlements
The forgotten saga
Church, Cloister, Christianity
The Chapel and the Layman's Movement
The Church and the Monastery
The Wooden Calendar - Tradition and popular belief
Farmers from the Fjords
From "Spearway" to National Highway
Hardangervidda – Crossing the Uplands
Transport and Communication
Church Art – a Message in Pictures
Folk Music and the Hardanger Fiddle
Local Dialects in Hordaland
Names in the Landscape
The Artist and his Experience of Nature
The Literary Landscape
The Warp-Weighted Loom - A thousand year tradition in weaving
A True Gold Mine
The Pine Forest, the Sash Saw and the Scots Trade
The Tourists, the Landscape and the Fantasy Hotels
Cultural Heritage and Cultural Landscapes
The West Country
The bedrock of western Norway
Sailing Sloops and Boat Building
The Wooden Boat
Vernacular arts and crafts
Civil Servants in Small Societies 1650 – 1850
Demographic Growth – A Drive to Development
Hordaland – a historic region
The Norwegian Language Movement and the Two High Cultures
The Women in Farmhouse Life
From Dense Forest to Open Heathlands
Bergen – The Urban Community
The City and the Stril country
The Urban Settlements
Trading Posts And Guest Houses
Vernacular Architecture and the Landscape
Churches, Cloisters, Christianity ›
Published: 19.05.2009 | Author: Brynjulf Alver
CultureArticleChurches, Cloisters, Christianity
Primstav frå Tveit i Kvinnherad, datert 1657 (Svein Skare, eigar: Universitetsmuseet i Bergen (Bd 10)).
The old Norwegian farmers' calendar, the wooden calendar staff, follows the Norse system of reckoning time, and divides the year into a summer half, and a winter half. The summer half begins on the 14th April and is usually signified by a deciduous tree. In Hordaland County this was the "spade day"; it was then that one could put a spade into the cornfields on the warmest slopes. The first winter day of 14 October is signified by a glove, now we are moving towards colder times. Some of the signs on the wooden calendar are "popular" ones, a drinking horn for Christmas indicates that now we have to follow the old tradition and drink in Christmas, a sun for Midsummer's Day signifies that the sun is at its highest point. But the great majority are signs from the Church calendar. As the names of feast days they are linked to the saints the days are named after. All the Norwegian wooden calendars have a grinding stone at the 15th May as a reminder that Hallvard was drowned with a grinding stone round his neck. An axe on 29 July St.Olav's Day is Olav's axe. Many of the signs have been re-interpreted in the tradition and been linked to work and development. Close to the wooden calendar tradition we find weather signs and annual signs which were important in the old farming society.
The traditional wooden calendar staff
The first syllable: "prim" in the word "primstav" (or wooden calendar staff) probably comes from the Latin word "prima" meaning a key number which helped in establishing when Easter was in that year. Another name which has come up in discussion is "rimstav" where "rim" in Old Norse means time-reckoning. This could well be the case since Norwegian wooden calendar staffs never usually have key numbers.
The wooden calendar staffs from Hordaland County are all shaped as a board, 80 to 100 centimetres long and 5 to 6 centimetres wide. As is usual on Norwegian wooden calendar staffs, the calendar is divided into two, one on each side of the board; divided into a winter side from 14 October to 13 April, and a summer side from 14 April to 13 October. On the lowest part of the surface, short strokes are inscribed for each day. Some staffs are divided up for each seventh stroke so that it is possible to see which day it is if one knows the Sunday letter for the whole year. We find a figure on the surface of the staff for each feast day. These can be crosses or half-crosses, but can also have something to do with the churches or the legends of the saints. St.Laurentius Day on 10th August is marked by a grill because St.Laurentius was burned to death on a grill. All Saints' Day on 1st November is usually marked by a ship, the symbol of the Christian church. St.Olav's Day has Olav's broad axe which was the symbol of our national saint. St.Hallvard's Day on 15th May has a millstone, as St.Hallvard was drowned with a millstone round his neck.
Some signs have no connection with the church. This is true of the beginning of the summer on 14 April which almost always has a tree with leaves which signifies that this is the beginning of the summer half of the year. Similarly the beginning of winter is symbolised by a glove. Now we have to put on clothes again now that winter is coming. But also the two most important feast days of the year are marked by profane signs. Midsummer on 25th June often has a sun because it is the summer solstice. Christmas Day has a drinking horn, because now "we shall celebrate Christmas by drinking". In connection with the celebration of Christmas we often find a barrel or a malt barrel for St.Thomas' Day that is 21st December, a day which signifies brewing of beer. A memory perhaps of a cuckoo month in prehistoric times can be the sign of a bird on Cuckoo Day which was 1st May. From the life of work we find the scythe and the rake as signs for the period from 8th to 12th July and a millstone symbolises Egidius or the spirit of the mill on 1st September. After that they waited on the milling water. But often original Christian symbols were re-interpreted. The ship on All Saints' Day on 1st November was a sign that now ship's traffic would be taking a winter holiday. The axes on the Brøremesse (the two saints were beheaded) was interpreted as a sign that the wood for tools had to be cut. St.Batholomew's Day on 24th August has lost all recollection that St.Bartholomew was beheaded and skinned alive. The knife was a sign that all the rams should be slaughtered.
The church calendar
In Chapter 15 in the section on baptism in the Gulating Law it is stated that each priest in his district where divine service is held, will send round crosses before the saints' days and make sure they come to all corners of the district. Each man shall carry his cross to the next man, and will be responsible for ensuring that the crosses do not stop anywhere and that they will reach every hamlet.
To keep a track of the saints' days the priest had their calendars. Some of the saints' days concerned the congregation of the church, and others were only special days for the priests. Besides Christmas and the days around Easter, there were about 40 "major" church days. All of these were important days of celebration in popular marking of the passage of time.
The farmers also got their own calendar and we call that the farmers' wooden calendar. We have every reason to believe that from the beginning it was a calendar for mass days. The oldest Norwegian wooden calendar that we know of is from 1457. It has probably been a calendar in the ownership of a priest, because it has Sunday lettering and golden numbers for working out when Easter falls. In farming society the religious function of the calendar was almost forgotten. The Mass days' calendar was a feast days' calendar, the summer half of the year was marked on one side, the winter half on the other.
The summer and winter halves of the year
That the year was divided in two in Norway must be an old tradition. This division of the year also followed the first pioneers to Iceland and has also been extended to neighbouring countries in the east. April 14 is the first day of summer and October 14 is often known as the "winter night" (the first night of winter). It could be said of a child: "He was born three weeks into summer".
In our own times we operate with four seasons, that is winter, spring, summer and autumn and have more or less fixed dates for these four seasons. It was not like this before. Spring and autumn were only concepts/names which followed the growth of the year . But in any event they were divided into four in connection with the division into two. Midwinter was January 12 and midsummer was July 14. Another division into four was related to the four greatest church feast days with fixed dates, that is Christmas, Mary's Spring Festival, Midsummer's Day and Michaelmas. They reckoned with 13 weeks each in the first two quarters, 14 weeks in the third quarter and 12 weeks in the fourth. In Hamre these periods are called quarter-years even although they recognised that they were not of equal length.
Here with us the Latin months were "book months" as they were known in Iceland, and the old Norwegian names of the months are perhaps something that most people were not aware of. But right up to our own times the time after Christmas has been reckoned in "moon" months. The first was the Christmas moon, the moon month in which the thirtieth day occurred. There are still people in western Norway who go by the following moon-months Torre and Gjø, as well as Einar the single month.
