text:
CULTURES & CIVILISATIONSECONOMICSGOVERNANCE & DIPLOMACY
Technological innovation: The challenges for labour
Klemens Witte
The A3K3 creates artwork through machine technology. (Credit: Ars Electronica, 'A3K3 / Dragan Ilic (RS/AU/US)'/Flickr licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) (via: bit.ly)
Amazon's postal delivery drones. Google's self-driving cars. Artificial intelligence. Today, the rapid advancement of computer technology, aka the 4th Industrial Revolution, is creating new opportunities and challenges for society.
Researchers are divided on the effects of such changes on the labour market. Some contend that disruption to the economy is to be expected. Others are convinced that today's transformations will not differ substantially from previous technological revolutions.
For the sake of preparedness, potential scenarios should be analysed in order to develop appropriate tools and measures to shape inclusive economic policies.
This article examines the possible impact that automation could have on the labour market and which measures could be taken to ensure sustainable social development. It critically accesses the existing literature on the subject, pointing out that more optimistic hopes for the job market's ability to deal with innovation obscure two crucially-related factors: the skill-biased nature of recent innovation and its connection to deepening inequality.
1. Skill-biased change and its consequences
The industrial revolution of the 19th Century was not based on skill-biased technological change. Assembly lines enabled tasks previously restricted to highly skilled artisans to be executed by low-skilled workers using new production processes.
In contrast, the technological changes of the late 20th Century are fundamentally different. Among other innovations, the effects of artificial intelligence have increased the productivity of highly skilled labour. Essentially, this means that in contrast to the changes of the 19th Century, current advances in technology privilege workers with higher skills over and against the mainly low-skilled employees at risk of replacement by machines and algorithms. Researchers, therefore, define this as skill-biased technological change (Katz and Autor, 1999, pp. 1532-1533).
The technological progress of the 20th Century is widely expected to substantially alter easily programmable routine-tasks. Autor, Levy, and Murnane have put it this way: "Computer technology substitutes for workers in performing routine tasks that can be readily described with programmed rules, while complementing workers in executing non-routine tasks demanding flexibility, creativity, generalized problem-solving capabilities, and complex communications" (2003, p. 1322).
At the same time, new jobs will be created and certain tasks within jobs will be complemented by intelligent machines enabling employees to focus on other tasks. However, critical human capabilities like empathy and creativity are not – at least for the foreseeable future – easily 'learned' by artificial intelligence or replaced by automated technology.
In accordance with the theory of skill-biased technological change, many researchers are convinced that automation predominantly threatens low-skilled workers, who are at risk of being substituted for intelligent machines (Graetz and Michaelis, 2015; Bonin, Gregory, and Zierhahn, 2015, p. 21; Arntz, Gregory, and Zierahn, 2016, p. 25).
Somewhat in contrast, other researchers claim 'middle-skill' jobs characterised by routine analytical and manual tasks which are more easily automated could be 'hollowed out'. This would reshape the workforce by way of a so-called job polarisation between non-repetitive low-skill and highly skilled occupations (Goos and Manning, 2007, p. 118-119; Rob, 2015, p. 1). The job polarisation trend has been seen in the US, the UK, and a number of European countries (Goos, Manning, and Salomons, 2009, pp. 61-62).[1]
An additional line of argument sees low-skilled labour shifting from routine-tasks to non-routine – and thus not easy to automate – tasks in the low-paid service sector which rely heavily on dexterity, flexible interpersonal communication, and direct physical interaction (Autor and Dorn, 2013, p. 1590).
Whether or not skill-biased analysis – and/or an anticipated polarisation of jobs – can describe the future of employment with pinpoint accuracy, underestimating the implications for inequality would be a fundamental error. Job polarisation already characterises the global labour market and it is highly probably 'middle-skill' workers will increasingly shift to low-skill employment, leading to increasing pressure on low-skill wages. As the differences in education and skills undergird the difficulty of moving up the skills and value chain, further rises in inequality may really be inevitable.
Failure to understand the skill-biased nature of contemporary technological change leads to an under-appreciation of its accentuation of social inequality. This can be demonstrated by reviewing two broad schools of thought on automation and the future of employment.
2. Automation and the labour market: Two scenarios
2.1 Scenario one: Automation will create high levels of unemployment
Whereas a relatively broad consensus exists on the concept of skill-biased technological change, there are no such shared expectations as to the total numbers of jobs to be created or lost due to automation.
At one end of the spectrum are fears that the technological changes induced by computer technology will reshape the labour market in a disruptive way, increasingly eliminating human labour from entire sectors and pushing droves of workers – in the long term even including white-collar employees – out of work, never to return to full-time positions (Ford, 2016, p. 60; Brynjolfsson and McAfee, 2016, p. 101).
Acemogul and Restrepo's economic model explores the impact of industrial robot usage on the US economy between 1993 and 2007 (2017). They find the introduction of robots shrinks the workforce by a ratio of one new robot to seven employees. An additional effect on wages is also discernible, whereby one new robot for every thousand workers leads to a decline in wages of between 1.2% and 1.6%.
According to Frey and Osborne of Oxford University's Martin School, robotisation is facilitating a new dimension of labour substitution. Until recently, it was routine tasks involving rule-based activities which were primarily subject to computerisation. But due to new accomplishments in the application of algorithms derived from big data, even occupations involving non-routine cognitive tasks are now increasingly likely to be fulfilled by intelligent machines (2017, p. 44).[2]
Interviews granted by automation experts to Frey and Osborne predict 47% of all jobs in the US to be at risk of being taken over by intelligent machines in the next 10-20 years. When similarly designed research was applied in Europe, respective expectations were 53% for Sweden and 42% for Germany (Fölster, 2014).
A fundamental qualification to such projections is that although it may be technically possible to automate certain tasks, the implementation of automation depends to a large extent on individual company decisions and government legislation.
2.2 Scenario two: Automation will reshape jobs, but its impact on the labour market will be limited
A recent OECD report disagrees with Frey and Osborne's conclusions. It is not professional occupations as such which are at risk of automation, but rather certain tasks within them. Across OECD countries only 9% of all jobs could be lost to automated processes (Arntz, Gregory, and Zierahn, 2016, p. 25). This applies to a larger proportion of jobs in some countries. For example, 12% of German and Austrian jobs are likely to be affected, but only 6% of Estonian and South Korean jobs (Ibid, p. 15).
The OECD analysis is based on expert interviews and assessments regarding the potential for automation of different tasks, but not occupations. The study claims experts tend to overestimate the potential of new technologies, especially when it comes to skills like flexibility, power, judgement, and common sense.
Furthermore, the likelihood of automation having so-called complementary benefits like rising earnings and higher demand for labour is argued to be underestimated (Autor, 2015, p.5). The entire workforce cannot be exchanged for machines, but it is rather that a majority of workers will increasingly carry out tasks complemented by machines (e.g., monitoring processes). Thus, automation will change workplaces but they will not become fully automated (Arntz, Gregory, and Zierahn, 2016, p. 23).
In distinct contrast to fears of severe job losses, many are convinced of the positive effects of automation on the labour market. Increasing productivity is claimed to lead inevitably to rising wealth, which in turn is reallocated, creating additional demand for workers via rising aggregate demand (Miller and Atkinson, 2013, p. 10).
Savings from productivity gains are returned to the economy, according to Miller and Atkinson. Typically, this manifests in a lowering of prices, higher wages for workers, or higher profits for shareholders. In either case, so-called second-order effects apply, meaning higher demand and ultimately greater purchasing power is created (Ibid, p. 11). In addition, firms which implement new technology experience growth, spurring their demand for highly skilled labour.
For pioneer countries leading globally in new technological developments, the potential for exporting products and services to other economies can also stimulate new employment.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) claims 15.6 million new jobs will be created between 2012 and 2022, an annual growth of approximately 0.6%. About one-third of these jobs will be in the healthcare and social assistance sectors (West, 2015, p. 8). According to the BLS projections – in contrast to skill-biased fears, which would suggest a proportional decrease in low-skilled employment opportunities – approximately 200,000 new jobs for low-wage retail workers will be created between 2016 and 2026 (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2017).
Optimism in Germany regarding the market impact of automation is found in the use of the Q-INFORGE model by the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB, 2016), whose projections for the year 2025 estimate 430,000 new employment created and 490,000 jobs lost, leaving a deficit of 60,000 jobs (Wolter, 2015, p. 5). This is seen as a status quo situation with no significant implications. Within Germany, the fear is rather of a massive shift in employment from one sector to another.
Several case studies have examined the effects robot labour. Michaels and Graetz look at the effects of robot labour from 1993 to 2007 using data from 17 countries (2015). Intriguingly, their results are in stark contrast to Acemogul and Restrepo's more alarming predictions. Michaels and Graetz argue automation leads to increases in both factor productivity and wages and reduces output prices across all of the 17 countries studied. However, the authors do maintain that "low-skilled workers seem to be crowded out" by new technologies, although the study, unfortunately, does not quantify the number of low-skilled workers likely to be affected.
This article agrees with analysts who argue these projections are over-optimistic because they fail to understand the impact of technological innovation, thus underestimating its impact on the workforce (Ford, 2016, p 17). In an economic system where profit-making is the main driving force of change, companies are likely to apply technology in a way that drives down costs, especially labour costs. This has major implications for inequality.
Those who doubt the disruption technological change will cause do not fully appreciate digital technology's zero marginal costs and the-winner-takes-all nature of the digital economy, which tend inherently toward the creation of monopolies, high barriers to market entry for SMEs and huge volumes of high-value user data being accessible to a very small group of leading firms, all of which promote asymmetric wealth distribution.
Optimism regarding automation is typified by Autor's argument that "automation makes some steps in a work process more reliable, cheaper, or faster; this increases the value of the remaining human links in the production chain" (2015, p. 7). The potential for enhancing the fulfilling and rewarding nature of work by freeing the workforce from repetitive tasks is often cited as a general plus for humanity, but of course without admitting that this benefit will not be equally shared.
The inability to see that the benefits of technological change are not equally shared is paralleled by an underestimation of new technology's impact, preventing the more optimistic assessments of automation's future from adequately highlighting its relationship to inequality.
3. Technological change and occupational groups
It is crucial to understand that society's embrace of technological innovation will have a varied impact on employment opportunities across occupational groups and educational attainment levels.
The failure to understand this has polarised debate in a manner reflective of broader ideological divisions between those advocating the burdens of economic insecurity – such as education and retraining – rest on the individual and those who view risk-sharing as a responsibility for society as a whole.
Where consensus does exist, it highlights probable shifts in employment both from sector to sector and within sectors. Disagreement persists as to whether it is largely low-skill jobs which will be automated, or whether middle-skill jobs too are at risk. Ease of automation is determined by the frequency of repetitive tasks within a job, but attempts to quantify this across middle-skills professions have not produced consensus in the research community.
Where the focus is on low-skilled jobs, it is mainly people whose formal education ended at primary or lower-secondary levels, working in retail, for example, who are at risk of being replaced by intelligent machines (Arntz, Gregory, and Zierahn, 2016, p. 25). Low-skilled labour will shift from routine tasks to non-routine tasks which are not as easy to automate (Autor and Dorn, 2013).
Within relatively well-paid middle-skill occupations, employees carrying out routine tasks like accountants and clerks are at risk (Ibid). In the long-term, advances in machine learning could even affect non-routine cognitive tasks within highly skilled professions. For automation to make an impact here, advances will need to occur in data mining, machine vision, computational statistics, and other sub-fields of artificial intelligence which turn formerly un-coded tasks into well-defined rule-based tasks.
3.1 Jobs of the future
Of central importance for policymakers is to determine the kinds of jobs and skills needed in the digital age.
Jobs resistant to computerisation involve "extensive non-routine, abstract tasks that require judgment, problem-solving, intuition, persuasion and creativity (…) or non-routine, manual tasks that demand a high degree of situational flexibility and human interaction" (Chang and Huynh, 2016, p. 6).
IT and the natural sciences are seen as faring well (Wolter, 2015, p. 37). Within IT, security analysts, data scientists, and cloud architects are likely to be especially in demand (Frey and Osborne, 2017, p. 37). Meanwhile, whilst robots replace other jobs, they will generate new jobs for engineers and technicians.
