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Board index General County Championships
Union Reps Skype Meeting 17/July
Discussion about all aspects of the ECF County Championships.
Sean Hewitt
Contact Sean Hewitt
Re: Union Reps Skype Meeting 17/July
Post by Sean Hewitt » Sun Jun 29, 2014 12:27 pm
Kevin Williamson wrote: Graham plays in the Bedfordshire league for Milton Keynes, which is in Buckinghamshire. Northampton also play in the Beds league. Neither Bucks nor Northants currently have a team which play in their Union or ECF competitions, so by depriving these players of the opportunity of playing for Bedfordshire they are prevented from playing Union/ECF County chess all together.
This could be cause and effect. When I enquired of a Northants rep why that county didn't play county chess there any more, his personal opinion was that they couldn't get enough players because too many of their players played for Bedfordshire. So rather than helping Northants players to play county chess, this situation might actually be on the cause that prevents this county from participating at all.
It's all a matter of opinion of course and, as usual, there is unlikely to be consensus.
Location: Awbridge, Hampshire
Post by Ian Thompson » Sun Jun 29, 2014 12:39 pm
The eligibility rules are reproduced in full here:-
C3.1. The qualifications for a player to represent a County in the Championship shall be one of the following:-
(i) Birth in that county.
(ii) Five years' residence in that county at any time.
(iii) Two months immediate previous and present membership of a club either in or affiliated to that County.
(iv) One month's immediately previous and present residence in that County.
(v) Present attendance as a teacher or student at a school, college or university in that County.
(i) - (iv) look reasonable to me. (v) is strange. Why should a teacher who works in a county be able to play for it, but not anyone employed in any other occupation in the county, not even a member of the non-teaching staff at the same school?
Post by Roger de Coverly » Sun Jun 29, 2014 12:49 pm
Ian Thompson wrote: (v) is strange. Why should a teacher who works in a county be able to play for it, but not anyone employed in any other occupation in the county, not even a member of the non-teaching staff at the same school?
For universities, is the borderline between being a teacher and being a student somewhat blurred for post graduates? For schools is it anything to do with boarding schools? But you might expect teaching staff to be locally resident even where the pupils are not.
Post by Brian Valentine » Sun Jun 29, 2014 1:06 pm
Sean Hewitt wrote:
It has never been Bedfordshire policy to poach players who could play for another county. Only one Northants club plays in the Beds League and we have offered services to this affiliated club after a long period of Northants not playing union chess. While a number of Northampton players have represented Bedfordshire over the years only two have been long standing regulars.
We would encourage the county rep to get a county captain and re-establish the county team. If travel is a problem the consider joining the EACU - I doubt that was an option when the team folded!
Post by Mick Norris » Sun Jun 29, 2014 1:35 pm
Roger de Coverly wrote: With only six teams willing to contest the national stages of the Open, it doesn't feel as if there is a vast amount of unsatisfied demand for county chess.
Misleading stat, as usual
There are 15 county first teams competing, with the strongest 6 in the Open and the other 9 in the Minor
Only 5 at U180 may be an indication of a problem
9 at U160, 7 at U140, 7 at U120 and even 6 at U100 may indicate there is demand
G Man aren't alone in having players, but lacking captains - we lost ours from this season, and only found 1 yesterday at our AGM, which leaves our first team OK, but not our U160 team
Ian Thompson wrote:
The proposed removal of "teacher or" in (v) looks fair
Affiliation is a problem for me - Manchester is twinned with St Petersburg, so if we affiliate them and fill the G Man team with Russians (ok, extreme example, but an indication of what might be done)?
I'd like to see affiliation removed, but I'd also like to see smaller counties than ours allowed to compete as merged entities (Bucks/Northants/Berks, Cleveland/Durham/Northumberland, Cheshire/Merseyside possibly)
Andrew Zigmond
Location: Harrogate
Post by Andrew Zigmond » Sun Jun 29, 2014 2:08 pm
In some ways it's a bit of a none issue. The rule is there to prevent teams from playing obvious ringers (if enough people feel that it should be a complete free for all then a motion should be put to Council for the eligibility rule to be removed).
If there is a concern or a complaint over the eligibility of a player then the controller will review the facts and make a decision. If this then goes to appeal the Home Director will either uphold the decision or he won't. That's pretty much all there is to it.
Controller - Yorkshire League
Chairman - Harrogate Chess Club
All views expressed entirely my own
The problem here is that the Unions are made up of county associations and the teams represent those associations. Bedfordshire play more chess at the union stage than they would (in a good year) at the National stages.
County Associations are also a building block to represent members at council. The team matches are often the only place to get member's views efficiently.
Neil Graham
Post by Neil Graham » Sun Jun 29, 2014 2:31 pm
May I comment on several of the points raised in this thread?
The rules are eligibility are the same as those in the 1992 BCF Yearbook (except that "two years" has now been replaced by "two months"). No doubt if I crawl round the loft to locate an earlier Yearbook, which I don't intend to do, this rule has been in place for much longer than that! The rule has served the competition well - there is absolutely no need to change or indeed tweak it. My guess is that eligibility checks are non-existent and that the Director and Controller rightly assume that the captains ensure all players are eligible to play. The only eligibility question I can ever recall coming up in my many years association with the competition is when Player "A" played for County "X" in the preliminaries and then for County "Y" in the Finals. It was spotted and the appropriate penalty enacted.
I have already said in a previous thread that every county has the capacity to contest at least some of the competitions. We all know that there is a dearth of organisers at every level of chess from club through county and Union and up to national. I have mentioned this for example when ECF elections loom. I am sure that the Manchester Chess Federation could easily enter teams at every level for example U-160, U-140; U-120 & U-100 but as Mick Norris points out above they can't find anyone to captain a side! Manchester has a large and active chess playing community - so consider the problems with those counties who are less organised. I recall a member of this forum complaining last year about chess organisation in Northamptonshire - a county where now eligible players have to resort to playing for Bedfordshire!
If we relax the eligibility rules as suggested by Roger, the event becomes a meaningless free-for-all where, presumably, those with the biggest financial clout attract the best players. It was a pleasure to meet Leicestershire this year and find that they had a grandmaster Mark Hebden on Board One who was prepared to represent his home county. If Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire etc don't wish to play in the County Championship or affiliate to a Union that is their decision.
At the start of the season Nottinghamshire looked at the grades of players in the July 2013 list and decided that we would enter the Minor Counties rather than the Open or the Under 180. We have insufficient players to contest both the U180 and the Minor simultaneously. As regards the Open Championship to play in that you need to be able to field a team with a large number of players graded 200+ and probably an average grade of over 200 to win. Notts are unable to field a team anything like that - the only Midland team to enter was Staffordshire who turned out a quarter-final team with an average grade of 187.5 and then were trounced by Kent who could field a team which had an average approaching the 200 mark.
Finally in respect of Worksop who play in the Sheffield and District Chess Association. Nottinghamshire have not asked any Worksop players to represent the county this year and if we did we would expect the club to affiliate to the Notts Chess Association. Worksop players have played for us in the past and at that time the club did pay an affiliation fee to the Notts CA. Once the finals have been completed I'll give some statistics on the Notts county teams for this year.
Post by Roger de Coverly » Sun Jun 29, 2014 2:52 pm
Neil Graham wrote: If Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire etc don't wish to play in the County Championship
The three counties compete along with Hampshire at 20 boards at both Open and under 150 level. These are double round, so that's six matches, twelve if you make both teams. Travelling is relatively local and you rarely feel as used to be the case when, say, away to Kent that you had made a long journey in a lost cause. There isn't a strong desire to play in weekend matches over the summer, which is why there is no objective to seek entry to the National stages. Many of the top boards already double up by playing 4NCL , for Oxford in particular, travelling to Daventry or Hinckley is simpler than Hassocks, Lewisham or Wanstead.
The usual method of signing ringers from outside the county is to make them legitimate by having them play the odd game for a local club.
David Sedgwick
Post by David Sedgwick » Sun Jun 29, 2014 3:32 pm
Neil Graham wrote: The rules are eligibility are the same as those in the 1992 BCF Yearbook (except that "two years" has now been replaced by "two months"). No doubt if I crawl round the loft to locate an earlier Yearbook, which I don't intend to do, this rule has been in place for much longer than that! The rule has served the competition well - there is absolutely no need to change or indeed tweak it. My guess is that eligibility checks are non-existent and that the Director and Controller rightly assume that the captains ensure all players are eligible to play. The only eligibility question I can ever recall coming up in my many years association with the competition is when Player "A" played for County "X" in the preliminaries and then for County "Y" in the Finals. It was spotted and the appropriate penalty enacted.
As Mike Gunn has mentioned, your views on the eligibility issue were pretty widely shared by those who attended the SCCU Annual Council Meeting yesterday, although we accepted that the special treatment of teachers was something of an amomaly.
On the whole the relevant officers of counties in the SCCU devote their energies to enabling their counties to field successful teams, rather than constantly complaining about the format and the rules. I am very pleased that Nottinghamshire do the same.
In fairness to Buckinghamshire, I should mention that they remain affiliated to the SCCU.
IM Jack Rudd
Location: Bideford
Post by IM Jack Rudd » Sun Jun 29, 2014 3:55 pm
Will removing the "teacher or" clause make any difference at all? You want to play for the county the school you teach at is located? Why not register it as a club?
http://westcountrychess.blogspot.com
Post by PeterFarr » Sun Jun 29, 2014 5:14 pm
David Sedgwick wrote: On the whole the relevant officers of counties in the SCCU devote their energies to enabling their counties to field successful teams, rather than constantly complaining about the format and the rules. I am very pleased that Nottinghamshire do the same.
Well quite so, from the point of view of an average county player, one hardly notices SCCU officialdom, which proves they do a good job. Thanks to people like David and Mike.
Post by Richard Bates » Sun Jun 29, 2014 7:29 pm
IMO the rules on eligibility should be drafted as loosely as possible to enable anyone who feels some sort of affinity to a County to play for them if they wish, without allowing the general free for all which Roger favours. On the assumption that nobody without any connection with a County will not likely have a reason to desire to play for them. At the end of the day this is amateur chess within the context of which one has to rely on, and should expect, some degree of basic integrity from captains and players alike.
And it seems to me that the current rules meet this requirement pretty well. Trying to tighten the rules is unnecessary and counterproductive - not least since I don't think anyone should want a greater focus on what exactly determines County boundaries...
On the other issue - using January grades is a nobrainer - if they are not seen as THE determinant of strength post January then the ECF should abolish them in their present form. (for practical purposes I can however see that people shouldn't become ineligible mid season).
Richard Bates wrote: On the other issue - using January grades is a nobrainer - if they are not seen as THE determinant of strength post January then the ECF should abolish them in their present form. (for practical purposes I can however see that people shouldn't become ineligible mid season).
The simplest rule would say that players were eligible for restricted teams if they had a grade low enough to qualify in either the July or January list. That would mean a modest boost in available players who have been having a poor season. That leaves a question on ungraded players as to whether they are excluded if their January grade is too high. The SCCU rules exclude them, but they could be defined relative to a July estimate.
SCCU rules wrote: (ii) January grades. If a player without a published start-of-season grade acquires an ECF grade in the January list, the January grade will count for eligibility with effect from one week after publication (or earlier if the team captain so chooses). It will supersede any clearance, or refusal of clearance, previously declared by the County Match Controller.
For Minor Counties under 180 averages, why not just use the January list as effectively the competition doesn't start until April? I don't believe any teams in the Union stage are required to stick to average under 180, so the problem of throwing players out of the team is only the same as it is anyway.
Return to "County Championships"