In the summer months it was the working seasons which were dominant in dividing up the seasons: the digging/ploughing season, the intermediate period, the peat-making season, the hay-making season, the cutting season, the harvesting season, the potato harvesting season and the aftergrass season.
"Midsummer and the light mass"
It is the special feast days which have lasted longest in the Norwegian tradition of marking the passage of time. It is also these which have been the most important for daily life. Everything was measured in terms of feast days, that is so many days before or after this or that feast day; when cows were to calve and sheep were to lamb, when folk were born and when they died, agreements in business and many other things.
The feast days largely get their names from the Catholic church calendar, so that they coincided with the names of the saints' days. It is easy to see the juxtapositioning with "day", "mass" or "watch"; the twentieth day, the Light Mass, Midsummer's Day. The word "voke" or watch is often abbreviated to "ok" in Hordaland and linguistically it goes back to the Latin word "vigila"; a night watch with prayer which the priests held the night before great church feast days. But also in popular festivities we hear that the sounds of the feast lasted all night, Midsummer's Eve. In this case the festivities began the night before because the night belonged to the following day. Thus it is also in our own times it Midsummer's Eve, 23 June and the night which follows it which are the great popular feast-days, although Midsummer's Day is on the day after.
Those who gave their names to the days are first and foremost the Virgin Mary, the apostles and the Catholic saints. Only two of these are Norwegian, St.Olav with two days for St.Olav on 29 and 30 July and St.Hallvard on 15 May. A few feast days originally have Norwegian names, the first day of summer half of the year and the first day of winter, half of the year as well as Christmas (Yule) and some days linked to working life. The feast days were also the basis for working out the weeks which split the year up into smaller portions. In Masfjorden they were reckoned as follows: from Christmas to the Light Mass: 5 weeks and on to Gregor's Mass a further 6 weeks, then to the first day of summer 5 weeks, and then 10 weeks to Midsummer, 5 weeks to St.Olav's Day, to St.Bartholomew's Day 4 weeks, to Michaelmass 5 weeks, to All-Saints' Day 4 weeks and to Christmas 8 weeks. They reckoned in the same way at Voss but after St.Olav's Day they had two weeks to St.Laurentius Day (10 August), two weeks to St.Batholomew's Day, 3 weeks to Holy Rood Day in the autumn, and two weeks to Michaelmass. Almost every rural area had its own way of reckoning.
Feast days and working life
The feast days belong in a farming society. It is a farming society which is largely a self-contained subsistence one where crops and animals are of greatest interest. One ought not to have any expectations beyond the first year and there are remarkably few events which can be termed as "long term".
The majority of events correspond to local experience. None of the rules allow for individual opinions; it is collective opinions which are generally accepted, in the local society that people have lived in. They give the "right time" for seasons and all types of work, tell us whether we can a expect a good or a bad harvest and tell us what sort of weather we have to expect. Some feast days intervene to regulate relations between neighbours, and for example, lay down times for when gates should be open or shut, when animals should be received or handed back, and when cattle should be moved to or from the mountain pastures. Other feast days were "moving" days for servants, and others were semi-holy days when it was forbidden to work.
But the dominant ones, nonetheless, were related to the likelihood or the apprehension for crops and livestock, and here of course the weather was the most important. As early as Paul the Apostle's Day on 25 January people began to think ahead about the spring season and the summer. The longing for spring and new growth grew steadily greater, the longer one progressed through the winter. In the tradition connected to St.Peter's Chair on 22 February and Mathew's Mass on 24 February interest grew for the ice and snow which would soon disappear. Now they were past the worst. On Gregorsmass on the 12 March people could see that the days were lighter and the spring was approaching. The hay was diminishing in the hay loft and people gave thought to the hay harvest in the coming summer. At the Equinox on 21 March people could start working in the fields in the earliest rural areas of West Norway, but often people had to wait. At the Virgin Mary's Mess on 25 March, winter had its last throw, but it is not yet summer. In the weeks to come, the feast day tradition emphasised that everything needed its time. If there was a sign of spring one should still not hurry too much. Winter "could take its revenge" as people used to say. Even if everything was pointing to an early spring, snow and ice could still come before one had time for reflection.
But by the beginning of the summer on 14 April it could be reckoned that the winter was over. Now the work in the fields could begin in earnest. The cattle should be born and bred, and even if it was too early to release the cattle for grazing, the focus was on sowing times and on moving cattle to the pastures, with St.Hallvard's Day on 15 May being the most important day. In July they observed the weather for the coming harvest and for the haymaking. In the low country in Hordaland County the haymaking began on 10 July: "King Knut, chase the farmer with his scythe out". After midsummer there was great anxiety about the weather for the haymaking. If there was rain on the worst rain days viz. Mary the Rain Queen on 20 July, Jakob Wet Hat, 25 July, Anna 26 July and the Seven Sleepers' Day on 27 July, then it would be difficult to save the dry hay.
From St.Olav's Day on 29 July thoughts turned to the harvest and to autumn weather, and people began to look for night frost. Important days were Peder's Prison and St.Laurentius Day, 1st August and 10th August respectively. If the signs were good then you could have good expectations. On St.Bartholomew's Day on 24th August the autumn slaughtering started; and the cattle came down from the mountain pastures to the home farm. The sheep had to be shorn and on Michaelmas, that is the 29th September the harvest was finished for the year and all the animals had to be on the home farm.
After the winter half of the year commenced on 14th October, thoughts turned to the tasks for the winter. Good days for signs for celebration were All Saints' Day and St.Martin's Day, that is 1st and 11th November respectively. By St.Katarina's Day the 25th November the spinning wheels should be ready and the sheep would have to be mated. From St.Lucia's Day, the 13th December thoughts were only directed towards Christmas. "From St.Lucia's Night to Christmas every day is a feast day", as the saying went. But the popular marking of time also contained many elements from a time when people had to manage without dates of the years, almanacs or clocks. They marked events in relation to local happenings: "it was still in the year before the great snow winter", or "three years after Mother died". They could know which day it was, by looking at where the sun was from a certain point on the ground. Such places were given names: Midday Peak, Sunset Cleft, Eleven O'Clock rise. They divided the day into spells of work. There was an old saying that the stomach was the best clock.
The old way of keeping track of time contained a rich culture. Much of what we have reckoned up until our days has its roots far back in pre-Christian times so that it is a very ancient culture we are dealing with.
Working in the Spring at Havrå on Osterøy in April 1950. (Photo: Hilmar Stigum, owner: Norwegian Folk museum (O. 34025)).
St.Sunniva, the patron saint of West Norway. Together with St.Olav she was the most prominent of the saints in the 15th century. Since then she has occupied a central position in popular belief. (sculpture: Turid Brunsvik Kvalheim, photo: Svein Nord).
Stjerne nytta av Stjernegutar i Bergen. Kvelden før Heilage tre kongarsmesse (6/1) gjekk stjernegutane frå hus til hus og song og fekk småpengar. På Laksevåg heldt denne tradisjonen seg heilt opp til siste verdskrigen (foto: Svein Skare, eigar: Universitetsmuseet i Bergen).
Alver, B. (1980) Dag og merke: folkeleg tidsrekning og merkedagstradisjon . 2. utg. Bergen.
Krosshamn