Fields like education, training, health, and social work also have good prospects because they require social competence, problem-solving, empathy, and creativity (Deloitte, 2017, p. 30).
More specifically, the caregiving sector will be a major employer because the level of necessary social skills is difficult to replicate with machine technology. For similar reasons, professions like medical technicians, physical therapists, workplace ergonomics experts, veterinarians, medical secretaries, and medical assistants should experience growth (Moran, 2016).
It will take a long time for robots to learn soft skills like social and emotional intelligence and cross-cultural competency (Rainie and Anderson, 2017). Although some professions are thus more or less 'safe', debate is ongoing as to whether job markets for retail, marketing, and customer services will be protected for the same reasons or contract by virtue of it being easier to automate.
Although it would be reasonable to count on the soft skills of some professions guarding them against the threat of automation, artificial intelligence is developing at a fast pace and unanticipated scientific breakthroughs may become more of a norm than an exception. Self-driving cars were long-regarded as impossible, for example. Even professions relying on soft skills could well be a dying breed in future.
3.2 Jobs of the past
Broader agreement exists on which occupations are at greatest risk of automation: jobs based on routine, predictable physical activities which follow explicit and codifiable procedures (Chang and Huynh, 2016, p. 6).
In Germany, manufacturing jobs which work with machines and controlling equipment, alongside maintenance roles, are the most likely face job losses (Wolter, 2015).
In the UK, risks are highest in transportation and storage (56%), manufacturing (46%) and wholesale and retail (44%), in contrast to sectors like health and social work (17%) (PwC, 2017, p. 1).
A recent study of the US labour market suggests risks are highest accommodation and food services, manufacturing, and agriculture (Manyika et al, 2017, p. 12).
Other occupations likely to die out are assembly line workers, taxi drivers, file clerks, and routine service jobs like supermarket checkout operators (Westlake, 2014, p. 28). Increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence within IT is also likely to render data collection and processing tasks redundant (Manyika et al, 2017, p. 12). In the not-too-distant future, digital technology propelled by artificial intelligence could make inroads into highly skilled tasks previously seen as 'untouchable'.
Political and social response: Obligation or choice?
In discussion of the changes digitalisation, automation, robotisation, and artificial intelligence will bring about, comments like "robots will take away our jobs" and "robots will give us time to do the things we like" are often heard. But it is fundamental to understand that technological change is not something simply imposed on society, but rather something determined by informed choices made by society's decision-makers.
It is crucial for governments to be proactive and anticipate forthcoming changes. It is simply not sufficient to "drive by sight" as a prominent German politician put it recently.[3] Viable policy options should be at hand for every scenario. Decision-makers should not fall prey to the belief that markets will adjust to technological changes and resolve problems on our behalf.
Institutional contexts made up of social policies, educational systems, and labour laws can have mitigating or aggravating effects on the impact of technological advance in different national settings. Institutions can determine whether technology is developed and deployed in ways which either replace or complement humans (Kenney and Zysman, 2015).
The widespread failure to appreciate the mediating effect of institutional agency is mirrored by an insufficient connection made to wider issues of inequality in the majority of both popular and scholarly debate on automation.
4.1. Education and inequality
Most research reports propose education and lifelong learning as the best responses to the challenges posed by automation. If every job candidate had sufficient IT skills, a proper education, and key soft skills like creativity, problem-solving, and certain social competences, they would be well/equipped for the digital age.
What such ideas overlook is the fact ever-advancing technological innovations are likely to develop more quickly than human education systems. Newly acquired training and knowledge could become as obsolete as the outdated employment skills they are supposed to replace. Moreover, advanced age, physical constraints, and low-levels of analytical and cognitive skills can all strip away the assumption that education and retraining are easy policy responses to automation. Some workers are – for different reasons – simply unable to gain new skills and qualifications.
Mainstream politicians often like to talk about the economic growth potential of technological progress. In contrast, few politicians raise the unpleasant topic of wealth distribution. The link between inequality and educational opportunities is often under-appreciated.
In many countries, wealth concentration and inequality are at a historical peak.[4] Some economists have also argued that income derived from labour has been decoupled from productivity growth in recent decades (Schwellnus, 2017, p. 1), further supporting the argument that technological change does not filter through to citizen welfare.
At a time when social mobility has decreased across the rich world, palliative educational measures are insufficient (Vignoles, 2017). Wealth concentration enhances the digital divide, based on differing levels of competence, accessibility, and financial resources. Realistic policy responses to automation must take wealth concentration and inequality into account.
Of the two scenarios outlined above, the probability of widespread unemployment is obviously the greater challenge. Clearly, policies countering widespread unemployment and wealth concentration should be necessarily coordinated with attempts to prepare for automation.
Where broader attempts to combat inequality[5] crossover with efforts to deal fairly with technological change is in proposals that platform providers like Airbnb, UBER, and TaskRabbit be taxed in a similar way to established market players providing similar services. The enforcement of a minimum wage and the prevention of monopolies are other standard regulatory principles whose application to global tech firms would represent an effective palliative measure at the juncture of automation and inequality.
Continuous and high-quality training is necessary as part of the toolset[6] enabling a fairer distribution of new technology's productivity gains. If the financial burden of retraining is born by companies and governments, this may go some way to building both a productive and fair society.
Technological innovation itself is neither good nor bad for employment and inequality. The way institutions incorporate and apply new technology is what determines its effect on workers. Not only should policy-makers, therefore, continue to promote technological innovation that increases social well-being, but legislation should prevent technology – whether in the form of artificial intelligence or simply in the free-reign of leading tech firms – taking on a life of its own, beyond the constraints of institutional regulation.
The changes ahead are likely to be more disruptive than not. Although the persistent inequality characterising the world economy provokes pessimistic expectations of politicians' willingness to ensure a socially just embrace of technological progress, this should nevertheless be the subject of progressive campaigning for the sake of a more sustainable world.
DOC Research Associate
50 Years of Moore's Law. (2016, January 1).
Acemoglu, D., and Restrepo, P. (2017). Robots and Jobs: Evidence from US Labor Markets. doi:10.3386/w23285
Arntz, M., Gregory, T., and Zierahn, U. (2016). The Risk of Automation for Jobs in OECD Countries. OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers. doi:10.1787/5jlz9h56dvq7-en
Autor, D. H. (2015). Why Are There Still So Many Jobs? The History and Future of Workplace Automation. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 29(3), 3-30. doi:10.1257/jep.29.3.3
Autor, D. H., and Dorn, D. (2013). The Growth of Low-Skill Service Jobs and the Polarization of the US Labor Market. American Economic Review, 103(5), 1553-1597. doi:10.1257/aer.103.5.1553
Autor, D. H., Levy, F., and Murnane, R. J. (2003). The Skill Content of Recent Technological Change: An Empirical Exploration. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 118(4), 1279-1333. doi:10.1162/003355303322552801
Bonin, H., Gregory, T., and Zierhahn, U. (2015, April 14). ZEW-Publikation: Übertragung der Studie von Frey/Osborne (2013) auf Deutschland.
Brynjolfsson, E., and McAfee, A. (2016). The second machine age: Work, progress, and prosperity in a time of brilliant technologies. NYC, NY: W.W. Norton and Company Ltd.
Chang, J., and Huynh, P. (2016). Asian in Transformation: The future of jobs at risk of automation (Working Paper No 9).
Deloitte. (2017, September 27). What key competencies are needed in the digital age?
Ford, M. (2015, June 10). China's Troubling Robot Revolution. New Yorck Times [NYC].
Ford, M. (2016). Rise of the robots: Technology and the threat of a jobless future. NYC, NY: Basic Books.
Frey, C. B., and Osborne, M. A. (2017). The future of employment: How susceptible are jobs to computerisation? Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 114, 254-280. doi:10.1016/j.techfore.2016.08.019
Frey, C., and Osborne, M. (2016). Technology at Work v2.0: The Future Is Not What It Used to Be. Retrieved from Oxford Martin Programme on Technology and Employment.
Fölster, S. (2014, June 15). Vartannat jobb automatiseras – Stiftelsen för strategisk forskning.
Goos, M., and Manning, A. (2007). Lousy and Lovely Jobs: The Rising Polarization of Work in Britain. Review of Economics and Statistics, 89(1), 118-133. doi:10.1162/rest.89.1.118
Goos, M., Manning, A., and Salomons, A. (2009). Job Polarization in Europe. American Economic Review, 99(2), 58-63. doi:10.1257/aer.99.2.58
Graetz, G., and Michaelis, G. (2015, March). EconPapers: Robots at Work.
Greenham, T. (2014, December 18). Inequality and financialisation [Web log post].
Katz, L. F., & Autor, D. H. (1999). Changes in the Wage Structure and Earnings Inequality. Handbook of Labor Economics, 1463-1555. doi:10.1016/s1573-4463(99)03007-2
Kenney, M., and Zysman, J. (2015, June). Choosing a Future in the Platform Economy. The Implications and Consequences of Digital Platforms. Paper presented at Kauffman Foundation New Entrepreneurial Growth Conference, Amelia Island Florid.
Manyika, J. (James), Chui, Michael, Miremadi, Mehdi, Bughin, Jacques, George, Katy, Wilmott, Paul, Dewhurst, Martin, (2017). A future that works: Automation, employment, and productivity. Mc Kinsey Global Institute.
Miller, B., and Atkinson, R. (2013, September 9). Are Robots Taking Our Jobs, or Making Them?
Moran, G. (2016, March 31). These Will Be The Top Jobs In 2025 (And The Skills You?ll Need To Get Them) [Web log post].
PwC UK. (2017). Will robots steal our jobs? The potential impact of automation on the UK and other major economies (UK Economic Outlook March 2017).
Rainie, L., and Anderson, J. (2017, May 3). The Future of Jobs and Jobs Training.
The Sadness and Beauty of Watching Google's AI Play Go. (2016, November 3).
Schwellnus, C. (2017). Decoupling of wages from productivity: Macro-level facts (No. 1373).
Simonite, T. (2016, May 13). The foundation of the computing industry?s innovation is faltering. What can replace it?
Technology at Work v2.0: The Future Is Not What It Used to Be | Publications. (n.d.).
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2017, October 24). Retail Sales Workers: Occupational Outlook Handbook: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2013, December). Retail Sales Workers: Occupational Outlook Handbook: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
UNCTAD. (2015). Robots and industrialization in developing countries (50).
United States. Executive Office of the President, issuing body. (2016). Artificial intelligence, automation, and the economy.
Vignoles, A. (2017, May). The only way is up? Social mobility and equal opportunities. Poster session presented at Eurofound and OECD, Paris.
West, D. (2015, October 26). What happens if robots take the jobs? The impact of emerging technologies on employment and public policy.
Westlake, S. (2014). Our work here is done: Visions of a robot economy. London: National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts.
Wolter, M. (2015). Publikationendetails Forschungsbericht | IAB (16/2015).
[1] In parallel with the polarisation of the job market, a so-called jobless recovery is occurring in the US. Recession stripped away middle-skill routine occupations and they have barely returned during the economic recovery.
[3] Volker Kauder, chairman of the CDU/CSU party, in his introductory speech for the conference: Germany 4.0 – Exploiting the potential of digitalization, 28th of June 2017 in Berlin.
[4] A confluence of several factors shapes inequality: corruption, tax legislation, trade union strength, job losses due to globalisation, increased financialisation and deregulation (Greenham, 2014) and the winner-takes-all nature of leading global tech firms.
[5] The reintroduction of progressive tax systems through wealth and inheritance taxes, and the introduction of a Tobin tax to limit the impact of financialisation are popular proposals to enhance the welfare and security of taxpayers, as are limits to the working week and increased state support for care and social services.
[6] A universal basic income, another frequently-discussed policy response to automation, will be discussed in a forthcoming DOC publication.
Copyright © 2017 by Dialogue of Civilizations Research Institute.
The right of Klemens Witte to be identified as the author of this publication is hereby asserted.
The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the original author(s) and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views and opinions of the Dialogue of Civilizations Research Institute, its co-founders, or its staff members.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, please write to the publisher:
Dialogue of Civilizations Research Institute gGmbH;
Französische Straße 23; 10117 Berlin; Germany
Category: Expert comments
Tags: DIGITALIZATION, inequality
Klemens Witte, Research Associate at the DOC, is specifically interested in economic questions, international relations, and policy-making. He holds a Masters in Political Science and Intercultural Communication (Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg), a second Masters in Baltic Sea Studies (Södertörns University College/Stockholm), and a postgraduate LL.M. in International Economic Law (Southwest-University for Political Science and Law/Chongqing and Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg). Klemens Witte has gained international experience in universities in Kazan, Moscow, Kaliningrad, Minsk, and Beijing. He has further work experience within the fields of internationalization and education as a desk officer with Swedish government ministries and as a lecturer from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. He speaks German, English, Swedish, Russian, and Chinese.
Russian businessman says 2018 presidential election a 'democratic process'
Between fact and fakery: Information and instability in the South Caucasus