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Guest blog: Should companies have a duty to prevent human rights abuses?
Home Insights Blogs Criminal Law Blog Guest blog: Should companies have a duty to prevent human rights abuses?
The Kingsley Napley International Conference 2018 held a panel debate on "Considering corporate liability for human rights abuses and international crimes, now and in the future." Read our follow up blog from panellist Alison Macdonald QC.
I was pleased to be part of the panel for the business and human rights session at Kingsley Napley's recent conference on international criminal law. One of the issues which the panel covered, in the course of a lively discussion, was the question of whether the current UK legal framework does enough to hold companies accountable for human rights violations by their overseas subsidiaries. As shown by the work of Amnesty International in pressing for prosecutions, companies can certainly be at risk of criminal liability under existing legislation if they are involved in human rights violations. But should the law go further?
The traditional challenge for establishing corporate liability in the UK is the well-known "identification principle". The difficulties posed by this principle were outlined, in a very different context, in the December 2015 press release of the Director of Public Prosecutions, explaining why she was not going to prosecute News Group for offences arising out of the phone hacking scandal:
The company will only be liable if it can be proved that the individual involved is sufficiently senior, usually close to or at board level, to be the 'controlling mind and will' of the company. Unlike other countries, the principles of vicarious liability or poor corporate governance, which are matters that are easier to prove, play no part in establishing corporate criminal liability. The present state of the law means it is especially difficult to establish criminal liability against companies with complex or diffuse management structures."
Of course, this problem only arises where the company is to be prosecuted for an offence under the general criminal law – in other words, where a company has to be fitted into a legal framework intended for individuals. But instead of having to establish that the company itself has done something wrong through its controlling mind and will, there are alternative models of accountability.
Although it is important not to rule out the possibility that a UK-based company could be the primary perpetrator of human rights violations (see for example the conduct of private security companies in overseas conflicts), a study commissioned by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights found that, out of 40 cases examined, this was the least frequent way in which companies are connected to human rights abuses. More often, it appears that human rights abuses occur further down the supply chain, involving foreign subsidiaries or their contractors. For example, a UK-based clothing company may have a foreign subsidiary which gets clothes made in a factory which uses child labour – or a factory which does not do so itself, but which cuts costs by farming the work out to one which does. How much effort does the UK parent company have to go to in order to find out whether this sort of thing is happening in its supply chain?
One legal option is to place companies under a duty to provide information about the due diligence which they have undertaken in relation to their supply chain. Such a duty was created by the s.54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, under which companies are required to produce an annual slavery and human trafficking statement (see here for the government's guidance on s.54).
This is in some respects a groundbreaking provision, but it has many weaknesses:
It applies only to companies with an annual turnover of more than £36 million – so many businesses are left out.
It applies only to slavery and forced labour, not other serious human rights violations.
It provides only for civil, not criminal, penalties if a company fails to submit its statement. (This is not to say that civil penalties and remedies should be overlooked in this field: a 'Magnitsky Clause' was recently introduced in s.13 of the Criminal Finances Act 2017, and there can potentially be substantial private law damages claims against UK-based parent companies for the human rights violations of their subsidiaries).
It does not prescribe any particular level of detail to be included in the statement. (Rather troublingly, the Joint Committee on Human Rights found, when it analysed the first set of company statements for its report "Human Rights and Business 2017: promoting responsibility and ensuring accountability", that key parts of a number of companies' statements were identically worded, suggesting some cutting and pasting or the use of a template (see para. 93 of the Report)).
Most fundamentally, s. 54 does not require companies actually to do any due diligence. They remain free to undertake no due diligence at all, as long as they make clear in their statement that they haven't done any.
If companies are – through a combination of legislative prodding and growing cultural expectations as to their ethical conduct – starting to do due diligence in respect of slavery and forced labour in their supply chains, it would make sense to extend the s.54 obligation to include other serious human rights violations. Slavery and forced labour, while exceptionally serious, are far from being the only possible corporate human rights violations.
But even extending the reporting obligation more broadly would not solve the real problem: preventing such abuses from taking place in the first place. This is where the "failure to prevent" model comes in.
As is well known, such an offence has its origins in the corporate manslaughter offence in the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007, followed by s. 7 of the Bribery Act 2010 (failure to prevent bribery), and more recently sections 45 and 46 of the Criminal Finances Act 2017 (failure to prevent tax evasion). Where the prescribed conduct has occurred, the onus shifts back onto the company to demonstrate that it had in place "adequate procedures designed to prevent" such conduct. It is too early to tell what effect the tax evasion offence will have, but the bribery offence has been used in a number of well-known cases, including the UK's first deferred prosecution agreement.
In April last year, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) published an excellent, very detailed report entitled "Human Rights and Business 2017: promoting responsibility and ensuring accountability." The report – the result of a wide-ranging inquiry – is highly critical of the current legal framework and its enforcement.
For present purposes, the most significant recommendation was that:
the Government should bring forward legislation to impose a duty on all companies to prevent human rights abuses, as well as an offence of failure to prevent human rights abuses for all companies, including parent companies, along the lines of the relevant provisions of the Bribery Act 2010." (para. 193)
In the JCHR's view, the legislation should:
"[R]equire all companies to put in place effective human rights due diligence processes (as recommended by the UN Guiding Principles), both for their subsidiaries and across their whole supply chain."
"Enable remedies against the parent company and other companies when abuses do occur, so civil remedies (as well as criminal remedies) must be provided."
"Include a defence for companies where they had conducted effective human rights due diligence, and the burden of proof should fall on companies to demonstrate that this has been done."
Such legislation would not solve the problem by itself – as the report makes clear, there are a range of problems in ensuring accountability. These include a lack of expertise and resources in policing the existing legislation – let alone any new and more demanding legal requirements. But it would be an important step in the right direction, building on the momentum created by the Modern Slavery Act. So it was disappointing that the Government, in its response to the report, published last month, stated baldly that "The Government has no immediate plans to legislate further in this area." (p.15)
This is baffling – if companies can be placed under an obligation to prevent bribery and the facilitation of tax evasion, why not gross human rights abuses? The issue may be off the immediate legislative agenda, but this seems unlikely to end the debate about how to strengthen corporate accountability in the UK.
Alison Macdonald QC is a barrister at Matrix Chambers, London, practicing in domestic and international courts and tribunals. She specialises in public international law, international arbitration, public law and criminal law.
For further information on human rights due diligence and the possible advent of a criminal offence for failing to prevent human rights abuses please see our Business and Human Rights page.
Alison Macdonald QC, Barrister, Matrix Chambers
Consumers and regulators increasingly expect companies to demonstrate a commitment to human rights, where companies fall short, they increasingly face both reputational and legal consequences.
Corporate crime is under the spotlight more now than ever before with an increasing appetite for corporate prosecutions.
Business and Human Rights: Magnitsky clause now in force
Katherine Tyler
The Magnitsky Clause Part 1: Profiting from the suppression of whistleblowers – what does it mean for business?
The Magnitsky Clause Part 2: Profiting from the suppression of those who seek to assert their human rights?
Guest blog: How to get the attention of the board on human rights