WALKER was recently asked to review the facade of a multi-story building where the tenant noticed that the exterior curtain wall system had pulled away from the building, causing a substantial gab between the inside face of the curtain wall system and floor and ceiling finishes.
Not knowing if the situation was time-sensitive, WALKER promptly investigated the situation and quickly determined the cause. After determining the cause, the emergency situation was stabilized within a few hours of assessment. The project thereafter developed into a conditions assessment and restoration project that evaluated the remainder of the building's facade to determine if other areas were at risk of similar movement.


When Deep Purple legend Glenn Hughes made a triumphant return to Japan, Roppongi Rocks' Stefan Nilsson was there to greet him and pay his respects to the legend.
At times this Tokyo gig is bluesy, there's a pinch of soul and even funk in the mix ("But don't tell anyone" says Pontus Engborg to me before the gig fearing it may scare off people), and most of the time it's heavy. And it is always bloody good. Glenn Hughes is not only one of the best voices in classic hard rock, he is also a great bassist. Backed up by guitarist Doug Aldrich and hard-hitting Swedish drummer Pontus Engborg, Hughes leads an explosive trio.
From the moment they kick things off with "Stormbringer" and until they, two hours later, finish with "Burn", Glenn Hughes, Doug Aldrich and Pontus Engborg give us the best of Hughes' back catalogue including plenty of jamming which is to be expected from this trio of musicians whose previous bands include Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Trapeze, Dio, Whitesnake and much more.
Glenn Hughes and the boys deliver great music to a Japanese crowd of loyal Deep Purple and Whitesnake fans. Obviously it works a treat. We get some obvious Purple songs and a couple of Trapeze songs as well as a Hughes/Thrall track and a few newer tracks from Hughes' solo albums. "Good to be bad", from Whitesnake's 2008 album (written by Doug Aldrich together with David Coverdale), is a pleasant surprise in the set list. Purple classic "Mistreated" is the evening's highlight in a terrific live set.
Japan is holy ground for Deep Purple – this is where they did some legendary gigs 40 years ago and all these years later, Hughes still delivers.
"Papa" Hughes (a nick name given to him by Ronnie James Dio) says the band will be back in Japan next year. I hope so, because I want more.


The US Patent Office today published two Apple patent filings that reveal the company having researched a unique head-tracking display technology designed to replicate the theater experience. A head-mounted display with head-tracking technology intended to reduce viewer fatigue and disorientation by simulating a theater or other viewing environment.
The wearer of the device can pick a seat in the fake theater and then manipulate the image, zoom in and out, and look around thanks to an accelerometer and gyroscope built into the goggles.
MID device: another iPhone killer?
Intel showed off a prototype handheld based on Moorestown, its upcoming Mobile Internet Device (MID) platform designed to enable a new generation of ultra-thin, touchscreen devices with extensive battery life.
Moorestown will consist of a system-on-a-chip (SOC), codenamed "Lincroft," which integrates a 45nm processor, graphics, memory controller and video encode/decode onto a single part. The platform will support a range of wireless technologies including 3G, WiMAX, WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth and mobile TV.
QuickPwn for Windows is updated. Support for all 2.x firmwares is added. So now you can QuickPwn and jailbreak the device if it is running 2.0, 2.0.1 or 2.0.2.
DevTeam reminds that it is still beta software, so usual rules apply, no complaints if anything goes wrong and use the tool at at your own risk!
Using QuickPwn does not update the firmware itself, this tool is designed to 'Pwn' (the ability to install future custom non-Apple firmwares) , 'Jailbreak' and install Installer and/or Cydia on a given device. If your device is running 2.0.1 and you QuickPwn it, it'll still be running 2.0.1, although it will now be Pwned and Jailbroken. It will also activate (not unlock) devices that are being used outside of their intended territories and cannot be activated using iTunes.
If you want to update to 2.0.2 then use the normal iTunes update to get to 2.0.2 and then use QuickPwn to Pwn, Jailbreak and Activate, remember that the 2.0.2 update includes a baseband update for the 3G iPhone, so depending what your long term intentions are for the phone, update wisely, of course in the upcoming PwnageTool application you'll be able to create a custom ipsw without the baseband update enabled.
PS: Mac OS version is on it's way.