We from Paco van Leeuwen Photography love to travel the world to document cherished moments in the lives of our wedding couples.
This was the first shot of my first wedding this year that I was going for with the couple shoot. The couple had found this unique location in the center of The Hague. This location had never been used for a wedding shoot, and most likely never will as they normally don't do want to do photoshoots here. Luckily the couple had contacts in the right place so they were able to make it happen.
This old factory was such a contrast between the lovely couple, I immediately wanted to go for a contrast Black and White image. I love symmetry and returning patterns in a shot, I'd noticed the window in the top right. Therefor I'd placed the couple bottom left with a flash behind them to complement them with a bright spot. The spacing between the couple makes that you can seem them both really well. This now hangs as a large metallic print on their wall!
I grabbed the ring box and head over to her by the edge of the window. We snapped a few shots, my heart was racing. I dropped to one knee and asked her if she wanted to marry me. Her reaction was, "Oh my god" (and she threw her typical surprise pose as you see in the picture) "YES!!" I got up, kissed her, put the ring on her finger and the whole group started clapping!
I knew this spot in the woods where were lots of fearns and they loved the idea of this shot. They got in there and it resulted in this awesome image!
"So the journey begins".... The bride and groom slogan for their special day. I met this lovely couple in The Netherlands and was very excited that they chose me to shoot their wedding in Ireland where the bride is originally from. The journey started in Dublin Ireland and then traveling west through the middle of the country to where the wedding took place in county Claire. In the photo you will notice the beautiful castle of Bunratty in the background which holds special meaning to the bide as her ancestors help build this castle in the 15th century. It was an absolute pleasure shooting this wedding in this beautiful location. The only real trouble was deciding the right photo to showcase as there were many great shots to choose from but I'm glad that I went with this shot!