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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UMNO Racist Ahmad Ismail Says , "I SAID NOTHING WRONG !! " What Are You Going to Do, DPM Najib ?
Read here on Malaysiakini
More BAD NEWS for GERAKAN and MCA as Partners of UMNO in BARISAN NASIONAL.
Ahmad Ismail as Bukit Bendera UMNO Division Chief labeled ALL Chinese Malaysians as "SQUATTERS" .
He said during a ceramah in Permatang Pauh in Aug 25, "...as the Chinese were only immigrants it was impossible to achieve equal rights amongst races."
Ahmad Ismail, the Bukit Bendera UMNO Division Chief said today he would NOT apologise even AFTER the deputy prime minister has already done so on his behalf.
He added that he did NOT feel sorry and he would NOT recant his alleged racist remarks against Chinese Malaysians during the recent by-election campaign in Permatang Pauh.
Ahmad Ismail told Malaysiakini via telephone:
"I am not apologetic because I didn't do anything wrong.
As far as I am concerned, I did not say or do anything wrong.
So why should I apologise?"
Ahmad has given his statement at the state police headquarters in Georgetown last night, following a series of police reports lodged against him in Penang (left), Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh, Seremban, Malacca and Petaling Jaya by Chinese-based political parties, including MCA, Gerakan and DAP.
The case is being investigated under Section 4(1)(B) of the Sedition Act 1948, which carries a fine not exceeding RM5,000 or a minimum three years' jail, or both upon conviction.
Penang police crime investigation department chief SAC II Wan Abdullah Tuanku Said said the embattled Umno leader was cooperative and the recording of his statement went without hitches.


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Dimensions: 8.5 diam. x 13H in.


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Stocks / NYSE / Pfizer, Inc.
Industry: Health Care - Major Pharmaceuticals Stock Symbol: PFE - NYSE Indexes: S&P 500, Fortune 500 Animal Usage: Animal Testing
Pfizer is on our list of exploiting animals because of its use of animals in testing its products. According to PETA, Pfizer subjects huge numbers of animals to cruel and lethal experiments every year. In 2011, Pfizer experimented on nearly 50,000 animals—including 2,557 dogs, 1,159 primates, 452 cats, 7,076 guinea pigs, 31,560 hamsters, 5,512 rabbits, 1,680 gerbils, and 161 horses—in its own laboratories. More than 15,000 of these animals were forced to endure painful experiments, and more than 6,000 were denied pain relief. These numbers don't include mice and rats or any of the animals used in Pfizer experiments bycontract testing laboratories.
The company has also been listed in PETA for 12 Worst CEOs for Animals in Laboratories.
PETA has repeatedly used shareholder resolutions to hold Pfizer to account for its treatment of animals in its own laboratories and at contract facilities, but Pfizer has rebuffed PETA's efforts and has refused to take responsibility for its cruelty and violations of federal law.
Read about PETA's shareholder resolution campaign.
Pfizer Inc. is an American global pharmaceutical corporation headquartered in New York City, with its research headquarters in Groton, Connecticut. It is among the world's largest pharmaceutical companies.Pfizer develops and produces medicines and vaccines for a wide range of medical disciplines, including immunology, oncology, cardiology, diabetology/endocrinology, and neurology.
Website: http://www.pfizer.com
Contact: https://www.pfizer.com/contact/email_contact