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Series The Real Story Of 2016
The Real Story Of 2016
By Nate Silver Mar 10
The Electoral College Blind Spot
It Wasn't Clinton's Election To Lose
The Invisible Undecided Voter
Ohio Was A Bellwether After All
Why Early Voting Was Overhyped
Donald Trump Had A Superior Electoral College Strategy
Clinton's Ground Game Didn't Cost Her The Election
Why You Shouldn't Always Trust The Inside Scoop
There Really Was A Liberal Media Bubble
The Comey Letter Probably Cost Clinton The Election
The Media Has A Probability Problem
Groupthink produced a failure of the "wisdom of crowds" and an underestimate of Trump's chances.
By Nate Silver
Filed under The Real Story Of 2016
Published Mar. 10, 2017
This is the ninth article in a series that reviews news coverage of the 2016 general election, explores how Donald Trump won and why his chances were underrated by most of the American media.
Last summer, the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in what bettors, financial markets and the London-based media regarded as a colossal upset. Reporters and pundits were quick to blame the polls for the unexpected result. But the polls had been fine, more or less: In the closing days of the Brexit campaign, they'd shown an almost-even race, and Leave's narrow victory (by a margin just under 4 percentage points) was about as consistent with them as it was with anything else. The failure was not so much with the polls but with the people who were analyzing them.
The U.S. presidential election, as I've argued, was something of a similar case. No, the polls didn't show a toss-up, as they had in Brexit. But the reporting was much more certain of Clinton's chances than it should have been based on the polls. Much of The New York Times's coverage, for instance, implied that Clinton's odds were close to 100 percent. In an article on Oct. 17 — more than three weeks before Election Day — they portrayed the race as being effectively over, the only question being whether Clinton should seek a landslide or instead assist down-ballot Democrats:
Hillary Clinton's campaign is planning its most ambitious push yet into traditionally right-leaning states, a new offensive aimed at extending her growing advantage over Donald J. Trump while bolstering down-ballot candidates in what party leaders increasingly suggest could be a sweeping victory for Democrats at every level. […]
The maneuvering speaks to the unexpected tension facing Mrs. Clinton as she hurtles toward what aides increasingly believe will be a decisive victory — a pleasant problem, for certain, but one that has nonetheless scrambled the campaign's strategy weeks before Election Day: Should Mrs. Clinton maximize her own margin, aiming to flip as many red states as possible to run up an electoral landslide, or prioritize the party's congressional fortunes, redirecting funds and energy down the ballot?
This is not to say the election was a toss-up in mid-October, which was one of the high-water marks of the campaign for Clinton. But while a Trump win was unlikely, it should hardly have been unthinkable.1 And yet the Times, famous for its "to be sure" equivocations,2 wasn't even contemplating the possibility of a Trump victory.3
It's hard to reread this coverage without recalling Sean Trende's essay on "unthinkability bias," which he wrote in the wake of the Brexit vote. Just as was the case in the U.S. presidential election, voting on the referendum had split strongly along class, education and regional lines, with voters outside of London and without advanced degrees being much more likely to vote to leave the EU. The reporters covering the Brexit campaign, on the other hand, were disproportionately well-educated and principally based in London. They tended to read ambiguous signs — anything from polls to the musings of taxi drivers — as portending a Remain win, and many of them never really processed the idea that Britain could vote to leave the EU until it actually happened.
So did journalists in Washington and London make the apocryphal Pauline Kael mistake, refusing to believe that Trump or Brexit could win because nobody they knew was voting for them? That's not quite what Trende was arguing. Instead, it's that political experts4 aren't a very diverse group and tend to place a lot of faith in the opinions of other experts and other members of the political establishment. Once a consensus view is established, it tends to reinforce itself until and unless there's very compelling evidence for the contrary position. Social media, especially Twitter, can amplify the groupthink further. It can be an echo chamber.
I recently reread James Surowiecki's book "The Wisdom of Crowds" which, despite its name, spends as much time contemplating the shortcomings of such wisdom as it does celebrating its successes. Surowiecki argues5 that crowds usually make good predictions when they satisfy these four conditions:
Diversity of opinion. "Each person should have private information, even if it's just an eccentric interpretation of the known facts."
Independence. "People's opinions are not determined by the opinions of those around them."
Decentralization. "People are able to specialize and draw on local knowledge."
Aggregation. "Some mechanism exists for turning private judgments into a collective decision."
Political journalism scores highly on the fourth condition, aggregation. While Surowiecki usually has something like a financial or betting market in mind when he refers to "aggregation," the broader idea is that there's some way for individuals to exchange their opinions instead of keeping them to themselves. And my gosh, do political journalists have a lot of ways to share their opinions with one another, whether through their columns, at major events such as the political conventions or, especially, through Twitter.
But those other three conditions? Political journalism fails miserably along those dimensions.
Diversity of opinion? For starters, American newsrooms are not very diverse along racial or gender lines, and it's not clear the situation is improving much.6 And in a country where educational attainment is an increasingly important predictor of cultural and political behavior, some 92 percent of journalists have college degrees. A degree didn't used to be a de facto prerequisite7 for a reporting job; just 70 percent of journalists had college degrees in 1982 and only 58 percent did in 1971.
The political diversity of journalists is not very strong, either. As of 2013, only 7 percent of them identified as Republicans (although only 28 percent called themselves Democrats with the majority saying they were independents). And although it's not a perfect approximation — in most newsrooms, the people who issue endorsements are not the same as the ones who do reporting — there's reason to think that the industry was particularly out of sync with Trump. Of the major newspapers that endorsed either Clinton or Trump, only 3 percent (2 of 59) endorsed Trump. By comparison, 46 percent of newspapers to endorse either Barack Obama or Mitt Romney endorsed Romney in 2012. Furthermore, as the media has become less representative of right-of-center views — and as conservatives have rebelled against the political establishment — there's been an increasing and perhaps self-reinforcing cleavage between conservative news and opinion outlets such as Breitbart and the rest of the media.
Although it's harder to measure, I'd also argue that there's a lack of diversity when it comes to skill sets and methods of thinking in political journalism. Publications such as Buzzfeed or (the now defunct) Gawker.com get a lot of shade from traditional journalists when they do things that challenge conventional journalistic paradigms. But a lot of traditional journalistic practices are done by rote or out of habit, such as routinely granting anonymity to staffers to discuss campaign strategy even when there isn't much journalistic merit in it. Meanwhile, speaking from personal experience, I've found the reception of "data journalists" by traditional journalists to be unfriendly, although there have been exceptions.
Independence? This is just as much of a problem. Crowds can be wise when people do a lot of thinking for themselves before coming together to exchange their views. But since at least the days of "The Boys on the Bus," political journalism has suffered from a pack mentality. Events such as conventions and debates literally gather thousands of journalists together in the same room; attend one of these events, and you can almost smell the conventional wisdom being manufactured in real time. (Consider how a consensus formed that Romney won the first debate in 2012 when it had barely even started, for instance.) Social media — Twitter in particular — can amplify these information cascades, with a single tweet receiving hundreds of thousands of impressions and shaping the way entire issues are framed. As a result, it can be largely arbitrary which storylines gain traction and which ones don't. What seems like a multiplicity of perspectives might just be one or two, duplicated many times over.
Decentralization? Surowiecki writes about the benefit of local knowledge, but the political news industry has become increasingly consolidated in Washington and New York as local newspapers have suffered from a decade-long contraction. That doesn't necessarily mean local reporters in Wisconsin or Michigan or Ohio should have picked up Trumpian vibrations on the ground in contradiction to the polls. But as we've argued, national reporters often flew into these states with pre-baked narratives — for instance, that they were "decreasingly representative of contemporary America" — and fit the facts to suit them, neglecting their importance to the Electoral College. A more geographically decentralized reporting pool might have asked more questions about why Clinton wasn't campaigning in Wisconsin, for instance, or why it wasn't more of a problem for her that she was struggling in polls of traditional bellwethers such as Ohio and Iowa. If local newspapers had been healthier economically, they might also have commissioned more high-quality state polls; the lack of good polling was a problem in Michigan and Wisconsin especially.
There was once a notion that whatever challenges the internet created for journalism's business model, it might at least lead readers to a more geographically and philosophically diverse array of perspectives. But it's not clear that's happening, either. Instead, based on data from the news aggregation site Memeorandum, the top news sources (such as the Times, The Washington Post and Politico) have earned progressively more influence over the past decade:
The share of total exposure8 for the top five news sources9 climbed from roughly 25 percent a decade ago to around 35 percent last year, and has spiked to above 40 percent so far in 2017. While not a perfect measure10, this is one sign the digital age hasn't necessarily democratized the news media. Instead, the most notable difference in Memeorandum sources between 2007 and 2017 is the decline of independent blogs; many of the most popular ones from the late 'aughts either folded or (like FiveThirtyEight) were bought by larger news organizations. Thus, blogs and local newspapers — two of the better checks on Northeast Corridor conventional wisdom run amok — have both had less of a say in the conversation.
Related: Politics Podcast
Politics Podcast: The Anatomy Of A Political Scandal
All things considered, then, the conditions of political journalism are poor for crowd wisdom and ripe for groupthink. So … what to do about it, then?
Initiatives to increase decentralization would help, although they won't necessarily be easy. Increased subscription revenues at newspapers such as The New York Times and The Washington Post is an encouraging sign for journalism, but a revival of local and regional newspapers — or a more sustainable business model for independent blogs — would do more to reduce groupthink in the industry.
Likewise, improving diversity is liable to be a challenge, especially because the sort of diversity that Surowiecki is concerned with will require making improvements on multiple fronts (demographic diversity, political diversity, diversity of skill sets). Still, the research Surowiecki cites is emphatic that there are diminishing returns to having too many of the same types of people in small groups or organizations. Teams that consist entirely of high-IQ people may underperform groups that contain a mix of high-IQ and medium-IQ participants, for example, because the high-IQ people are likely to have redundant strengths and similar blind spots.
That leaves independence. In some ways the best hope for a short-term fix might come from an attitudinal adjustment: Journalists should recalibrate themselves to be more skeptical of the consensus of their peers. That's because a position that seems to have deep backing from the evidence may really just be a reflection from the echo chamber. You should be looking toward how much evidence there is for a particular position as opposed to how many people hold that position: Having 20 independent pieces of evidence that mostly point in the same direction might indeed reflect a powerful consensus, while having 20 like-minded people citing the same warmed-over evidence is much less powerful. Obviously this can be taken too far and in most fields, it's foolish (and annoying) to constantly doubt the market or consensus view. But in a case like politics where the conventional wisdom can congeal so quickly — and yet has so often been wrong — a certain amount of contrarianism can go a long way.
As we were fond of pointing out at the time, Trump's chances in mid-October were around 1-in-6 according to betting markets and FiveThirtyEight's forecast, about the same as a chance of being shot while playing a "game" of Russian roulette.
As in the hypothetical sentence: "To be sure, there are still three weeks to go, and the unpredictable news could produce yet another surprise."
It expressed nearly as much confidence in Clinton two weeks later even after the polls tightened substantially after FBI director James B. Comey's letter to Congress, at which point Trump's odds jumped to about 1-in-3 in our forecast.
I use the term "experts" in the Philip Tetlock sense of people who make their living working in politics, such as reporters, pollsters, consultants, etc.
See "The Wisdom of Crowds," page 10.
Surowiecki doesn't necessarily have racial or gender diversity in mind when he refers to "diversity of opinion," but it's hard to imagine that diversity of opinion is unrelated to demographic diversity, especially when topics related to race and gender have weighed heavily upon the past few presidential elections.
It's not clear how many newsrooms require a college degree for their reporting positions — we usually don't do so at FiveThirtyEight and a quick perusal of other job listings suggest that many other newsrooms also do not. But there may nonetheless be a lot of self-selection in which candidates seek out these jobs and who succeeds in the recruiting and hiring process.
As measured by the share of the page space they occupy on Memeorandum. I calculated these percentages based on Memeorandum's archived leaderboard for the start of each month.
By which I mean the top five news sources for the given month; they weren't necessarily the same from month to month
Among other problems, Memeorandum's methodology is not especially transparent. And although it tries to avoid this, it can sometimes reward a site that aggregates and popularizes a story rather than one that did the original reporting or analysis.
Nate Silver is the founder and editor in chief of FiveThirtyEight. @natesilver538
Donald Trump (1467 posts) 2016 Election (1129) Hillary Clinton (577) Media (111) The Real Story Of 2016 (12)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