text:
#ifndef NV_VIDEO_PARSER
#define NV_VIDEO_PARSER

#include <cuda.h>
#include <nvcuvid.h>

#include <iostream>

class FrameQueue;
class VideoDecoder;

// Wrapper class around the CUDA video-parser API.
//  The video parser consumes a video-data stream and parses it into
// a) Sequences: Whenever a new sequence or initial sequence header is found
//      in the video stream, the parser calls its sequence-handling callback
//      function.
// b) Decode segments: Whenever a a completed frame or half-frame is found
//      the parser calls its picture decode callback.
// c) Display: Whenever a complete frame was decoded, the parser calls the
//      display picture callback.
//
class VideoParser
{
    public:
        // Constructor.
        //
        // Parameters:
        //      pVideoDecoder - pointer to valid VideoDecoder object. This VideoDecoder
        //          is used in the parser-callbacks to decode video-frames.
        //      pFrameQueue - pointer to a valid FrameQueue object. The FrameQueue is used
        //          by  the parser-callbacks to store decoded frames in it.
        VideoParser(VideoDecoder *pVideoDecoder, FrameQueue *pFrameQueue, CUcontext *pCudaContext = NULL);

    private:
        // Struct containing user-data to be passed by parser-callbacks.
        struct VideoParserData
        {
            VideoDecoder *pVideoDecoder;
            FrameQueue    *pFrameQueue;
            CUcontext     *pContext;
        };

        // Default constructor. Don't implement.
        explicit
        VideoParser();

        // Copy constructor. Don't implement.
        VideoParser(const VideoParser &);

        // Assignment operator. Don't implement.
        void
        operator= (const VideoParser &);

        // Called when the decoder encounters a video format change (or initial sequence header)
        // This particular implementation of the callback returns 0 in case the video format changes
        // to something different than the original format. Returning 0 causes a stop of the app.
        static
        int
        CUDAAPI
        HandleVideoSequence(void *pUserData, CUVIDEOFORMAT *pFormat);

        // Called by the video parser to decode a single picture
        // Since the parser will deliver data as fast as it can, we need to make sure that the picture
        // index we're attempting to use for decode is no longer used for display
        static
        int
        CUDAAPI
        HandlePictureDecode(void *pUserData, CUVIDPICPARAMS *pPicParams);

        // Called by the video parser to display a video frame (in the case of field pictures, there may be
        // 2 decode calls per 1 display call, since two fields make up one frame)
        static
        int
        CUDAAPI
        HandlePictureDisplay(void *pUserData, CUVIDPARSERDISPINFO *pPicParams);

        VideoParserData oParserData_;   // instance of the user-data we have passed into the parser-callbacks.
        CUvideoparser   hParser_;       // handle to the CUDA video-parser

        friend class VideoSource;
};

std::ostream &
operator << (std::ostream &rOutputStream, const CUVIDPARSERDISPINFO &rParserDisplayInfo);