A Mother's Disgrace could loosely be termed autobiographical. As well as providing entertaining information about his own life story, Robert Dessaix's writing takes the form of both a quest and a reflection. Raised by adoptive parents, Robert Dessaix embarks on a quest to find his biological mother and both before and after he has found her, he reflects on the nature of his own identity and identity in general, as well as many contemporary western society's preoccupations such as sexuality, religious belief, family relationships, discrimination, social injustice and systems of government.
NB: The text that this unit is based on is: Dessaix, R. 1994. A Mother's Disgrace. A & R Classics, Australia.
Begin with a class discussion about the term 'identity'. What do we mean by this term? What is your understanding of this word?
Students could do this individually as a conceptual map, before sharing with a colleague. Finally a summary conceptual map could be filled out as a full class activity in a central place, such as a whiteboard.
One of the ways Wikipedia describes identity is as follows: 'In psychology, sociology and anthropology, identity is a person's conception and expression of their own (self identity) and other's individuality or group affiliations (such as national identity and cultural identity).
The conceptual map could perhaps be added to after considering this definition.
'To recognise or establish as being a particular person or thing' (The Macquarie Dictionary, 2009).
With this narrower definition in mind, ask the students to think about the title of this book and also a quote from page 120 where the author states. 'I am a disgrace, you see.' In juxtaposition, Dessaix describes his biological mother, Yvonne, as being a 'woman of . . . much grace' (p. 187).
What could make someone identify as being a disgrace? This activity is a general one – not based on the text yet. Think-pair-share.
All of the following reading activities relate to on-going components of the unit as well as to relevant activities and tasks.
As a class, read the dedication at the front of the work. Robert Dessaix quotes Jeanette Winterson, 'I'm telling you stories. Trust me.' Then read the last two sentences of the book. 'I have told you the truth. Now trust me.' Ask students to hypothesise as to why these two statements containing the word 'trust' should bracket the entire text.
The first chapter is particularly relevant to the nature of 'identity', which has been discussed already as a general concept, and which is a preoccupation of Dessaix, and consequently a focus of much of this unit. This chapter could be read (and the bullet points discussed) in class time or it could be set as several nights' homework and the students' insights could be shared during class time.
(iii) His awareness that '. . . Sergeant Mustafa must not know the difference' (p. 16).
(i) What does it mean to prepare a version of something for someone? Give an example.
(ii) Is 'giving a version' the same concept as fictionalising?
(iii) Do we fictionalise our lives in order to make them more interesting and more believable? Give examples.
(iv) Could it be that our very identities are a mixture of fact and fiction?
(v) What is the difference that Sergeant Mustafa must not know about?
(vi) If we know that we all prepare versions of events, how do we know what/who to trust? How can we trust that this author is telling us the truth?
General reading activities – these early notes will be required later as students work through the various exercises and activities contained in the unit.
(i) Ask the students to make notes (as they are reading) about what sort of mothers are being referred to in the chapter titles: Motherlands, Mother Russia and Mother.
(ii) By finding his own mother at the age of fifty, Dessaix discovered an entirely new identity history. Ask the students to do quick character sketches on Jean, Yvonne and Yvonne's mother – as they are reading.
(iii) Robert Dessaix grew up as Robert Jones. Why did he change his name and was it before or after meeting his biological mother?
(iv) Robert Dessaix seems much more interested in finding out about his mother than his father. Why do you think this is?
We all originate out of somewhere. Obviously we come from our biological parents but we are also born into families and into a web of stories (sometimes called discourses) that sustain these biological families and give them meaning and identity. These stories or discourses involve notions of class, gender, ethnicity, occupation, beliefs, values, obligations, affiliations and so on. In other words, our discourses provide us with a way of being – ourselves.
To assist students to understand the concept of how our stories/discourses shape us, the following bullet point activities should be completed in class, pausing at the end of each section to discuss their responses, as a class discussion.
Working in pairs or singly, students are to re-visit their concept maps where they reflected on the meaning of the term, 'identity' and add to it any of the stories they grew up with – stories large and small – in fact anything they can think of that made them who they are today. Ideas: nationality, state alliance, regional alliance, city/town alliance, family networks, religion, education, politics, sports, clubs, hobbies, groups, interests etc.
Direct them to create a Venn diagram and in the overlapping part, put in the discourses/stories that they share with their parents. In one side of the individual circle put in the large stories that have shaped them and in the other circle, put in the small stories that shape them. For example, ideas ideas about nationality and religion could be in one, and smaller, more temporary influences such as cultural groups or sporting groups could go into the other.
Ask the students to think about these influences on their own notions of their own 'self'. Do these various influences create different 'selves'? For example, are they the same self when listening to music with a group of friends as they are when in the principal's office at school? In his interview with Ramona Koval, Robert Dessaix talks about his many selves. 'So many Roberts'. Are there many selves or just one true self which adapts to different situations?
Points to ponder: Does the self exist when there is no one else around to recognise it? If we believe in the one true self, is it the same self from birth to death, regardless of circumstances? What is the core of this self? What is personality? Can personality change? What sort of things would make our personalities change? Is the self consistent or inconsistent?
Our stories influence the way we view the world and the way we feel about certain things. For example, the child of a timber logger in Tasmania would probably have different ideas about conservation issues than that of the child of a Green Party supporter living in inner Melbourne.
Bearing in mind the idea that discourses have shaped their own identities, students are to write a one page reflection on an issue about which they feel strongly. Students may wish to reflect on the big issues/topics/stories which influence their thinking such as: patriotism, conservation, climate change issues, to name but a few, or they might wish to reflect on much smaller concerns such as: bullying, school rules or their own family traditions.
As reflective writing is one of the tasks in the 'Informed reaction' section later in this resource, students could be encouraged to keep this writing and perhaps add to it as they work through the unit.
This autobiography does not have any semblance of a linearly-lived life. Dessaix begins his narrative with an event that happened to him when he was forty. In the second chapter he reflects on his childhood. In chapter three he takes his reader to Russia and only in chapter four does he finally get to meet his biological mother. He himself, on page 103, states that he likes to live 'swoopingly'. The selection of memoirs he has (sometimes seemingly randomly) chosen for A Mother's Disgrace seem to support this assertion.
In class, either teacher led or individually, students are to read the opening paragraph of the book. It is intensely dramatic – a magnet to draw in the reader. Ask the students to reflect on an episode from their past and try to introduce their own memoir in as dramatic a way as possible. They could do this by remembering a vivid flashback and beginning from there, or they could evoke the senses and try to remember smells, sounds etc. from the time. Maybe they could begin with direct dialogue. To prompt them to get started ask them to describe the time in their lives when they have been the most frightened/amused/sad etc. This could be done as quiet class work or homework. Invite them to share these opening paragraphs, and to keep them for future reference.
These themes are listed randomly. Re-list them in the order of importance that you imagine they were to Robert Dessaix at the time of writing this.
Students are to make a list of their own themes or preoccupations in order of importance. This is not for sharing and can be done as a homework activity or done in class and deleted/scrapped immediately.
Working in pairs, students brainstorm one of these issues/themes: theosophy, communism, capitalism, mental illness, Alzheimer's disease, human rights or anti-discrimination legislation are some suggestions.
Homework: further individual research on their chosen theme.
In pairs or small groups, either prepare a five minute talk, or design a web page promoting an organisation connected to your chosen theme. Students would need to have a position on the topic in order for this to be effective, otherwise it will just amount to information. Suggestions: 'The Young Communist Movement Homepage', 'Young People Standing up against Racial Discrimination' or whatever appeals to their thinking.
Obviously as this is autobiographical, Robert Dessaix is the central character. Other major characters include: Jean, Tom, Yvonne, Peter, Yvonne's mother, Elizabeth plus a host of minor characters.
Students are to create a table in which they compare the impact of each of the following women on Robert Dessaix.
Australia, Russia and Egypt are the three main settings in which this narrative is played out, although the author is well-travelled and a host of other countries are mentioned. Dessaix also describes at length his own imaginary lands, cities and languages. Pure Land (p. 27) is one example.
Students to read pp. 27–32.
As a think-pair-share, describe the importance of this mythical construction to the growing boy. Would this sort of fantasy be common among youths and teenagers? What does it say about Dessaix that he preferred to construct and dwell in these imaginary places than in his real world? Ask the students if, either in their own reading or in their own lives, they have ever come across anything similar.
In the blurb at the back of A Mother's Disgrace, The Canberra Times describes this book as, 'A journey of identity by a virtuoso in language and master of narrative control . . . '.
One of the powerful techniques that Dessaix employs in his narrative is his creation of original metaphors to vividly illustrate the point he is making.
In groups of three or four, discuss and explain how these metaphors illustrate and highlight what it is the author is saying in these sections. Allocate a scribe and a speaker for each group and report back to the class.
Robert Dessaix describes his own style as conversational (Wheeler Centre – Robert Dessaix: As I was Saying (YouTube).
Watch the first ten minutes of the YouTube interview where Dessaix is reading from his book, As I was Saying.
Do the students agree that A Mother's Disgrace could be described in a similar fashion? Give examples of where his tone is conversational.
Is the art of conversation over? If so, why?
What is meant by the term 'Seminaries of Sedition', which is how salons are described in As I was Saying?
One of the devices that Dessaix employs in order to engage his reader in conversation, is to talk directly to him/her. He uses the second person – "you". 'I'd copy it out here for you if I'd kept a draft of it, but I didn't – there was nothing in it you ought not to read.' (p. 105).
What is the effect of this device?
Use of third person when talking about himself – "he". 'On the other hand the hero of my tale was standing up quite well, I thought, and Sergeant Mustafa must not know the difference.' (p. 16).
What is the effect of using the third person to talk about himself?
A sustained symbol throughout this entire text is that of a mother.
Students are to make a list of any words or ideas that they associate with 'mother', whether it be connotations or associated words. This could be done as a concept map. (Suggestions include words and combinations such as motherhood, mothering, Mother Earth, motherland, mother ship, smother, nurture, love, Mother of God – anything). As the class works through the list it should become obvious what a powerful construct this word is.
(i) What is the most iconic mother/son image in our western and Judeo-Christian society?
(ii) How would it feel being forced to give up a child and know that you would never see him/her again?
(iii) Can you see how the word 'Mother' could be especially intriguing if one were adopted?
(iv) Germany is often referred to as the Fatherland, whilst Russia is usually known as the Motherland. Ask the students whether they see their own land as a motherland or a fatherland – and why?
The Head of English at your school is ordering new texts for next year's Senior Literature course and is asking for students' opinions. He/she is considering including Robert Dessaix's autobiography, A Mother's Disgrace, which you have just finished reading.
Write an email to this person in which you encourage or discourage the purchase of a class set of these texts, validating your opinions with evidence from your own close study. Note: this need not be a binary 'buy/don't buy' exercise. Students could recommend with a note of caution, or discourage in the main, but still suggest strengths in the text.
A Mother's Disgrace lends itself to Structuralist and Post Structuralist readings. These are rather dense and difficult concepts but, put simply, both theories broadly posit that reality is constructed by language and therefore, for example, one's gendered identity is largely a construction. These theories also question the straitjacket construction of linear time and the impossibility of objective history. Dessaix highlights all these issues in his autobiography. 'I was a staunch believer in the world-as-text approach from about the mid sixties . . . until quite recently.' (p. 143).
By his own admission he was a staunch believer that reality is constructed by language – 'world as text' – until he subverted his own structuralist views by bringing in biology as a factor to be contended with, both in our ideas about gender identity and the world at large.
Re-read the passage on p. 140 where he states: 'Freedom, if it means anything, seems to be about choosing intelligently between discourses, questioning commands, interrogating cliched propositions and making sure what intersects is what you want to intersect. You learn to distinguish between liberating and oppressive discourses.' What does this actually mean? Try to explain this rather difficult concept to a class mate. Thrash out a meaning between yourselves and be prepared to share your insights with the class.
'The idea that the world is all 'text' and you have a leading role in writing it is obviously appealing' (p. 141). Who is the 'you' being referred to here?
'After meeting Yvonne though, and watching the way she sits and walks . . . I now doubt that it always produces it in the first place' (p. 143). This is where Dessaix is musing on his own physical/mental traits and the nature/nurture debate regarding his own identity. In your own words, describe how this passage contradicts the two former passages from this section.
Students are to brainstorm ideas of binary opposition in language, beginning with obvious ones like black/white, good/bad, up/down, rich/poor, male/female etc. In pairs or groups, or as a joint effort on the central whiteboard, ask them to write down as many as they can think of. Then ask them to circle the word (within the binary) which has positive connotations, and be prepared to explain their choice. Ask them to try and explain the connection between the binary – that the one can only exist because the other doesn't.
Robert Dessaix has much to say about binaries and the way our (unconscious) binary system confers power.
Students are to read the following passages:It was my first conscious experience of the power that grows out of binary constructions of the world (in this case capitalist/socialist, exploiting/non-exploiting, truth/lies, enemy/friend – those were the main ones). It made me aware of the way binary constructions raise the stakes in any power game and make the thinking on both sides of the divide (the source of all power) more and more totalitarian (p. 68).In either case, regardless of the truth, you were supporting the wrong side in their binary construction of the world (p. 86).What I didn't understand in those days, the early sixties, was that in any society ideas about what constitutes masculinity and what constitutes femininity are rigidly fixed and the boundary between them is jealously guarded. It is a binary system and one that confers power (p. 147).
After completing these readings and thinking about the concept of binaries and power, students can be encouraged to see how these binaries affect their own identity and lives. It would help at this stage to add Dessaix's list to the list they already have: capitalist/socialist, exploiting/non-exploiting, truth/lies, enemy/friend.The teacher could also add some binaries which obviously affect lives – for example, conservation/development, knowledge/ignorance, leisure/work, activity/inactivity, health/sickness, science/arts. From these lists and from their own ideas, students could be encouraged to see how their lives are affected by the power of those concepts that are privileged. For example, having a physical education program in school and our country's obsession with sports marginalises some students and favours others. Being non-white may have the same effect. This could be done individually either in class or for homework.
After reading these passages (and if necessary refreshing their memories of the contexts around them), students are to prepare a short Powerpoint lesson entitled: Binaries in Language for a Year 11 English class. There are various ways they could go about this. They could begin with a preamble (in their own words) using insights gained during the above section, or they could begin with a list of a few pertinent binaries and go on to deconstruct them, or they could begin with a quote from A Mother's Disgrace. It need not be a long lesson – just two or three slides would be sufficient to explain the gist of it. By doing this, and preparing an explanation, it will cement the concept into their own minds.
A Mother's Disgrace raises many issues with which we are grappling in today's Australian society. Recently our government has mooted changes to both adoption and gay marriage legislation.
From your own class reading of this text, what do you think Robert Dessaix's views would be on these two issues? This could be done in a variety of ways: class discussion, group discussion with provision to share or thoughts written in a class blog. Students should be able to provide textual evidence to support their views.
Students are then asked to read the transcript on the case against gay marriage in the "Sydney Morning Herald" article – Robert Dessaix on the case against gay marriage).
Coming to terms with his own homosexuality is one of the most central themes of A Mother's Disgrace. However, in this book, Dessaix also reflects on marriage as an institution: both his own with Elizabeth, and that of Tom and Jean, his adoptive parents. Why then, do you think Dessaix is (now) opposed to the idea of gay marriage? Think-pair-share and be prepared to share findings with the class.
Robert Dessaix talks openly in many interviews about the art of autobiographical writing, or memoir writing.
But why did was. It is fragmented, a curling necklace of arresting moments, far from all-encompassing, opinionated, intimate and at least dotted, if not peppered, with scandalous disclosures – illegitimacy, bathhouse adventures, and so on – the sort of thing that Frenchwomen of slender virtue disclosed in the earliest memoirs, although as a rule about bishops and other pillars of society they had encountered.
Autobiographical writing is a popular genre in every library. One of the best known is Barack Obama's Dreams From My Father (Text 2004). Obama is the most powerful man in the world. Everyone is interested in his life story. Given that the general understanding of the term autobiography is one's own history, told by oneself, why do you think Robert Dessaix chose to write his own autobiography? Class discussion.
From the results of this discussion and their own reading of the text and associated secondary resources, students are to write a paragraph outlining what they think are Dessaix's reasons for writing this autobiography/memoir.
Robert Dessaix admits he is an unreliable narrator (' . . . I realised that in all the stories I'd told about my own life . . . ' p. 21) yet he asks us to trust him.
Students are to read Creative Nonfiction by Robert Dessaix. In this revealing interview, Dessaix touches on many of the themes foreshadowed in A Mother's Disgrace, including his being adopted and therefore 'invented' and the fact that he 'tells stories' in order to create a good story.
(i) In what ways does Dessaix strive for absolute fact and why do some things have to be provable?
(ii) What is he meaning when he states, 'I just play about in the borderland. It's a funny business'?
(iii) In this interview, Robert Dessaix admits. 'Yes, I'm unreliable! That's the thing. When you read my books, I am unreliable.' Do you think other writers of autobiographies: public figures such as Barack Obama, Nelson Mandela, John Howard, Cathy Freeman – to name but a few, would claim to be unreliable? Why does Dessaix do this and how does it position his reader?
With the class, watch an ABC Q&A program with a panel of experts answering questions from the audience. Questions raised on Q&A are checked as far as possible before going to air. It might be a good idea for the teacher to do likewise. Using both these topics (adoption and gay marriage) and perhaps one more – by negotiation – set up a class version of Q&A with panelists answering questions. It might be a good idea to shoot a video of it to make it more of a real life situation. Students on the panel would need to set themselves up as experts in various appropriate fields such as social workers, ministers etc.
Robert Dessaix is booked as the keynote speaker in a public media event entitled ABC Open Workshop: Write and Share Your Own Real Life Stories at a local Writers' festival. Your job is to give a five minute introduction about the author and his writing before he begins his speech. Dessaix has made it known that he wishes to talk about his own brand of autobiographical writing based on A Mother's Disgrace. What will you choose to highlight about this particular writer and why? Prepare your speech and be prepared to give it in class.
Note to teachers: Five tasks are provided. These are ordered by degree of difficulty. They could either all be given and students asked to choose one, or teacher discretion could be used to match the cohort to the provided tasks. All the following responses (except for the feature article – and this would still need to refer to Dessaix's writing) require close referencing to the original text. Required length for each: 1,000–1,500 words.
Based on your close reading of the text, prepare a report on the suitability (or otherwise) of the autobiography, A Mother's Disgrace by Robert Dessaix, for senior school student study as applicable in your circumstances. This report is to be submitted to the Education Department responsible for selecting Senior Syllabus Literature.
'I am a disgrace, you see' (p. 120). The title of this book, A Mother's Disgrace, is ambiguous. Robert Dessaix, as a broadcaster, author, academic, essayist and translator, is obviously not a disgrace. In essay format and with close reference to the text, discuss how Robert Dessaix uses this word and the issues surrounding each type of disgrace'.
Dessaix implies that he has no need for a mother and that he sought her out '. . . mainly because I wanted depth to my story' (p. 134). Yet his autobiography is preoccupied with representations of Mother. Referring both to chapter titles and female characters, discuss the various ways in which all these mothers add depth to his story.
Working closely with the ideas you have gleaned during this unit of work and Dessaix's own reflections on the shifting nature of identity and the way we fictionalise our own lives, write a feature article entitled: Fact or Fiction: the art of autobiographical writing.
Referring to Robert Dessaix's expressed views on inequalities in society, explore how binary oppositions within language construct meaning and create inequality.
This year your school magazine is running a section entitled Youth Views. Students have been invited to submit an entry where they reflect on an issue which is important to them.
Students can develop further the reflective writing they did in the 'Initial response' section of this unit. They could model their writing on the sort of reflection that Robert Dessaix continually does in A Mother's Disgrace and they might like to bring in some of his stylistic effects such as using rich and original metaphors to illustrate a concept, or by referencing out to their audiences using the second person narrator.
Your English teacher has suggested that you enter an international writing competition, for writers under twenty, titled Short Memoir Contest.
Students look back on their own lives and write a memoir (or develop their previous ones from the 'Close study' activity) about a certain event or period in their lives. They should be encouraged to emulate Robert Dessaix in that their writing does not need to be linear or chronological, and they may bring in asides. Encourage them also to take risks with style: metaphors, narrative voice, dramatic present tense writing etc.
Students are to write an editorial for a local paper in which they choose one of the topics to which this book alludes, and write a column examining and ultimately persuading the reader to embrace their own points of view. Topics could include: Gay Marriage, Adoption Policies, the Role of Christianity in a secular society – or another topic by negotiation with their teacher.
The Age – So, this is paradise?
Obama, B. 2004. Dreams From My Father. Text Publishing, Melbourne.
Find a summary table for Australian Curriculum: Literature content descriptions and NSW Syllabus outcomes for this unit.
Visit these sites to learn more – watch interviews, read reviews and access additional teaching materials.
MEG MAIN has taught English for twenty years (Literature, literacy and English as a Second Language) at senior and tertiary levels in Australia and elsewhere. However, literature is her passion: reading it, teaching it and writing it. She completed a Master of Letters (UNE) focusing on modern and postmodern writing and theory after graduating as a teacher. Meg has a number of publications to her credit including short stories, journal articles and book reviews. She sees literature as being a powerful illuminator both of the human condition and the way humans operate within a society.