On Sunday, with help from the theatrical protest group BP Or Not BP?, Rodney Kelly appealed to the public for the return of the Gweagal shield.
LONDON — Yesterday, Australian Aboriginal rights activist Rodney Kelly visited the British Museum to demand the return of an artifact with a potent history: the Gweagal shield. The shield belonged to Kelly's great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather, Cooman, and was seized in 1770 by Captain James Cook during the first encounter between the British and Indigenous Australians. It was later given to the British Museum. The bark shield bears a bullet hole, marking the first shot fired in the long history of violence toward the continent's Indigenous people.
Kelly, who has been campaigning for the shield's return to Australia, visited the BM yesterday to hold a series of unsanctioned "rebel lectures" aiming to expose the shield's history, discuss other ill-gotten items in the museum's collection, and explain — with support from theatrical protest group BP Or Not BP? — why oil giant BP is an unacceptable sponsor for the museum. The group says the energy giant's sponsorship "effectively brands all the artifacts in the museum with the logo of this destructive company." The museum signed a new five-year sponsorship deal with BP in 2016.
On June 18, Indigenous Australian activist Rodney Kelly gave a talk inside the British Museum to protest the museum's ownership of the Gweagal shield.
Kelly arrived at the BM equipped with a didgeridoo and clap sticks, and headed to the "Living and Dying" Room to speak next to a cabinet of Indigenous Australian objects. (The Gweagal shield is not currently on view as it is undergoing "scientific analysis and historical research," according to a museum spokesperson.) Between talks, Kelly played the traditional musical instruments, and BP Or Not BP? supplemented statements on the hypocrisy of BP's sponsorship with their own, while performers dressed as robbers held a banner with the slogan "Stolen Land, Stolen Culture, Stolen Climate." Members passed out informational flyers that mimicked the museum's house style, appearing at first glance to be official notices. The museum did not intervene in the unsanctioned event.
Each of Kelly's talks attracted between 30 and 40 curious tourists and visitors, and reactions from the public were broadly supportive, though one passerby commented: "There's a double message here — I think sponsorship and repatriation should be discussed separately." Another said: "I don't think BP's sponsorship is a good deal for the British Museum. They're getting a nice image for their company, but the amount the museum is paid in return for this controversy isn't enough." Between 2017 and 2022, the museum will receive around a quarter of BP's £7.5 million (~$9.7 million) budget for cultural sponsorships between 2017 and 2022.
Kelly, who only able to travel to the UK thanks to a crowdfunding effort, had hoped that museum officials would meet with him after what he described as past 'failures' in communication. Kelly met with museum trustees in October 2016, but has heard little since.
The Gweagal shield was previously featured in the British Museum's BP-sponsored exhibition Indigenous Australia: Enduring Civilisation in 2015. Many of the Indigenous communities whose artifacts were exhibited claim not to have been informed that BP was sponsoring the show.
Kelly has called the shield "a gateway with the potential to open the discourse on the tragic modern history of Indigenous Australians under colonization," adding: "The healing power that this shield has for Aboriginal Australia is much greater than any value it can have as part of the British Museum. No foreign institution can tell our stories as we can." The museum holds more than 6,000 Indigenous Australian items, making it the largest collection of Aboriginal cultural artifacts outside of Australia (though only 1% of this collection is usually on display).
In August 2016, the parliament of New South Wales passed a motion supporting Gweagal ownership of the shield and urged its repatriation. Kelly's family has previously complained of the 'insult' of the Museum's offer to loan — rather than return — the shield back to Australia. Earlier this week, Kelly visited the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology to demand the return of four spears taken during the same encounter in 1770.
The British Museum respects other people's right to express their views and allows peaceful protest onsite at the Museum as long as there is no risk to the Museum's collection, staff or visitors. The long-term support provided by BP allows the Museum to plan its programming in advance and to bring world cultures to a global audience through hugely popular exhibitions and their associated public programmes. Over 4 million people have enjoyed an activity at the Museum supported by BP.
Whatever the eventual fate of the Gweagal shield and the British Museum's partnership with BP, this isn't the first time the institution has been the focus of intense debate regarding the repatriation of items in its collection and its controversial sponsorships — and it surely will not be the last.