#endif // NV_VIDEO_PARSER

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Archive for the 'Reviews' Category
Palo Alto Players presents The Graduate
by Cynthia Corral
June 18th, 2017 @ 5:11 PM
Benjamin (Max Tachis) and Mrs. Robinson (Betsy Kruse Craig).
Photo credit: Joyce Goldschmid
"One word, Benjamin. PLASTICS."
Palo Alto Players is currently presenting The Graduate, one of my favorite novellas by Charles Webb. Even for those who have never read the 1963 book by Charles Webb, or seen the film starring Dustin Hoffman, Mrs. Robinson's stocking-ed leg is still an iconic image. The question here is can it work as a stage production?
Max Tachis inhabits Benjamin Braddock on stage as perfectly as young Dustin Hoffman did on film. I have seen the very talented Tachis in many shows now, and he was a large reason why I agreed to come review the show. There was absolutely no disappointment.
Betsy Kruse Craig plays boozy Mrs. Robinson and is just as sexy as Anne Bancroft. Her lines are delivered in a perfectly dry and deadpan manner, and she smoothly brings Mrs. Robinson from the unsatisfied alcoholic wife who finds a bit of fun with young Benjamin, to a deeply unlikable, caustic and resentful mother who is likely more jealous than protective of her daughter.
Mrs. Robinson (Betsy Kruse Craig) and Benjamin (Max Tachis).
Raegena Raymond-Brunker plays Mrs. Braddock and was one of my favorites on Opening Night. Her looks of utter confusion and shrieks of surprise and despair made me laugh hysterically. She is entertaining every moment she is on stage and had me giggling constantly.
My guest's favorite actor was Mark Novak who plays Mr. Robinson. He puts his all into the part, and his visceral outrage toward Benjamin was such that I was praying he wasn't going to have a very real heart attack on stage. Kudos to you, Mark Novak, and please take care of your blood pressure when yelling at Benjamin – we want you around for future shows!
Special notice needs to be made for Karen M. Sanders, who plays the be-tasseled stripper. Her twirling breasts were a hilarious surprise when they appeared on stage and I applaud her courage and most especially, her talents.
These were my favorite performances, but all involved are talented and entertaining. I enjoyed the show immensely, and director Jeannie K. Smith has done a fantastic job. The stage design is on the simple side with quite a few changes to take us from Benjamin's childhood bedroom to a hotel to a stripper bar to the iconic church scene, and the costume design very subtly but clearly mimics the film.
Mr. Braddock (Shawn Bender) asks why Benjamin (Max Tachis) isn't coming downstairs to show off the diving suit, his graduation present. Photo credit: Joyce Goldschmid
Now we go back to the question: does it work as a stage production? My problem is that I cannot definitively state that the entire essence of the novella comes through on stage, especially regarding the social commentary and satire. The production hits most of the highlights of the book and film, but I am so familiar with the work that I'm not clear if someone unfamiliar with it would enjoy it as much as I did. I can confidently state that if you are familiar with The Graduate (novella or film) that you will enjoy seeing your favorite characters brought to life again on stage by these talented actors. If you are not familiar with the work, I'm going to err on the positive side and say to give it a try – the very worst that will happen is you'll spend a couple hours in a nicely air conditioned theater.
Palo Alto Players
Lucie Stern Theater
Through July 2, 2017
Posted in Entertainment, Peninsula, Performance, Reviews, Theater | Comments Off on Palo Alto Players presents The Graduate
Radio Girls, by UCSC alumna Sarah-Jane Stratford
May 22nd, 2016 @ 8:19 AM
Coming June 14
Summer is almost upon us, and we should all be starting our beach reading lists. There is a book called Radio Girls that PopSugar recommends for Best 2016 Summer reading, and you should have it on your own list too. The book was written by UC Santa Cruz alumna Sarah-Jane Stratford, and it is one fantastic read.
Radio Girls is the best kind of historical fiction in that it tells a real story with real people, but from a fictional character's point of view. I am not sure what I initially expected of this book, but it is definitely much more than I had imagined!
It covers part of the story of the beginning years of the BBC. As I read, I started googling the guest speakers they mentioned and found these very real people to be fascinating, but then I googled Hilda Matheson, a prominent character who works at the BBC in the book, and discovered she was a real person too. After discovering that most of the characters were real-life people, I realized this was actually a fairly true story told from a (fictional) assistant's point of view. This upped my fascination level even higher than it was when I began the book.
I had never read a book that revolved around radio's beginnings, and it really brought to light not only how much the world changed with that one invention, but how similar the change was then to these new internet days now. There was so much talk of the world becoming a smaller place, and how everyone with access to a radio could now get so much knowledge they had no access to before, and how it would help people who felt alone in the world. These are all things they say about the internet now. As far as we've come in the last 100 years, the radio also gave us a huge jump in technology and knowledge and connection with the world.
Sarah-Jane Stratford
With this knowledge however comes the question of who will control the dissemination of that knowledge. BBC's beginnings came at the same time as Women's Suffrage in the UK, and those grumbling times are remarkably similar to today's political atmosphere. Women's Rights also meant loss of the men's complete control of the world, and they certainly were not happy about it. World War I had just ended, governments were reorganizing, and businesses across borders were forming new alliances. The stock market crash in the US had just as great an effect across the Atlantic. There were at least two opposing views on each of these topics, and control of the BBC meant control of the information the world received.
In the middle of all this is young Maisie, our fictional heroine who lands a low-level job at the BBC hoping to find a husband, but instead finds a career and a new life plan. A life plan she could barely comprehend as it wasn't even a possibility just a few years before. Along with Maisie comes a fictional storyline starring the BBC, Nestle and Siemens, and the Nazis. As Sarah-Jane Stratford mentions in the very informative Author's Note, the actual storyline is fictional, but many of the events surrounding it are not, and many similar events were taking place.
Stratford earned a degree in History at UCSC and went on to obtain a Masters in Medieval History at the University of York in England. She wrote this book because of her fascination with Hilda Matheson from the BBC, and this fascination is transferred to the reader. She was an amazing, high-level career woman in times when there was no such thing, and she was a lesbian to boot. She is a fantastic role model to young women even in our own times.
And so is our young Maisie, who follows her dreams of being a reporter with various levels of success. But in Maisie's case as it is always, it doesn't matter how many times you fall down, it matters how many times you get back up. She takes her role as reporter very seriously, and even takes on some spy traits as she works to save free speech in the UK and retain women's new rights as well.
This is an outstanding book that gets better and better as it goes along. I love that I learned so much, I love that I've developed a great interest in the amazing Hilda Matheson, and I really enjoyed the fictional plot. The fictional plot doesn't get going until the second half, but spending the first half on Maisie's moving up the ranks and learning about all the real-life changes that happened in those few short years was worth it all.
Sarah-Jane Stratford is also the author of two previous books, and has also written articles and essays for a range of publications, including The Guardian, The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Marie-Claire, Bitch, Slate, Salon, Guernica, and BOMB.
Radio Girls will be released June 14. Many thanks to Penguin Books for an advance copy, this book is FIVE STARS without a doubt.
Posted in Books, Reviews, Santa Cruz | Comments Off on Radio Girls, by UCSC alumna Sarah-Jane Stratford
Shaping Sound proves they can dance!
October 27th, 2015 @ 10:30 PM
Photo courtesy Shaping Sound
We had the pleasure of being invited to review the Shaping Sound show at the Flint Center last weekend. And seriously, what a show it was!! Along with a fully packed Flint Center and such a positive, excited energy from the entire crowd.
Shaping Sound, under the artistic direction of Travis Wall, Nick Lazzarini, Teddy Forance and Kyle Robinson, is an evocative collaboration by diverse artists who describe themselves as 'visual musicians', i.e. their dance gives shape and form to sound. If the names sound familiar it's because the launch of their dance company was followed during the Oxygen show "All the Right Moves." And the dancers and directors have been all over your television: "So You Think You Can Dance," "Dancing With the Stars,", "Glee," "American Idol," "The Voice" and "The 2013 Prime Time Emmy Awards." Besides choreographer Travis Wall, and SYTYCD Season One winner Nick Lazzarini, you will likely also remember dancers Ricky Ubeda, Kathryn McCormick and Jaimie Goodwin from SYTYCD. Unfortunately Goodwin had been injured and was not able to dance on Sunday, so most of the dances focused around the beautiful McCormick.
The first act was a lively set of dances, many arranged in a speakeasy type setting, set to music such as Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy. No music list was provided so I'm going off my memory and what this writer recognized. The first dance, called "Broken in Chaos," used full company but there was one standout right away: Mountain View's native son Nick Lazzarini. Let me clarify, I never saw SYTYCD Season One, I have no idea who Lazzarini is. But my eyes couldn't leave him in that first set, and then my guest turned and told me it was Nick. So I was legitimately impressed. The final set of the first act, "Rouge Lounge", was a really high energy dance with the entire group that had the audience screaming for more.
But after intermission is when things got REAL good.
The first set in Act Two is set to Bohemian Rhapsody, and it was FANTASTIC.
The men of Bohemian Rhapsody dance "Escape from Reality"
All the men stood under spotlights and I wish I had dance language to tell you what was going on, but the loud music along with the fantastic lighting effects, and the dancers themselves had the crowd going WILD. I LOVED it. I wish I had a video of that dance, I'd play it over and over and over again. No one in the audience will forget that number. And Act Two just kept on with the entertainment and we were really impressed that most of the crew were dancing the entire time. Those dancers have a LOT of energy.
But my second favorite dance was almost at the end, "The Light", and it was a duet with Ricky Ubeda and Travis Wall. Excuse me if duet is not the correct word, I really don't know the dance language. It was a beautiful contemporary dance showing so much love and affection and tenderness, it brought a big smile to my face even up to the very last movement. Thank you for that one, Ricky & Travis.
I'm so sorry that there was only the one show in the Bay Area, so you will have to wait until the next tour to see it. But if you are a fan of SYTYCD, or of dance itself, or you just look forward to a couple hours of great entertainment, I recommend watching out for their next tour and then getting tickets early – the entire Flint Center was sold out!
Good luck to all the dancers on the rest of their tour, and get well soon to Jaimie Goodwin!
BREAK THE FLOOR PRODUCTIONS presents
SHAPING SOUND
Nick Lazzarini on Instagram
Shaping Sound on Instagram
Shaping Sound on Facebook
Tags: American Idol, Bohemian Rhapsody, Dance, Dancing with the Stars, Flint Center, Glee, Jaimie Goodwin, Kathryn McCormick, Kyle Robinson, Nick Lazzarini, Ricky Ubeda, Shaping Sound, sytycd, Teddy Forance, The Voice, Travis Wall
Posted in Dance, Entertainment, Family, Reviews | Comments Off on Shaping Sound proves they can dance!
A Magical Evening at Opera San Jose
April 26th, 2015 @ 12:01 PM
Well, I was at the afternoon matinee, but still. It was one of the best times I've had at the opera, and I'm so happy that there is still time for you to see it. The Magic Flute is a show for adults and children, oldies and newbies, opera and theatre lovers. And it includes a majestic dragon!!
The dragon attacks Tamino in The Magic Flute. Photo credit Pat Kirk
This may not be the best show I've ever seen at Opera San Jose, but I still enjoyed it so much and it is a great show for other Opera Novices and Newbies. As always, the performances were incredible, the story was great, the music was beautiful, the costumes were gorgeous, …but there are some stand-outs that make this a show you should not miss.
1. This is a great opera for Newbies and families with children. The Magic Flute is sung in German but has spoken words in English. It always throws me off when an opera is not entirely sung, which is probably the only issue I had with this show, but for newbies and children this is a great plus and makes for an easy introduction to opera. As always, the lyrics (and spoken lines) are projected in super titles above the stage so you can follow along. The show has children involved, though they are not the stars, and there were many children in the audience. Although I wasn't sure they would be able to follow the story entirely, there was not a peep from any of them during the entire three hours.
2. Chris Salinas, Daniel Ostrom and Winter Felton-Priestner are three very young men who can now add "Soprano, Opera San Jose" to their resumes and I don't think they've even hit middle school yet. This certainly trumps my own resume and I might be a tiny bit jealous.
3. There are a couple scenes with children silently wearing beautifully painted animal masks, and the animal-like choreography was riveting. Kudos to both the choreographer and the kids for nailing each of their parts and creating a magical tableau whenever they were on stage.