I've been lending my voice to things for almost 20 years, having started when I was a presenter on Ayrshire's West FM. I soon moved in to the station's commercial production department, where I not only made the ads, but voiced quite a few of them too.
I'm a native of Lanarkshire, in West Central Scotland, with a fairly neutral Scottish accent. I'm also happy to provide an English accent. Age range 30s/40s.
My voice has appeared on many commercials on Scottish radio and television. You might also have heard me on corporate videos, in store audio, or online.
Have a listen to the examples below for a taster.
I'm available on ISDN and can record WAV/MP3 files from my own studio.
If you think I'm the voice for your project, please don't hesitate to get in touch.


text:
"""A module to load all linux client plugins."""
from __future__ import absolute_import
from __future__ import division
from __future__ import unicode_literals

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
package org.sbolstandard.core.datatree;

import java.net.URI;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.List;

/**
 * Those documents that are associated with an identifier.
 *
 *

 *   These documents have a type and an identity.
 *

 *

 *   The type represents the data domain-specific type that this document represents.
 *   Types should be taken from a terminology, controlled vocabulary or ontology.
 *

 *

 *   Identifiers are globally unique identifiers for the document.
 *   Anything wishing to refer to the document can use the identifying URI.
 *

 *
 *

 * Identifiable documents provide named properties. The values of these properties can be literals or nested documents.
 *

 *
 * @author Matthew Pocock
 * @param <N>   the property name type
 */
public interface IdentifiableDocument<N> extends Document {
  /**
   * Get the type of this document.
   *
   * @return the document type
   */
  public N getType();

  /**
   * Get the identity of this document
   *
   * @return the document identity
   */
  public URI getIdentity();

  /**
   * Get the named properties of this document.
   *
   *

   *   Documents are annotated with any number of named properties. Many properties can be present for the same property
   *   name.
   *

   *
   *
Specific sub-classses of document will refine the property type.