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Sheikh Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre wins "Oscar of Museums" award
Competing against 38 cultural destinations across the world, the Sheikh Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre (ASCC) in Kuwait has won the Museum Oscar at the 2021 Leading Cultural Destination Awards in Berlin. Organisers said the award recognises Sheikh Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre as a cultural icon of innovation with unique experiences that serves as a leading destination for local communities and tourists.
The Amiri Diwan of Kuwait had a vision to elevate the country's cultural landscape to not only showcase Kuwaiti culture and highlight its heritage, but also to become a regional and international beacon for cultural activities and events. The capital city's national cultural district is the culmination of this vision, with ASCC playing a significant role. The museum district is a celebration of the rich diversity of humanity's scientific and cultural achievements, with the scale, shapes, and shades of ASCC's buildings designed to convey a sense of wonder and awe. The centre also honours Kuwaiti, Islamic and Arab culture and history.
ASCC occupies a total of 127,000 sqm and offers parking for 1,1231 cars. The development comprises eight buildings which include six museums, a conference hall and a documents facility. Altogether, the buildings house 22 display halls with more than 1,000 pieces of relics and unique items.
The museum district consists of six main buildings:
Museum of Islamic History
Space Museum
Fine Arts Centre
Each building contains an array of permanent and temporary world-class exhibits and artworks. Walking through the cultural district beneath the canopy of the street leads to a journey full of surprises, with stunning views deep into the heart of the museums where visitors can see framed vistas of priceless exhibits. One exhibition enlightens visitors about the natural world for better comprehension of ecosystems, visitors can also test their skills in the exhibition's interactive displays.
Kuwaiti architecture is represented by the main 'street', echoing the traditional 'Ferej'. This creates exciting spaces, Islamic patterns, corners and walkways that mirror the experience of walking down a traditional, busy Kuwaiti street.
The centre was built in just 20 months and since its televised inauguration in 2018, it has hosted local and international events in addition to specialised conferences and exhibitions. SSH is proud to be the Lead Architect and Engineering Designer for this project.


I spent almost all of my working life employed either in the public or the charitable sector. When I trained as a life coach I found out why: my driving value is "making a difference". Since I had to give up work in 2013, due to my MS, I've been able to indulge my love of creating things. Many of my projects have appeared in this blog, some more successful than others! In November I decided that I was going to crack the mystery of crochet, and I did. This new craft skill led me to join some crochet groups on Facebook, where I found lots of inspiration and support. One of the projects that captured my imagination was making 12″ granny squares to be turned into blankets for homeless people. Then my Facebook friend Ellen posted about the terrible plight of Syrian refugees, and I found a group that can use crocheted items for premature and stillborn babies. I had to join in! Then the penny dropped – I'm happiest when I'm crafting for a cause, or making gifts for friends and family. I've always loved finding the best possible gifts to suit the important people in my life, and better than that is being able to make them something unique.
Well done Michele, you are doing such lovely things for those less fortunate.


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Capt. Jesse P. Hughes 1876-1973
Thread: Capt. Jesse P. Hughes 1876-1973
Keith Norrington
On the "Beautiful Ohio" at New Albany, Indiana, opposite Louisville, Kentucky
Franz has duly noted that today marks the 36th anniversary of the passing at age 97 of Capt. Jesse P. Hughes, longtime pilot with Greene Line Steamers and who finished his 65 year career aboard the Str. DELTA QUEEN. Capt. Jesse was an amazing man, not only an excellent river pilot but also a skilled musician, photographer and artist, who painted not only steamboat pictures, but did the fancy shaded lettering on many boats as well as doing the huge signs atop the Greene Line wharfboat.
Capt. Jesse went on the river in 1891 as a potato peeler and second cook aboard the T.N. BARNSDALL, later becoming pantry man and cabin boy. In 1896 he signed on the H.K. BEDFORD, captained by Capt. Gordon C. Greene. Capt. Jesse's first issue of pilot's license was in 1897 and his first official watch was aboard the Str. ARGAND. Capt. Jesse stood countless watches aboard the GORDON C. GREENE and DELTA QUEEN until his retirement in 1962.
Capt. Jesse was a very kind man and it was a privilege to have known him, if only for a few short years. In the last several years of his life, his daughter "Miss Helen" Prater hosted birthday parties for him aboard the BELLE OF LOUISVLLE in the captain's room on the Texas, replete with cakes featuring a steamboat and the company of good river friends. Capt. Jesse was still very much "with it" and told me about some of his river adventures, including playing the calliope on the CRICKET when she journeyed up the Big Sandy River in the region where the Hatfields and McCoy's feuded! Capt. Jesse kept detailed daily logs for many decades and those are now in the collection of the Inland Rivers Library at Cincinnati.
A long and two shorts of the whistle in tribute to an extraordinary riverman!
Quick Navigation Steamboats & History Top


The House approved a motion suspending the Independent Kerry North TD, Mr Denis Foley, for 14 days for breaching the Ethics in Public Office Act.
In September 1997, Mr Foley, then a Fianna Fail TD, voted on a Dail motion relating to the Moriarty tribunal. At the time, he had an Ansbacher account. Mr Foley resigned from the Fianna Fail parliamentary party earlier this year, when it was revealed that he held the account.
The suspension was on the recommendation of the Committee on Members' Interests, whose chairman, Mr Tony Killeen (FF, Clare), said the only matter the committee was empowered to consider was the alleged breach of the Act.
Mr Jim O'Keeffe (FG, Cork South West) said the committee was marking new territory. He was glad there had been a lot of comment on the report, and it was useful to have a discussion on it. "I think it is important to point out that the committee was not involved in penalising Deputy Foley for his Ansbacher account, and was not involved in any criminal or revenue matter arising therefrom." Mr Brendan Howlin (Labour, Wexford) said many people had talked about slaps in the wrist and inadequate penalties.
The committee, he added, was presented with a statutory range of penalties decided on by the Oireachtas. "If people want to revisit that - I certainly believe it is time to do that - but that was the range of penalties available to us. I think the decision of the committee, to any unbiased observer, in the full knowledge of all the facts, would accept that it was a very fair determination."