4. The show is often very funny, usually thanks to Matthew Hanscom as hapless Papageno. Papageno just wants a wife to love him, but how will he find a woman who wants to marry a poor bird trainer?
5. Isabella Ivy (soprano) is breathtaking as the Queen of the Night. Two of the songs she sang were so intricate and complicated that any Newbie could see these must be some of the most difficult pieces in opera. Even more amazing, she sang one of these very complicated pieces in the upper ranges of the scale, while kneeling down, and as she stood her foot got tangled in her skirts. She not only calmly untangled herself, but she never missed a beat or a note in one of the most amazing sections of music I have ever heard. Every jaw in the theater was hanging open. She was incredible.
6. THE DRAGON. The dragon was simply the most beautiful prop I have ever seen. It was huge and graceful and gorgeous and majestic. Its wings moved, it spouted smoke from its mouth (the kids in the audience LOVED this), and for me it was the star of the show. During intermission I voiced my hopes that the dragon would make another appearance, and it did when everyone came out for a bow. That dragon earned its ovation, and so have the operators, the designers and creaters of that piece. More dragons like that need to be in opera!!
When the entire thing was over I realized that I had had a really fun time. I haven't always enjoyed every opera I've attended, and it has taken me a while to appreciate some parts of opera. But ever since Madama Butterfly, Opera SJ has been drawing me in. I may still be the Opera Novice in most aspects, but I am also quite certainly becoming an Opera Lover.
Recently I have noticed the shows have not had two casts, and are instead having one cast do a shorter run of each show. I don't know if this is a financial decision (or just a coincidence), but I can say that the performers have upped their game, and the performances are tighter than I've ever seen. Try if you can to make one of the last performances (I have heard they are close to selling out all shows) but if you don't make this one, mark your calendars quickly to get seats for next season. It starts with Puccini's Tosca, and after that come The Marriage of Figaro (YAY!), Carmen (YAY!), and then A Streetcar Named Desire. That is going to be one amazing season and this Opera Novice is looking forward to it more than ever.
Opera San Jose
Thru May 3
Tags: opera
Posted in Entertainment, Kids, Music, Performance, Reviews, San Jose, Theater | Comments Off on A Magical Evening at Opera San Jose
Water By the Spoonful at TheatreWorks
September 4th, 2014 @ 7:32 PM
TheatreWorks, one of my very favorite theater companies, has an amazing show now playing through September 14. Water By the Spoonful is a Pulitzer Prize winning drama by the Tony Award winning playwright of In the Heights, Quiara Alegría Hudes. It combines drama and comedy as it works through the never ending trials of being an addict, specifically a crack addict. In one of the two main storylines, we follow a calm, reasonable woman known as "Haikumom" as she runs an internet support group for a group of addicts. Among the other members of the chatroom are "Orangutan", a brash and caustic young woman who is lonely for human contact, and "Chutes&Ladders", a man who has lost everything but is struggling to regain some sort of meaningful life and manage to stay sober with the help of his chatroom friends.
In the other main story apart from the chatroom we have Eliot, a troubled Iraq war veteran who now works at Subway, and his cousin. A woman in their family has passed away, and they are at the foreground of the stage as they work out the logistics of the funeral.
But what do these stories have in common? Quite a lot, it is eventually revealed, and every character in the story has their own back story and a future to live as well. There are many things happening in this play, and the great stage design really helps clarify where each character is at any time without confusing the audience. The lighting and projections make it clear whether we are in an online or offline world, and we also get to see the hidden situations of each character. It is an amazing, complicated work, and everyone involved in this show has done an incredible job creating a very touching and thoughtful production.
I found it interesting to discover later that Water By the Spoonful is part of a series called the "Elliot Trilogy", portraying the coming of age of the young Elliot Ortiz. This explains a lot, as Elliot appeared to be such an important part of this show, yet his story was the least clear of any of the characters. It is not that his story was incomplete, just that the others were mostly wrapped up (as tidily as a crack addict's story can be wrapped), but Elliot's background and future were not as clear to me. This not only makes me want to see more of Elliot's story, but necessitated some discussion with my guest after this show as we pondered Elliot. There were several questions I had about Spoonful after, but in a good way; instead of a review, I wanted to write a literary essay about all the different layers at play here. I wasn't satisfied with the end result of every character, and that caused me to think about them after the show. Any time I am left pondering and wanting to have conversations after a show, that is when you know theater has been done well. This show captures such a range of emotions, and really enforces the value of family and community. It also shows how, even if those can't be had, just a bit of kindness and human contact can save a life.
TheatreWorks
Through September 14
Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts
Posted in Entertainment, Peninsula, Reviews, Theater | 1 Comment »
King Arthur visits City Lights Theater in SPAMALOT
July 27th, 2014 @ 8:46 PM
King Arthur (Ken Boswell, in crown) has a jolly old time with the folk of Camelot
City Lights Theater Company has gone ambitious this summer as it presents the comedy extravaganza Monty Python's Spamalot! This is one of my favorite shows because it's just so irreverent and complete fun. There is nothing serious in this show, there are no deep hidden meanings, and there is so much going on at any and all times that glitches are guaranteed to happen every single night… and it is always fun and hilarious to see how these professional performers manage to overcome the unexpected. When you are in need of a show that is strictly fun entertainment in its purest form, Spamalot is the one to see.
The show recreates many scenes from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, with a lot of Broadway mixed in. You will see killer rabbits, and cows tossed from the ramparts, the Black Knight receives a flesh wound or four, and included in the show is the one thing the film is missing: a plethora of dancing girls. The story is of King Arthur's search for a team of worthy knights who will help him on his quest to find the Holy Grail. On the way they must all avoid the plague, find a nice shrubbery for the Knights Who Say Ni, and rescue a Damsel in Distress Prince Herbert. Watching the film first is not necessary, so if you have been deprived of the Monty Python movie experience, rest assured you will still have a rollicking great time (and then go rent the film for gosh sakes, why haven't you seen it yet??).
Almost all the actors play multiple parts, requiring many costume changes, and there is constant choreography and singing. There is a lot of acting and singing talent required to put this show on, and stage and set work behind the scenes that is unimaginably difficult. City Lights does a tremendous job with their smaller theater and budget, so that you don't miss a thing and an amazing time is had by all. Kudos to director Jeffrey Bracco for pulling off this amazing feat so well, and to Jennifer Gorgulho for managing to choreograph an incredible number of constantly moving people.
Spamalot is running through August 31, but shows have already started to sell out, so get your tickets now before you miss it. And before you get to the theater, stop off at Psycho Donuts for their special Spam Wellington Donut, a savory creation filled with layers of Spam and mushroom duxelle. This surprisingly delicious treat was served at the Opening Night Gala along with mead from Alderin's Meadery and catered food from Cafe Stritch. A big thanks to all these companies for supporting City Lights Theater Company and local theater!
Through August 31
529 South Second Street, San Jose
Main Stage Ticket Pricing:
Student: $17
Educator: $17
Senior: $25
Posted in Downtown, Fun, Performance, Reviews, San Jose, Theater | Comments Off on King Arthur visits City Lights Theater in SPAMALOT
City Lights inadvertently presents allegory for the closing of The Rep
Resten (Ben Ortega) and Alta (Deb Anderson) share a moment in City Lights Theater Company's production of "The Language Archive" by Julia Cho. Photo by Mike Ko / www.siliconvalleydesigns.com
Theater audiences all over the Bay Area went to see fantastic, thoughtful, hysterical, amazing shows and musicals last weekend. We came home looking forward to seeing the next shows, or acting or producing the next shows, and many of us contemplated our reviews of the weekend. And then we sat down Monday to do our work.
And at 10:30am we received the press release in our In-Box:
San Jose, CA. June 11, 2014 – San Jose Repertory Theatre announced today that it has ceased operation as of Monday, June 9, 2014.
This news came as a shock to most, even those of us who had heard whisperings and warnings, I mean it's THE SAN JOSE REP, it's been downtown for over thirty years, well longer than I would bet most of the valley's employees have lived here. In Silicon Valley years, The Rep has been here FOREVER.
It was a heart break for me. I have years of history with The Rep. I have sat in almost every seat of their audience, I have played in the pit, I have introduced films and interviewed filmmakers and actors on the stage. I have brought dozens of dates to see shows and had a close group of friends I loved to share tickets with. I introduced my own children to theater at The Rep, and as adults I am proud to know that they attend theater on their own now, without being dragged by their mother. I have many memories of drunken shenanigans in and around the theater. The Rep did not always produce my favorite shows, but they were always my favorite theater.
But I had a review to write, one that was very difficult to write for many reasons. I had heard great things about City Lights Theatre's production of The Language Archive and had really looked forward to seeing it. But due to a scheduled vacation, I had to see the Sunday matinee when our temps were in the 90s and the theater had no air conditioning. It was difficult to connect to the actors because the theater was so uncomfortable. I was able to pay attention to the show, but in a distracted way, and I could not drum up any excitement except for getting back to my air conditioned car. This is a terrible scenario in which to review a show fairly. So I found myself in the position of feeling sort of mediocre about the show, but knowing it was likely only due to one very hot day since my fellow reviewers loved it, and feeling my normal pressure to want to get people to the theater no matter what, now with the added pressure of knowing the biggest theater in town just went bankrupt.
At the same time, feeling like I was in mourning for a lost friend, and trying not to feel anger towards a very wealthy valley who I felt had let the Arts down.
The Language Archive, playing at City Lights through January 29, IS a great show. It's about language and relationships and the care needed to keep them alive. I sat here thinking tonight how the character of Mary treasures her ages old sourdough starter. She told of how she had to feed it, pay attention to it, never forget about it or take it for granted, so that more warm, nourishing bread could be made from it, and it would never die. The show is about George, a linguist who documents dying languages. As stated in the show, any language needs more than one person speaking it in order to survive; if no one cares for them, the languages die. George's marriage to Mary needed the attention that the sourdough starter received. When George could no longer speak the language that Mary needed to hear, the marriage died.
And sitting here thinking about that show I realized this is very much an allegory for the demise of The San Jose Rep, isn't it. No theater can survive on ticket sales alone, many don't realize this. Theaters require entire communities to not just attend, but to donate. The San Jose Rep had an operating budget of $5 million. I don't have $5 million. You likely don't either. But when you think of all the businesses in San Jose, all the wealthy businesses (who do indeed contribute money to our community), and the wealthy CEOs who live here (and also donate to the community)… Five million dollars seems like it could easily have been covered between allllll the businesses who reside here, don't you think? San Jose simply cannot keep crying that no one knows who we are, where we are, that we are not a neighborhood in San Francisco, if we cannot even keep our own local Repertory Theater open. And like it or not, theater and the Arts really does fall on local businesses to survive, whether we're talking about San Francisco or New York or a tiny middle America town. Or San Jose.
But the blame cannot just be put on our local businesses. Theater is a very complicated business, full of catch-22s and the need for good shows that cost money that doesn't come without big shows that cost money. Karen D'Souza has written an excellent article for the Mercury News which points to several of the various factors that went into the closing, and wonders if perhaps San Jose isn't just due for a different sort of Arts environment. I would never oppose different, as long as the Arts do not die altogether.
But San Jose does have many, many smaller theaters that many locals haven't even heard of. City Lights is a great little theater and it somehow operates in the black. Hopefully that's not just due to their lack of an air conditioning bill, LOL (I JOKE! I JOKE!). And they are one of many theaters that not only put on outstanding productions on a regular basis but are accepting tickets to The Rep's canceled shows for their own shows. Theater is a community, and they support each other like a family no matter what. We should try to support them back. Like sourdough starter, the Arts require all of us to feed it, pay attention to it, never forget about it or take it for granted, so that it will never die.