   *
   *

   *   The list should not be modified.
   *

   *
   * @return a list of named properties
   */
	public List<NamedProperty<N>> getProperties();

  /**
   * Look up all property values by name.
   *
   *

   *   This returns all values for property values with a matching name.
   *

   *
   * @param propertyName  the name to look up
   * @return  a list (possibly empty) of all values for that name
   */
  List<PropertyValue<N>> getPropertyValues(N propertyName);

  // Package private, used in Datatree only.
  static abstract class Abstract<N>  implements IdentifiableDocument<N> {
    @Override
    public List<PropertyValue<N>> getPropertyValues(N propertyName) {
      List<PropertyValue<N>> values = null;
      for(NamedProperty<N> p : getProperties()) {
        if(p.getName().equals(propertyName)) {
          if(values == null) {
            values = new ArrayList<>();
          }
          values.add(p.getValue());
        }
      }

      if(values == null) {
        values = Collections.emptyList();
      }

      return values;
    }
  }

}


text:
This is part of a three post series spanning two blogs.
One post (this one) gives a general historical overview of the artificial intelligence business.
One post specifically covers the history of expert systems.
One post gives a general present-day overview of the artificial intelligence business.
One post explores the close connection between machine learning and (the rest of) AI.
0. The concept of artificial intelligence has been around almost as long as computers — or even before, if you recall that robots were imagined by the 1920s. But for a while it was mainly academic and perhaps military/natural security research. There's been a robotics industry for over 50 years. But otherwise, when I first became an analyst in 1981, AI commercialization efforts were rather new, and were concentrated in three main areas:
Expert systems.
Natural language query.
General AI underpinnings (especially LISP machines).
1. If I've ever gotten too close to a group of companies, it was probably the 1980s AI vendors. I unfortunately earned investment banking fees by encouraging people into money-losing investments in all three areas cited above, in Teknowledge, Artificial Intelligence Corporation and Symbolics respectively. I dated women who worked for Symbolics and Teknowledge. I wrote and performed a satirical song about Inference at an employee party for Intellicorp. Accordingly, when I write about individual companies in the sector, I fear that I may go on at self-indulgent length. So I'll save all that for another time, and content myself now with a brief and dry survey that does little more than establish some context.
2. The 1980s also saw military-funded research into autonomous vehicles, as well as continued efforts in robotics and machine vision. Frankly, there wasn't a lot of commercial overlap between these areas and the rest of AI at that time, and the rest of AI is what I tracked more closely.
But in one counterexample, a machine vision company named Machine Intelligence spun off a company that was building a PC DBMS with some natural language query capability. The spin-off company was Symantec. (Obviously, Symantec his pivoted multiple times since.) Machine Intelligence cofounder Earl Sacerdoti also wound up at expert system vendor Teknowledge for a while. So maybe there was more overlap in theory than there was in commercial practice.
Note: The fact that I've mentioned companies named "Artificial Intelligence" and "Machine Intelligence" should illustrate just how early in the AI industry's history I'm discussing. 🙂
3. Also in the 1980s mix was Japan's government-funded Fifth Generation Computer project. Let's ignore that fiasco and move on.
4. The next three developments of note were, in no particular order:
Expert systems and LISP both fizzled. Some of their ideas were co-opted by object-oriented programming, which was a huge success.
Text search became real.
Speech recognition became real, at least for the purpose of dictation.
Neural networks also arose in academia, which helped pave the way for today's machine learning.
5. Text mining, later called "text analytics", also eventually became a thing. I wrote about that extensively on the Text Technologies blog, so I won't recapitulate here.
And that's it for now. More later.
My chief technical contact at Symbolics was the late and much-missed Dan Weinreb. His posts on Symbolics history seem to still be available via the Internet Archive.
4 Responses to "Historical notes on artificial intelligence"
What is AI, and who has it? | DBMS 2 : DataBase Management System Services on December 1st, 2015 4:25 am
[…] One post gives a general historical overview of the artificial intelligence business. […]
Machine learning's connection to (the rest of) AI | DBMS 2 : DataBase Management System Services on December 1st, 2015 4:28 am
AI memories — expert systems | Software Memories on December 3rd, 2015 12:59 am
clive boulton on December 3rd, 2015 2:54 am
Boston Dynamics BigDog AI gullibility test:
https://youtu.be/W1czBcnX1Ww
https://youtu.be/mXI4WWhPn-U


text:
Motown the Musical calls for open auditions
by Alysa Zavala-Offman
Motown the Musical is opening at the Fisher Theatre Oct. 21, running through Nov. 16. And while the cast for this run is already set, the musical's producers will host open auditions for both the broadway production and national tour while they're in town.
Detroiters between the ages of 8 and 13 will be able to audition for the roles of young Michael Jackson, Berry Gordy, and Stevie Wonder. They're also looking for African-American men and women between their 20s and 40s with "exceptional" voices.
The auditions will be held at the famed Motown Museum, perhaps better knowns as Hitsville USA.
Open call will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 21 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 2648 W. Grand Blvd., Detroit.
Actors are asked to bring sheet music for a song of choice from the Motown songbook, a picture, and a resume that includes contact information. The photo and resume should be stapled together.
An accompanist will be provided.
Catch-All Motown the Musical Motown Museum Hitsville USA Fisher Detroit


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text:
Home Articles What Interviewers Need to Know About Memory
What Interviewers Need to Know About Memory
Have you ever told a story only to have someone tell you that you remembered it incorrectly? If so, you probably said something like, "I could have sworn that was what happened!" As I, and my children, get older, I admit that this happens to me more and more. It's harmless in most circumstances, but dangerous for witnesses who are being interviewed in an investigation of a crime.
Luckily, there are tools and techniques that will help you, the interviewer, ensure that you are getting the most accurate and detailed description of past events. In his session today, "Interviewing Witnesses: The Lifeblood of Fraud Investigations," Jonathan Davison discussed how memory plays an important role in how witnesses communicate and recall information.
Davison has more than 12 years of investigation and interview experience as a detective with the Greater Manchester Police. He later founded Forensic Interview Solutions (FIS), a collaborative team of international experts specializing in investigative interviewing and delivering training, consultancy and solutions to public and private-sector organizations worldwide.
"Memory does not work like a recording device," Davison said. "When we are interviewing people, we are looking into memory to see what they can provide us and we have got to know how best we can facilitate that information."
He encouraged attendees to be cognizant of how memory works to use it in your advantage instead of mistakenly letting it derail an interview. He explained that memory is fragile. "Are we treating someone's memory like a crime scene or are we trampling all over it?" he said. "We have to treat with care and loving attention. We are asking them to relive or go over an event that may have happened weeks ago, years ago or months ago."
Ways that fraud investigators can treat memory more like a crime scene is by understanding the stages of memory, acknowledging that we all have an inner editor and recognizing the key problems we face when dealing with memory.
First consider the stages of memory:
Stage 1: Encoding: the information a person received
Stage 2: Storage: the information a person stores in memory
Stage 3: Retrieval: the information a person retrieves at a later time
Next, think about our inner editors that we use when we recall events:
We delete or omit some information
We integrate or mix with other information
We generalize and give non-specific overviews
We construct, assume and infer
Finally, prepare for the problems you are up against:
Decay: Memory is old, there is no way around it.
Retrieval failure: Like my example above, sometimes people are just wrong in what they remember happening.
Emotional arousal/stress: In stressful situations, like an interview with law enforcement, investigators or auditors, witnesses can be distracted and agitated.
Perceptual factors: Perception is relative and subjective.
Reconstruction and suggestibility: People can be influenced by suggestions or a version of reconstruction.
Just knowing the above information helps you have one of the tools you need to elicit the most information possible: knowledge. Using this knowledge about memory, you can then use some of the techniques below to round out your interviews.
Teach a witness to talk by giving them an example of the depth of an answer that you want. He said he says, "You are probably wondering the type of depth I will need from you. Let me give you an example."
Use these prompts when asking questions: Tell me, explain to me, describe to me or show me.
Use the cognitive PEACE approach: Plan and Prepare; Engage and explain; Account, clarification and challenge; Closure; Evaluate
Use a non-judgmental approach and build rapport.
Davison brought up the word "rapport" many times throughout his presentation. He said that an interview in which rapport has been appropriately developed is natural and carries the participants along with it in a relaxed manner. "We want to listen more than we are talking," he said. "It's about building that rapport with somebody to be comfortable with you to be able to speak to you. The more you are able to build rapport with someone, the better that interview is going to be."
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One dead after speeding driver allegedly runs red light, crashes at U.S. 6, Colfax
One person is dead after a speeding driver allegedly ran a light and crashed into another car at U.S. 6 and W. Colfax Avenue, authorities said.
By: Stephanie Butzer
JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. — One person is dead after a speeding driver allegedly ran a light and crashed into another car at U.S. 6 and W. Colfax Avenue, authorities said.
It happened just before 4:53 a.m. Friday. Master Trooper Gary Cutler, public information officer with the Colorado State Patrol, said an officer with the Golden Police Department was driving eastbound on U.S. 6 when another driver flew by him going 90 to 100 miles per hour. The posted speed limit in the area is 45 miles per hour.
The officer activated his emergency lights and attempted to catch up to the vehicle. However, authorities say the Malibu ran a red light at the intersection of U.S. 6 and West Colfax Avenue and crashed into an SUV, which burst into flames.
Three passengers in the SUV were able to escape. The officer used a fire extinguisher to put out flames on two of the passengers and pull them away from the burning vehicle.
In total, five people were involved in the crash. All were taken to area hospitals with serious injuries. One person from the Chevrolet Malibu sustained fatal injuries.
The incident is under investigation by a multi-jurisdictional crash response team. Authorities say new information will be released when it becomes available.