text:
GRSE Lays Keel of Ocean Going Vessel for Republic of Guyana
OPD services in govt hospitals across Assam hit as doctors…
India's first transgender police constable dies in road…
Indian Navy's only Helicopter Training School INAS 561…
By The Eastern Link Desk Last updated Dec 1, 2021
Marching towards fulfilling the vision of becoming a global shipbuilder, Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd. (GRSE), a Mini Ratna Category 1 Defence PSU and leading warship building company of India, achieved another milestone today by laying the Keel of the 'Ocean-Going Passenger cum Cargo Vessel' at Kolkata, a prestigious project under execution for the Co-operative Republic of Guyana.
The Keel laying ceremony of the Ocean-Going Vessel was conducted in the august presence of Captain Stephen Thomas, Director General, Maritime Administration Department, Mrs. Ronalda Edwards-Horatio, Charge' D' Affaires, A.I., Guyana High Commission, India, Rear Admiral VK Saxena, IN(Retd.), Chairman & Managing Director, GRSE, Directors of GRSE and other Senior Officials of GRSE and Transport & Harbour Department, Guyana.
The 70 m long vessel with a displacement of 1700 Tonnes is propelled by two diesel Engines and Twin Disc Gear Boxes to achieve a maximum speed of 15 Knots. The ship has been fully designed by the GRSE design teams and can accommodate 294 passengers (including 14 crew members) along with 14 cars, 02 trucks, and 14 containers & cargo and is planned to operate in the coastal and riverine area of Northwest District of Guyana.
Speaking on the occasion, Chief Guest Captain Stephen Thomas, Director General, Maritime Administration Department, expressed satisfaction over the progress of the project and said, "This project is a distinct enterprise for the Government of Guyana designed to provide smart transportation of passengers and cargo. Catering to the needs of our people, the vessel will prove to be an efficient mode of transport for the passengers and cargo movement in Guyana. This cooperation with India's leading shipbuilder GRSE, highlights our stable and long-term relationship with India."
Highlighting the importance of achieving this major 'Keel laying' milestone amidst these challenging times, Rear Admiral VK Saxena, IN (Retd), Chairman & MD, GRSE stated, "The Ocean-going Passenger cum Cargo Ferry Vessel project provided GRSE with an opportunity to leverage our expertise in design and ship construction and showcase our shipbuilding prowess in the global arena. The success of this project stands dedicated to the untiring efforts of Team GRSE and synergy among all stakeholders despite of the ongoing pandemic. This vessel aims to create a new benchmark in the field of passenger and cargo movement in Guyana. This project is a harbinger for more cooperation between our friendly nations in the maritime domain in near future. GRSE is proud to contribute towards friendly bilateral relations between the two nations."
Earlier this year, GRSE and Transport and Harbours Department (T&HD), Government of Guyana signed the contract for the construction of the Ocean-Going Vessel. The Shipyard bagged this prestigious contract through competitive bidding. The design has been accomplished by the in-house design team of GRSE and incorporates enhanced safety and operational features. With its emphasis on export and realigning marketing strategies to match the dynamic global environment, the shipyard is building six patrol crafts for Bangladesh apart from this ship for Republic of Guyana. In pursuit of indigenization and Self-reliance in Shipbuilding, GRSE is currently executing six shipbuilding projects including three Advanced Frigates under Project 17A, four Survey Vessels (Large) & eight Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Crafts for the Indian Navy and one Fast Patrol Vessel for the Indian Coast Guard.
About GRSE:
The journey of Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd., a premier Warship building Company in India, under the administrative control of Ministry of Defence, a PCMM Level-2 Certified Company and 40th rank in Fortune India Next 500 Company 2021, dates back to 1884. The Company was taken over by the Government of India in 1960. First shipyard of independent India to build a Seaward Defence Boat (SDB) INS Ajay for Indian Navy in 1961, GRSE also built the first ever Indian Export Warship "CGS Barracuda". The shipyard was conferred the status of a Miniratna Category I Company in 2006. Over last 61 years, GRSE has built 788 platforms including 107 warships for Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard, and Government of Mauritius & Seychelles Coast Guard – highest warships built & delivered by any Indian shipyard till date. From Frigates, Corvettes, Fleet Tankers, Landing Ship Tank, Landing Craft Utility to Survey Vessels, Offshore Patrol Vessels and Fast Attack Craft – the repertoire is rich and varied. In addition to ship building, GRSE is also engaged in engine production and other engineering activities. The engineering division manufactures deck machinery items, pre-fabricated portable steel bridges and marine pumps. Noteworthy accolades include Defence Minister's Award for Excellence for In-house Design Effort for Offshore Patrol Vessel for Government of Mauritius, CGS Barracuda, Best Performing Defence Shipyard of India for Four Years in a row. GRSE embraced infrastructure modernization over past decades and delightful impact was perceived in the concurrent construction of 20 ships at a time. Team of highly skilled design engineers and state of art VR Lab & latest software cater to the in-house design capabilities. With proven credentials, the shipyard is on a growth path, reaffirming its motto "In Pursuit of Excellence and Quality in Ship building.
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US To Be Tougher On China, Russia
Shillong's breathtaking Cherry Blossom & Literature Festivals leave crowds mesmerized


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One Man Revolution è il primo album in studio del cantautore The Nightwatchman, alter ego dello statunitense Tom Morello. Il disco è stato pubblicato nell'aprile 2007.

Tracce

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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Periods of light rain. Low around 50. Southeast wind around 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
Rain likely before noon, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after noon. Cloudy, with a high near 61. Southeast wind 10 to 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Rain and possibly a thunderstorm before 11pm, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm between 11pm and 1am, then a chance of showers after 1am. Low around 50. South wind 13 to 16 mph becoming west after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
A 20 percent chance of showers before 3pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 58. Breezy, with a west wind 18 to 21 mph, with gusts as high as 33 mph.
Partly cloudy, with a low around 47. West wind 8 to 14 mph.


text:
Electronic vs. Mechanical - What you need to know
By Marcus Speed | Sunday, Feb 1, 2015
Electronic components are no longer just the domain of road cycling - with the introduction of XTR Di2 mountain bikers will have the option to go elctronic as well.
The entire world is going digital in one sense or another, and in our little microcosm of bike-life it's no different. Electronic shifting systems for road bikes are set to outstrip their mechanical counterparts, but is digital really that great?
Who wants it? Well, almost everyone...
Who would genuinely benefit from it? Anyone with small hands and fingers will find it much easier to use than mechanical, as do those with arthritis, carpel tunnel or any other physical condition that affects the dexterity of the fingers.
Which one do I choose, and why?
New mountain bike tech: Shimano XTR Di2 electronic shifting
Shimano has never been a company that jumps out of the blocks with much fan fair and fireworks when they present a new technology or product. Typically they take their time to get it right... READ MORE
Currently the mechanical systems are still more affordable, but that won't last forever. Only a few years ago a flagship electronic system could set you back three times as much as its mechanical equivalent, but with the trickle-down technology filtering through to the mid-range models and economies of scale growing rapidly the gap is closing pretty quickly.
Shimano, Campagnolo, and now SRAM are offering electronic groupsets.
Electronic shifting is easy to adjust - you simply use the levers as barrel adjusters and once it's set you never have to touch it again unless you crash or swap bikes. The only other thing you need to do is keep the battery charged, and this is a no-brainer when you consider that two charges per year are plenty to keep your system topped up.
It seems that mechanical systems have more problems more often. These are usually due to poor maintenance or installation, or cheap or inferior components. However, most of the time you can still ride the bike - the gears might clank and grind, the chain might drop off the front derailleur every now and then, but you can still ride the bike and you can generally still change gears. These problems are very, very rare with electronic systems - hardly anything ever goes wrong, but when it does you've got big trouble. Your best-case scenario when your electronic system goes haywire is that you're stuck with one gear, and it's usually your "granny gear", as that's the default setting (the theory being that if you get stuck at the bottom of a climb you can at least limp your way to the top). However, it's not unheard-of for a Di2 system to be damaged in transit or a mid-race collision and simply shut down - again, I should stress that it's very, very rare but it has happened.
There's another factor that's hard to put a dollar figure on: many of us who love bikes delight in tinkering and modifying them, but your tinkering days are over once you go digital... it's all recharging and diagnostics.
The electronic versions are the definite winner here - the power and precision of the digital shifting just can't be matched in the mechanical world.
When Di2 and Campagnolo's EPS systems were released one of the problems cited was weight - sure, you can shift faster and with more accuracy but it's just so heavy! That has all changed now though, and to the nearest 5 grams Shimano's flagship electronic and mechanical shifters weigh the same.
Dura-Ace mechanical (left) and electronic rear derailleurs - closer in size than ever before.
image: cyclingmagazine.ca
Apps and upgrades
Currently, Shimano electronic offers tailored programs such customized shifting combinations, and they're working on Garmin and PowerTap compatibility apps that shift automatically to maintain a consistent power output, as well as telling your power meter what gear you're currently riding and how many hours battery life remain. This is great if you're a numbers freak, but obviously you're missing out on all this good stuff if you ride mechanical.
These little extras are not for everyone, but the availability of sprint shifters for crit racers and the ability to transform your road bike into a legit TT/triathlon machine by adding bar extension shifters offer even more bragging rights for those with electronic shifters.
If you're planning to buy a bike with electronic shifters I think it's a good move: they're getting cheaper, lighter and more advanced. But if you like to spend time in the workshop with your bike, as well as on the road, and like the tactile feel of old-school mechanics, then maybe you should hold off a little bit longer.
Mechanical or Electronic?
With progression comes resistance - but is there much to resist about electronic shifting? Despite the obvious benefits surrounding electronic shifting, there are still a lot of... READ MORE
Author: Marcus Speed
A former professional athlete, Marcus has a wealth of experience and has been a representative at both State and National level. A certified coach with Cycling Australia, he specializes in strength and endurance conditioning, and takes enormous pride in delivering a program to each athlete that gives them the tools to realise genuine improvement and satisfaction.
Bikes at the Tour Down Under - Pro kit for 2015
The Hour: Brave effort but no World Record cigar for Bobridge