Posted in Bay Area, Commentary, Community, Entertainment, Performance, Reviews, San Jose Rep, Theater | 1 Comment »
"Once On This Island" feeds the soul at TheatreWorks
March 9th, 2014 @ 10:54 AM
The cast of TheatreWorks' musical ONCE ON THIS ISLAND. Photo credit: Tracy Martin
The first thing you'll notice upon entering the Lucie Stern Theater is the beautiful stage decoration. Even the wall lights have been turned into overflowing fern pots. You are immediately immersed in a rainbow of rich island colors and no detail is left out. Sit down and get ready for a joyous 95 minute trip to the Caribbean.
Clockwise, from bottom right: Ti Moune (Salisha Thomas), Agwe, God of Water (Omari Tau), Papa Ge, Demon of Death (Max Kumangai), Asaka, Mother of the Earth (Safiya Fredericks), and Erzulie, Goddess of Love (Adrienne Muller). Photo credit: Mark Kitaoka
Once On This Island tells a story of the people of Haiti, the "jewel of the Antilles." After a terrible storm, a little girl is very afraid and the island people tell her a story to cheer her up. What follows is a magical, mythical fairytale set to bouncing happy music and tremendously invigorating dancing. It is the story of little orphaned Ti Moune (Salisha Thomas), blessed and cursed by the gods, who struggles to discover her place in the world and the meaning of her life. We are taken for the ride with her, meeting island gods, learning some of the French history of Haiti, and discovering the magic of music and dance. It's a story of racism, classism and humanism. The cast is made up of beautiful, talented actors whose skin tones range from the darkest chocolate to the brightest cream, and that is integral to the story. It is a true ensemble cast, with no player more or less important the another, and they each bring something so special, individual and important to the story.
The stage is amazing, and the props, costumes and hair are equally fantastic. The flood is an aquatic beauty, the rain dance is a visual masterpiece, the set lighting is deep and saturated, and the costumes… well, I need one of those frog hats. Hair ranges from natural beauty to the most handsome braids, and it's all very impressive.
Papa Ge, Demon of Death (Max Kumangai) visits Ti Moune (Salisha Thomas). Photo credit: Tracy Martin
But the magic is in the music, singing and dancing. We are treated to soaring ballads of love and loss, and joyous songs that make you want to jump out of your seat and move. At one point there is a graceful ballet, and then it is replaced by a soulful island dance of life and spirit, and you suddenly realize the island dance is the one you want to perform, every day and every night, for the rest of your life.
It's a visual treat, it's medicine for the soul, it makes you happy to be alive. And it will make you want to go home and dance, and dance, and dance.
ONCE ON THIS ISLAND
Through March 30
TheareWorks
Lucie Stern Theatre
Posted in Dance, Entertainment, Music, Peninsula, Performance, Reviews, Theater | Comments Off on "Once On This Island" feeds the soul at TheatreWorks
Cinequest Film Review: ETERNITY
March 5th, 2014 @ 7:48 AM
I mean seriously, LOL.
This film is so awful it's just about perfect. And I mean that in the best way possible.
Look, I grew up in the 80s, I LOVED the 80s, and the 80s actually had some really great music, film and fashion.
It also had some of the worst music, film and fashion in history, no joke.
ETERNITY, because I'm 99% positive they meant it to be awful, hits every level of this.
Todd Lucas (Barrett Crake) and BJ Fairchild (Myko Olivier) meet in the 80s and decide to form the greatest R&B band in history, Eternity. The film follows their rise to fame and fortune, their loves, their lusts, their friendship, and finally their falling out and inevitable reunion.
ETERNITY: THE MOVIE is not a tribute to the greatness of the 80s. I could very well be wrong, but I really think it's a tribute to the awfulness of the 80s. There was some really horrid music on the radio back then, and you'll hear some very similar music in this film (although I actually like the last two songs of the film). 80s fashion could be mind bogglingly terrible, especially for men – and it's here in all its cheap glory. Don't let nostalgia fool you, 80s television was not what you remember either. And ETERNITY has all the overdramatic arguments from the after school specials, a melodramatic dying scene straight from the nighttime soaps, and the subtle undercurrent of homosexuality blatant homoerotic tomfoolery of the entire decade times infinity. There is bad acting, bad writing, bad sex jokes, bad ideas and Ridgemont High. Wait, Ridgemont High is awesome, what wasn't awesome were all the copycat movies that came after it.
That's what ETERNITY is, in the most perfect way.
Would *I* watch it again? LOL. No. But I know a lot of people who will love this film and will want to watch it over and over. "I get it now, I get it," says one character near the end of the film. "I don't," replies Gina Marie (Nikki Leonti) and I started cracking up. Because that kind of summed up the movie. I think there is going to be a section of the audience who will be rolling their eyes at this film, and then there is going to be the much larger section cheering and cackling with glee. It's all done in good fun, and I think they absolutely accomplished what they were trying for.
See ETERNITY: THE MOVIE at Cinequest!
My interview with the filmmakers!
"Like" them on Facebook!
Follow the film on Twitter!
Posted in Bay Area, Cinequest, Downtown, Film, Reviews | Comments Off on Cinequest Film Review: ETERNITY
Spring Awakening ROCKS the Los Altos Hills
February 25th, 2013 @ 6:20 PM
Do you love Rock N Roll? Were you ever a teenager? There is an amazing show at Foothill College right now, and you need to see it. Take your teenager, send your teen with a friend, or go see it yourself.
(clockwise from far left) Jeremy Griffith, Mark Sanders, Brandon Leland, Dillon Mena, Jacob Marker, Warren Wernick, Ryan Mardesich (floor), and Jason Rehklau (sitting center). Photo: Karen Santos
A year or so ago I saw a bigger budget production of the Rock N Roll musical Spring Awakening. It is an amazing, powerful, emotional show to watch with all the effects of a rock concert. It requires a very talented cast, a knowledgable choreographer, a well rehearsed band and a director capable of putting on a rock concert.
So what do you do when you are a small production company and want to produce a high budget rock and roll musical on a small budget in a tiny theater?
You get together an extremely talented cast and direct the crap out of them.
Spring Awakening is, like Rock N Roll, all about the truth of growing up. It's about anger, and frustration, and being held to adult standards while being treated like a child. It's about adult emotions and the inability to let them out. It's the kind of show that many parents won't want their teenagers to see, but it is exactly the kind of show that teenagers should see.
And the young adults on stage at Lohman Theater on the Foothill College campus are just rocking the pants off this show.
Moritz (Ryan Mardesich, sitting) is rebuked by his teacher (Justin Karr). Photo: Karen Santos
I was incredibly surprised to see such an amazing production on such a small stage, and most impressed of all with the talented cast. Special notice goes to Ryan Mardesich as Moritz. Mardesich introduces Moritz as an innocent young boy who is just not quite as smart as his classmates, but manages to show the believable growth to a frustrated, hopeless teen who is rightfully angry with the betrayal of all the adults in his world, and the world itself. The words of his songs do not matter; it is the hopeless anger in his eyes that tell his story.
Juliana Lustenader as Wendla is also outstanding. She not only has a beautiful clear voice, but she played innocent, confused Wendla to perfection. Her final, terrified scream made it very clear to the audience exactly where she was going and exactly what was going to happen to her. I still get chills at the memory of that scream.
Two smaller parts, Otto and Ernst, are played by Dillon Mena and Warren Wernick, and they deserve special note for their singing. Wernick has the voice of an angel, and Mena was a true rock star on stage. Holly Smolik and Casey Ellis, as Martha and Ilse, also brought incredible emotion to their parts – and the bruise makeup which Smolik wore deserved an award.
This is a show about teenage frustration, and the frustrations teens deal with now are the same they dealt with in 1891 Germany when this show was written. Sexual frustration and ignorance, child abuse, measuring up to expectations, abortion, suicide, sexual identity… It is a rare adult who would go back to that age. And director Milissa Carey manages to pull those feelings to the surface from her actors. Mardesich was awesome showing the emotion, but Mark Sanders as Georg demanded audience attention with both his character's sexual frustration and Sanders' own excellent singing voice. Georg is a smaller part in the show, but Sanders manages to pull all eyes to him with the physicality of his dancing and his comedic expressions when called for.
The amazing women of S.A.: (l-r) Holly Smolik, Lyn Meheula, Taylor Sanders, Juliana Lustenader, Carissa McElravy, Dana Johnson, and Casey Ellis. Photo: Karen Santos
The 1890s costume design was perfect, the use of lighting design successfully brought tears to our eyes, and the use of stairs and ledges expanded the stage to rock concert size.
Everyone in this show is amazing. There were stand outs, as I've credited, but the entire cast is genuinely amazing, and the show is Excellent. If you have never seen Spring Awakening, you should take this opportunity – there might be more flash and/or fireworks at a bigger show, but director Carey manages to give you everything this show has to offer on a smaller scale and you never realize you're in a small theater. In many ways, I enjoyed this production more than the one with the big budget.
Keep in mind it is a show with "adult" themes, there is very strong language and sexual themes. It is not really fit for preteen and younger, however I believe it is a show that every teenager should see and will appreciate. It is also a show every adult can identify with.
Lohman Theatre
Foothill College
12345 El Monte Road, Los Altos Hills, CA 94022 (more…)
Posted in Performance, Reviews, Theater | Comments Off on Spring Awakening ROCKS the Los Altos Hills
Jane's Walk San Jose 2017
Jaime Fearer Thanks for the write-up! You can see all of the walks (and a bike ride) here:...
buy cheap essays online I constantly spent my half an hour to read this web site's posts everyday along with a...
Theatre Round-Up: Season Openers
Test This is a test comment, please disregard.
Six A's & Two Giants in All-Star Game
Gary Wiens All six A's players see action for the winning American League. Yoenis Céspedes wins 2014 Home Run...
Paul Lazarus, Director: SLINGSHOT Documentary at Cinequest
Brian I can't wait to see this, the Slingshot sounds amazing. In case anyone else is interested, here is more...
Cynthia Corral
dred242
Gary Wiens
Jennifer Bullock
JoAnn Freda
Joann Landers
Katy Dickinson
Kerry Smith
Lisa Mani
Matt Bruensteiner
MBHQ
Karen French
randramble
Rebekah Sprecher
Sarah Holcomb
sj_jacquie
sj_mark
Susan Pi
Victor Solanoy
Categories Select Category 680 Corridor Accident Airport Antiques Art BART Baseball Bay Area Benefit Books Buildings Business Campbell Career/Jobs carnival Celebration Celebrity Cheap Children's Discovery Museum Cinequest City Hall Coffee Commentary Community Completely Different Contest Crime & Courts Cycling Dance Demonstration Display Donations Downtown Drive-In DVD East Bay East Side Eating Out Emergency Entertainment Environment Events Exhibit Family Farmer's Market Festival Film Fire Food & Drink Food Truck Football Free Fun Fundraiser Garage/Block Sale Gardens Gilroy Gossip Health History Holidays Indian Culture Interactive Japantown Kids Lecture Library Los Gatos Mail Media Metblogs Money Morgan Hill Museum Music NASA Ames Native American Neighborhood News Northside Oakland Museum Observations Online Outdoors parade Parks Participation Peninsula Performance Pets Photography Police Politics Protest PSA Radio Ranting Recycling Reviews Road Trip Sacramento San Francisco San Jose San Jose Earthquakes San Jose Museum of Art San Jose Rep San Jose Sharks Santa Clara County Santa Cruz Santana Row Saratoga Schools/Education Science Seasonal Shopping Silicon Valley SJSU Soccer SoFA District South Bay Space Sports Students Symphony Technology The Tech Museum Theater Tickets Traffic Transportation Treats TV Uncategorized Vigil Volunteer VTA Weather Weekend Wi-Fi Willow Glen Workshop Yummies Yummy
WHAT IS THIS CRAZY PLACE?
What is Metroblogging?
Full network city list.
Buy an ad.
ELSEWHERE ON THE WWW
Our wiki
MB on Wikipedia
FUN STUFF 4 U
Visit a random city
Images, graphics & widgets
Buy our merch!
Terms of use | Privacy Policy | Content: Creative Commons | Site and Design © 2009 | Metroblogging ® and Metblogs ® are registered trademarks of Bode Media, Inc.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Cassini briefly turned its gaze from Saturn and its rings and moons to marvel at the Carina Nebula, a brilliant region 8,000 light years from our Solar System and more than 200 light years across. Nearly every point of light in this image is a star in our galaxy, the Milky Way.
The nebula is a region of gas and dust made to glow by the ultraviolet light bursting from bright, hot and extremely massive young stars within. Darker regions in the scene are not devoid of stars; rather, they are areas where dense clouds of dust block the light from background stars.
This image, and others like it, are taken by the spacecraft from time to time for calibration purposes. Calibration images rarely contain such incredible sights as this, but this one affirms Cassini's position as the farthest, working astronomical observatory ever established around our Sun...our eyes on the cosmos, a billion miles from Earth.
The image was taken using the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on May 14, 2005. The view is a 68-second, clear filter exposure.
One of the larguest star-forming complexes of our galaxy posing for Cassini. Who could have the DARK skies she has...and be able to see every point of the celestial sphere without virtually obstacles of any kind.
flash back to '2001: A Space Odyssey'...and don't say you're too young to have seen it..a quote, "My God, it's full of stars!"