Technical system design of Versa Wall System.
The Versa Wall System distributes water throughout the wall in a closed system so no water escapes forward or behind the wall. Water is pumped to the top and flows from tray to tray to the bottom.
The Versa Wall System offers standard wood trim across the top and down the sides with a removable base across the bottom, behind which the irrigation components are contained. Side and top trim may not be necessary in recessed framed wall conditions.
A soft curvilinear design suggests movement and flow. Some contemporary designs are more rectilinear with clean lines. A mix of a few green plants can be used for a more muted background. Elements such as wood, stone, logos, TV monitors, glass, ect. can be incorporated into a green wall. Lastly, the four inch pots allow for quick, easy and inexpensive, seasonal change.
Adequate light for healthy plant growth.
Long term plants that are proven to work well vertically for exterior environments which can handle outdoor lighting conditions while still being durable and attractive.
These are used in smaller quantities to add more interest in color and texture. They may need to be replaced sooner than the core plants which is why they are used in smaller amounts and are covered under warranty.
With an adjusted maintenance fee, colorful plants can be integrated into the design with probable change-out every 4-6 weeks depending on the plant.
Once we've established the client's design intent and assessed the plants availability, GSky's plant designer will work through a checklist of guidelines.
A few options with plant drawings are drawn up for the stakeholder to review and for feedback/revisions. A sign-off is required on the final approved plant design.


text:
Stephen A Bennett
twitter.com/stephenabennett
A self shooting observational documentary producer/director making engaging, thought-provoking films about real people, often filming over extended timeframes.
ealier
Darren McGarvey's Scotland : Episodes
My Role
Series Filmed and Directed
Written and Presented by
Darren McGarvey
Exec Producer BBC
David Harron
Exec Producer for Tern TV
Prod Co
Tern TV
Transmission Date
10pm, Tues 3rd Sept
10pm, Tues 10th Sept
10pm, Tues 1st Oct
10pm, Tues 8th Oct
Ep 1: Dundee: Drug Death Capital
In 2018 while people were transfixed by the spectacular opening of Dundee's V&A, the city was becoming infamous for a very different story: 72 people died from drugs in the previous year making Dundee the Drug Death Capital of Europe.
With his own chequered history of drug and alcohol addiction, Darren McGarvey, AKA Loki the Scottish Rapper, sets out to find out what's going on. His journey starts in a cemetery where he finds Jamie who has lost more family members than she has left. Continuing, he goes to meet Carol whose daughter attacked her whilst high on heroin; Karen who's brother was killed by a knife wielding heroin addict, and Sylvia who's been parked on methadone for over 30 years.
As Darren dives deeper into the story facing Dundee, it becomes obvious that he is still struggling with his own addictions. As the realities begin to hit home, a former addict-cum-recovery activist Sharon just might have the answer...
Ep 2 - Edinburgh: Crime
In Edinburgh Darren McGarvey, AKA Loki the Scottish Rapper, sets his steely gaze on crime and aspiration. Why do one in five children live in poverty in Scotland's financial capital? And how does it impact their future?
Starting at the end of the 'story', Loki travels to HMP Edinburgh to meet long-term prisoners. Running a rap workshop, Darren stops in mid flow as a prisoner confides that his dad is locked up in the same wing, and the best period of a father and son relationship has been inside. As for aspiration, well life got in the way.
Full of fire, Darren goes to meet Gemma and her 1-year-old son Klay shuttling around the city's temporary housing system. Not only is her house cold and damp, its causing respiratory problems for her son. As Darren wonders how to break the cycle of poverty he meets two extraordinary youth workers, James and Katie, tackling bike crime in Pilton; gives a sermon unlike any other in an Independent school, George Watson's College, before ending up in a Mandarin class in one of the city's most deprived areas...
Ep 3 - West Dunbartonshire: Worst Place to be a Woman
Statistically just being born a woman means you are more likely to experience poverty. For Darren McGarvey, AKA Loki the Scottish Rapper, that notion is beyond horrific, it's criminal. Starting at a Reclaim the Night rally in West Dunbartonshire, itself described as the worst place to be a woman in Scotland, Darren sets out to understand what's actually going on. Meeting Astyn, a vocal survivor of domestic abuse, and later Kirsty, a Family Counsellor, Darren is propelled into a world of women who are making real change. In Dumbarton Academy, Brenda, a local entrepreneur is doing what she can to put an end to period poverty, something 1 in 5 female pupils face; whilst Kinship Carer Micheleine shows Darren the importance of family bonds. Lastly he meets Pamela, whose daughter Paige Doherty was brutally murdered. As Pamela talks about violence by men against women, she shows Darren how she has channelled her unimaginable grief by setting up a charity to give free self-defence classes to children.
As his journey into gender inequality comes to an end Darren is full of awe and admiration for the women he has met along the way. It is they who are building solutions to this massive disparity. And its time society recognises them.
Ep 4 - Glasgow: Dying Young
In Glasgow Darren McGarvey, AKA Loki the Scottish Rapper, is on home ground, exploring an issue dear to him – why do men in Glasgow's Possilpark die on average 13 years younger than anywhere else in the UK? They call it the Glasgow Effect, which conveniently masks just how ugly the realities are.
To help him understand there is no better expert than GP Lyndsay Crawford who has been working at the sharp end for most of her career. She takes him to meet local patient, and former soldier, Andy, who reveals that after four heart attacks he no longer worries about them. As Darren discovers explores how the decline of industry and the explosion of drugs in the 1980s has blighted this community he meets James, a former rail worker now local heroin dealer who reveals another side to the drug world: need. Later he meets Nick who has alcohol related brain damage as a result of his drinking who hopes to turn his life around.
But there is another side to the area and that is community spirit. Proud local boy, Brian takes Darren on a tour of his part of the city; the place he calls home. But as he nears the end of his journey Darren wonders what, if anything, might solve Possil's staggering low life expectancy? In the local community centre, badly in need of a facelift, he meets a group of extraordinary Dancing Grannies that might just have the answer: line dancing…
Ep 5 - Scottish Borders: Rural Poverty & Mental Health
In the beautiful Scottish Borders, Darren McGarvey, AKA Loki the Scottish Rapper, is exploring an issue very close to home: ill mental health. Why do people in such idyllic surroundings suffer from higher incidences of anxiety, depression, psychosis and so on? And is there a link between poverty and mental health?
As Darren candidly recounts his own struggles with suicidal thoughts, addictions and ill mental health, he goes to meet Glen, a self-confessed fashionista and long-distance lorry driver. After breaking up with his partner his life began spiralling out of control. Before long he had lost his job and began living in his car, only to attempt suicide. As Glen recounts his tale the effect on Darren is palpable. His story clearly shows a worrying connection between poverty and mental health.
Next Darren travels to Eyemouth to meet Dani, who began working with 14 to 16 year olds struggling with issues such as self-harm, depression, anxiety and addictions. Using horses as therapy, Dani provides a safe space, helping many who are in danger of being lost within the system. Later Darren meets Steven a local artist whose Tourette's and ill mental health is becoming increasingly strained as he awaits a re-assessment of a key benefit; and Scott and Grant who have set up a scheme giving experience and skills to people like 22 year old Johnny who struggles with confidence after growing up in Care.
Ep 6 - Aberdeen: Poverty at Home
In the last episode Darren McGarvey, AKA Loki the Scottish Rapper, is in the oil capital of Europe, Aberdeen, exploring homelessness, food poverty and faith. Setting the pace, Darren reveals the city of two halves: it's the most expensive place to live in Scotland and yet has the fastest rising rates of unemployment anywhere in the UK.
Darren's first stop is meeting John, an alcoholic and drug addict who became homeless two years ago after a break-up with his partner. As he takes Darren under his wing, John reveals some secrets of the streets, along with the pain of knowing his family are in the same city. Next, Darren helps Eddie, a local charity worker with Somebody Cares, who kits out over 4000 homes a year, providing thousands of pounds of free sofas, beds, white goods and clothes to those in need. Answering a crisis call they go to help a 70-year-old pensioner, Michael, who lost all his possessions after he was evicted from his council home. Outside an impassioned and visibly angered Darren wonders just what is wrong with society that it evicts a pensioner in the middle of the winter.
Yet Aberdeen continues to be a magnet for outsiders, flocking to a city paved with gold. Darren meets Polish born Daniel who was a lorry driver during the boom years, but later became disabled. Unable to claim key disability benefits due to his nationality, Daniel divulges how faith helps him in his darkest moments. Keeping with this theme, Darren reveals Aberdeen now has more food banks than any other city, to the extent that they have become places for people like Danny to carry out their Community Payback orders. And yet the need is reaching epidemic proportions. Darren meets two volunteers, Michelle and Justin of Street Friends who, four nights a week, head into the city centre to feed those who live on the streets.
Energised and inspired by his alternative tour of Scotland, and all he has met along the way, Darren asks us, the audience, to change our mindset. It's a tragedy that one in five people live in poverty. But how do we change things? Standing on windy Aberdonian beach, Darren asks if its time to criminalise poverty…
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How holy was the Red Heifer?
From the teachings of Rabbi Bachya ben Asher
"Bring a completely red young cow upon which no yoke was laid. And you shall give it to Elazar the kohen, and he shall take it outside the camp and slaughter it in his presence." (Num. 19:2-3)
The Red Cow is an allusion to the Oral Torah, the attribute of Justice in its most severe form. This attribute is the source of ritual impurity. The reason why this chore was given to Elazar to perform was in order that he should address the attribute of Justice in its most concentrated form. Such thoughts should not be held against him [seeing it stated repeatedly that all offerings are addressed to Havayah, the attribute of Mercy], as it was slaughtered outside holy precincts and was not considered as a sacrificial offering.
The reason that this Red Cow was slaughtered outside the holy precincts of the Temple was in order for it to be able to chase away, or diffuse, the spirit of impurity. This is why the remains of the cow [its ashes] together with the water from an original source, "living waters", would effect purification by means of the vessel within which it was contained (verse 17). Purity is derived from an influence exerted by the attribute of Mercy, an emanation higher than that of gevura, i.e. the attribute of Justice, that responsible for every kind of impurity.
You will need to appreciate that some Kabbalists are in doubt whether the fact that the procedure involving the Red Cow was carried out completely outside the confines of the Temple meant that it represented a higher degree of sanctity than that which pervaded the Sanctuary. In other words, everything connected with the Red Cow would have represented "Holy of Holies", whereas only a small portion of the Sanctuary itself was designated as "Holy of Holies". If so, the level of sanctity represented by the Red Cow, as well as by its remains, would have been superior to that of the sacrificial animals offered on the Altar inside the precincts of the Temple, so that there was really no comparison between the Red Cow and its counterparts inside the Holy Temple.
On the other hand, some Kabbalists think that the reason the procedure of the Red Cow was conducted outside holy precincts points to the fact that its sanctity was below that of even the lowest level of sanctity inside the holy precincts and that this is the reason that no part of it was processed inside those confines. These people then raised the following question: assuming that the Red Cow was of such a high level of sanctity as the levels of sanctity in the Temple, how could it possibly confer impurity on its [uncontaminated] handlers? On the other hand, if it was of such inferior sanctity that it had to be slaughtered and its remains kept outside sacred ground, how was it capable of conferring purity on the previously impure?
The fire of the Shechinah displaces or relegates terrestrial fires….
Some Kabbalists answered these questions by saying that indeed the entire Red Cow was "Holy of Holies" and that the reason it conferred impurity on its handlers was that any pure person on earth will automatically become impure through contact with extraterrestrial purity i.e. celestial purity [or sanctity]. This concept is reflected in the Torah phrase "anyone touching the Altar will become holy" (Ex. 29:37) i.e. will be burnt [as had happened to the two sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu]. Total terrestrial sanctity is relegated when it confronts celestial sanctity. What applies to relative sanctity, i.e. terrestrial sanctity versus celestial sanctity, also applies to terrestrial purity as opposed to celestial purity. This may be the meaning of the Talmudic concept that "one category of fire displaces, relegates, another category of fire" (Yoma 21) - that the "fire" of the Shechinah displaces or relegates terrestrial fires.
The Talmud there describes the penalty incurred by the angels who had opposed the creation of Adam by saying that he did not deserve G‑d's consideration. G‑d is reported as having stretched out His finger at these angels and burning them. If differences in the quality of fire exist among the angels in the celestial regions, it is easy to understand why terrestrial fire should be inferior to even the lowest of the celestial fires….
According to some Kabbalists the Red Cow was entirely in the category of "Holy of Holies". Personally, I feel that in some respects it was holy whereas in other respects it was totally secular in status. Seeing that the Red Cow transmits a spirit of ritual impurity, it contains a purely secular element. Seeing, however, that the Torah refers to it as "chatat", i.e. acting as a means to expiate, it must also contain an element of holiness. Because of the fact that it is composed of two opposite elements, the Torah applied stricter rules to it than apply to the animals which serve as sacrificial offerings on the Altar, seeing no one is in doubt about their status.
The bodies of people whose death is due to a 'kiss' of G‑d do not become ritually impure….
The reason that the Torah writes here about the rules of purification for people contaminated by impurity conferred by contact with the dead is that the ash of the Red Cow is so crucial in the purification process of such people. The root cause of living creatures contracting spiritual impurity dates back to the original cause of death, the serpent in the Garden of Eden.… Nachmanides writes that the bodies of people whose death is due to a "kiss" of G‑d do not become ritually impure. The prophet Zechariah in that verse describes the elimination of death, the Angel of Death, etc., in the future; he employs the simile of the "great mountain which will be flattened at that time", describing the overcoming of the greatest obstacle in our lives on this earth prior to the coming of the Mashiach. This is what Maimonides had in mind when he stipulates that the Red Cow which will be burned by the Mashiach will be the tenth and final one, as with the absence of death there will be no need for further such means of purification.
[Selected with permission from the seven-volume English edition of "The Torah Commentary of Rebbeinu Bachya" by Eliyahu Munk.]
Rabbi Bachya ben Asher, also known as Rebbeinu Bachya [1255-1340] of Saragosa, Spain, was the outstanding pupil of Rabbi Shlomo ben Aderet (the "Rashba"), a main disciple of Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman (the "Ramban"). Several books have been written about the Kabbala-based portions of R. Bachya's commentary.
Eliyahu Munk, the translator, was born in Frankfurt, and emigrated to England as a young man, later moving to Toronto. After retiring from education and moving to Israel in 1978, he began an extraordinary second career as a translator, publishing English versions of the Torah commentaries of Rabbeinu Bechayei, Akeidat Yitzchak, Shelah, Alshich and Ohr Hachaim.
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Q: Add device objects to the Azure group in Powershell foreach I am trying to run a simple Powershell command let, which is listing all devices matching name criteria and in the next step is moving these devices to a select Azure group.
I tried with:
$result = Get-AzureADDevice -All $True -SearchString "LAP-BK" | ForEach-Object -Process {Add-AzureADGroupMember -ObjectId "25f94620-d850-4ec6-9476-050429d44926" -RefObjectId "$result.ObjectId"}