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text:
Professor LIM, Chin Leng
Choh-Ming Li Professor of Law
Professor Lim is of Keating Chambers, London and he has advised and represented sovereign governments and private clients in complex public and private international law matters and disputes. For the past decade, he was Professor of Law at the University of Hong Kong. In 2017 he was appointed Choh-Ming Li Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His latest writings include Lim, Ho and Paparinskis, International Investment Law and Arbitration (Cambridge University Press, 2018). Professor Lim is also a Visiting Professor at King's College, London and served three terms on an advisory committee of Trade and Industry Department of the Hong Kong SAR. He once worked as a government international lawyer, and at the United Nations.
Copyright © 2019 ISDS Reform Conference. All Right Reserved.


Why not both? At the same time? Is it just me, or does this seem like a strange combo for a shop? Do they graft on new eyelashes using the stuff they attach fake nails with? This is a mystery.
Um, yes. Wait, do you mean the people who worship nature are fantastical? Or is this two separate thoughts combined onto one tee? I'm confused.
So far lost in translation I can't even guess what goes on up on the 17th floor.
Hold me. I'm scared. I don't want to be appyopyiated. Or do I?


text:
Simon Schwartz (born 5 October 1982) is a German illustrator, comic writer and cartoonist. His work is published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, Die Zeit and other newspapers and magazines. He has written graphic novels including "drüben!" and "Packeis" and his work has been translated into French and English.

Life and work

Schwartz was born in 1982 in Erfurt, which was then in East Germany. When he was 18 months old he moved with his parents to West Germany, where the family lived in the Berlin district of Kreuzberg.

He studied illustration at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences under the cartoonist Anke Feuchtenberger, undertaking a Diploma in Illustration, 2004-2009, and a Master of Arts, 2011-2014. He taught illustration at the University from 2011-2016.

Schwartz has worked as a freelance illustrator since 2006. From 2008 he has worked regularly for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. He has regularly produced comics for the political section of the newspaper Die Zeit since 2010. His illustrations are published in the children's magazine GEOlino, and the newspaper Der Tagesspiegel.

Graphic novels
Schwartz's work is often based around historical and biographical events. His first graphic novel, "drüben!" ("Over there") was written as course work for his Diploma in Illustration and published in 2009. It tells the story of how his parents left the East Germany, with him as a small child, and the difficulties they encountered. They left legally, by applying for an "Ausreiseantrag" (permit to leave), but this was a risky course of action as many applications were turned down, and it brought applicants to the attention of the authorities as not being loyal to the state. The Schwartz's application took three years to process. The novel was published in French in 2011 and in English, as The Other Side of the Wall, in 2015.

His second graphic novel Packeis (Pack ice) was published in 2012, as a French translation in 2014 and in English in 2015, as First Man: Reimagining Matthew Henson. It is a fictional story based on the life of the African-American explorer Matthew Henson, who was part of the 1909 expedition that claimed to be the first to reach the North Pole.

Kubus der Friedlichen Revolution

In 2012 Schwartz created the 7.5 m high and 40 m long graphic work  "Thüringen im Herbst" (Thuringia in Autumn) for the Memorial and Education Centre Andreasstrasse, a museum in Erfurt which is housed in a former Stasi remand prison for political prisoners. The work is drawn on an architectural glass box, the "Kubus der Friedlichen Revolution" ("The Cube of the Peaceful Revolution") in the museum courtyard. In the style of a graphic novel, it tells the story of the Peaceful Revolution of 1989, and of the occupation of the prison and the Erfurt Stasi district headquarters on 4 December 1989, which was the first time East German citizens had taken such action against the Stasi. It is based on over 100 contemporaneous photographs of the protests.

Bibliography
Schwartz, Simon (2019) Das Parlament 45 Leben für die Demokratie. Berlin: Avant-verlag
Schwartz, Simon (2018) Ikon.  Berlin: Avant-verlag
Schwartz, Simon (2018) Geschichtsbilder - Comics & Graphic Novels: Katalog zur Ausstellung.  Berlin: Avant-verlag
Schwartz, Simon (2015) The Other Side of the Wall (English translation of "drüben!", 2009).  Minneapolis: Graphic Universe/Lerner Publishing Group
Schwartz, Simon (2015) First Man: Reimagining Matthew Henson (English translation of Packeis, 2012).  Minneapolis: Graphic Universe/Lerner Publishing Group
Schwartz, Simon (2014) Vita Obscura.  Berlin: Avant-verlag
Schwartz, Simon (2012) Packeis.  Berlin: Avant-verlag
Schwartz, Simon (2009) drüben!.  Berlin: Avant-verlag

Exhibitions
 Simon Schwartz: "Das Parlament - 45 Leben für die Demokratie". An exhibition at the Bundestag (German Parliament), Berlin, 4 April - 31 August 2019. Biographies, in comic form, of 45 German politicians from the time of the Frankfurt Parliament in 1848 until German reunification in 1990. The project was commissioned by the Arts Council of the German Parliament.
 Simon Schwartz: "Das Parlament". An exhibition at the Bundestag, Berlin, 5 September 2017 - 21 January 2018. Biographies of 20 German members of Parliament, from 1848 to 1933, told in comic form.
Simon Schwartz: "Geschichtsbilder – Comics & Graphic Novels". Exhibition from 18 May - 9 September 2018, Angermuseum Erfurt and  29 September 2019 - 21 January 2020, Ludwiggalerie, Schloss Oberhausen.

Awards
 2012 - Max & Moritz Prize - Best German language comic for Packeis
 2016 - Independent Publisher Book Awards, Multicultural Non-fiction Juvenvile-Young Adult section - Silver medal for The Other Side of the Wall

References

External links
 Illustration & Comics. Simon Schwartz (in English)

1982 births
Living people
Artists from Erfurt
German cartoonists
German comics artists
German comics writers
Hamburg University of Applied Sciences alumni


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