but that throwing errors. I also tried with
$result = Get-AzureADDevice -All $True -SearchString "LAP-BK" |Select-Object ObjectId
forEach ($item in $result)
{

Add-AzureADGroupMember -ObjectId "25f94620-d850-4ec6-9476-050429d44926" -RefObjectId "$item"
}
exit

The error are various, the last one I get was:
Error occurred while executing AddGroupMember Code: Request_BadRequest Message: Invalid object identifier ' @{ObjectId=debb95af-9h1f-49d6-ad84-8438f9c99b10}'. RequestId: 6df36830-7708-4f6b-b836-cd065f5f60b1

A: I tried to figure out the error from my end by running your script line by line, and I was able to find exactly where it was occurring:
Referring to Jamesyumnam article, I was able to successfully create and run the below script.
$groupName = "<groupName>"
Connect-AzureAD
$groupObject = Get-AzureADGroup -SearchString $groupName
$outcome = Get-AzureADDevice -SearchString "xxxxxx" | select-object objectID
try{
foreach ($item in $outcome)
{
 $deviceObj = Get-AzureADDevice -SearchString $item.DeviceName
 Add-AzureADGroupMember -ObjectId $groupObject.ObjectId -RefObjectId $item.ObjectId
 }
 }
 catch {
   Write-Host "Device not existed"
}

Executed in Azure PowerShell:

Member added in Azure Portal:

Note: It will be more helpful if you include try{} catch{} blocks in your code to find these kinds of blockers.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


FRASER FORSTER insists he has no regrets about leaving the Champions League to join Southampton.
The £10m goalkeeper has signed a four-year deal with the Saints after quitting Celtic.
The Scottish giants were given a Euro reprieve last week despite being beaten by Legia Warsaw in the third qualifying round, but that was not enough to keep England international Forster north of the border.
"I have accepted a new opportunity away from Celtic," said the 26-year-old, who spent four years in Glasgow winning three league titles and two Scottish Cups.
"I know the club wanted me to stay and I know they did everything they possibly can to keep me.
"It has been a brilliant experience, but I felt now was the right time for a new challenge in the English Premier League."
Southampton boss Ronald Koeman, who has lost five first team players already this summer, believes Forster can be a key component to his Saints revolution.
Koeman said: "Fraser is a very talented player. He is the perfect fit to help complement the players we already have and he will add a lot of quality to the squad.
"This is another important part of our rebuilding process ahead of the start of the season and I am confident we will be able to help him improve even further."