At the VSK fair Wavin introduces her new design for the SiTech+ low noise tube and fitting system. Scope is proud at the new design of SiTech+ and that nearly every fitting system of Wavin is designed by Scope.
At SiTech+ we spent a lot of attention to the design of the different couplings and pre-formed tube ends. We maximized the way we utilize the possibilities that production techniques offer and we thought of clever functionality. For instance a barrier for the mounted tube and an indication to show the angle the coupling is mounted in.
With this new design Wavin achieves a clever solution that enables installers to do their work faster, better and easier.


text:
Hayes: Is Grace the new Bruce Springsteen? – Golf Australia Magazine – The women's game
Posted on November 30, 2021 November 30, 2021 by Karen M. Hawkins
Landau wrote that he saw the future of rock and roll, in what turned out to be a brilliant assessment of a musical newcomer.
As a sports journalist, I have often had this story in my head watching young people take their first steps on a big stage, then seizing that moment as if they had been tailor-made from birth.
As we leave Dubbo Golf Club tonight, hundreds of languages will speak of the epic shootout seen over the past two days.
Many will have rightly enjoyed Daniel Gale's first big home win; others will marvel to see Justin Warren tear up the middle of the course and be able to shoot a closing 63 to get so close to victory that he will surely have his name on it soon; and more will have seen Josh Armstrong hit the ball comfortably beyond mere mortals' wildest dreams.
LAW: Gale won the title, but everyone left in awe of Dubbo's Grace Kim. PHOTOS: David Tease / Golf NSW.
But for sure, they'll be talking about Grace Kim.
That doesn't take anything away from Gale and his exceptional performance, especially after having to train in Queensland all winter to keep control while Covid ravages its Sydney base.
It's just to say that if 500 or more people watched Kim play, each of them will have been truly impressed – maybe even amazed – that she was able to defend against the PGA Men of Australia.
Yes, she played on the red tees. But she consistently towered over the men with her iron approaches, even when she spotted them from tens of yards away.
Kim was one of the most decorated and traveled amateur golfers Australia has ever produced, but this was her FIRST tournament as a professional in her home country.
And it doesn't hurt her magnetism factor that she's one of the most charming young women you can meet and that she's only too happy to talk to the galleries – especially the kids who've been drawn to. by its indisputable aura.
"I will absolutely say that Kim has enormous potential to be able to influence the way young women perceive sport." -Marc Hayes.
So was it Bruce Springsteen?
The simple answer is no, mainly because I had the rare privilege of watching her rise through the ranks, thus limiting the immediate 'wow factor'.
But that's cutting hair in four.
I will absolutely say that Kim – and fellow scholarship winners Karrie Webb Hannah Green, Su Oh, and Minjee Lee just before her – have enormous potential to be able to influence the way young women view sports.
In fact, the way all Australian sports fans view golf.
It was fun, her interaction with playing partners Lonard, Millar, Gale and Dann for two days absolutely showing that she belongs.
Golf New South Wales (my employer this week, everything is on the table) should be absolutely commended for hosting the Golf Challenge NSW Open qualifiers in the regions; and again for having had the wisdom to know that Kim would not be overwhelmed.
On the contrary, she swam around several of her male rivals and showed that the format has an immediate place in the Australian golf calendar, just as the Vic Open and TPS events have already shown.
It is not a gadget. These women are brilliant and I look forward to the day when their looks will barely be mentioned as the norm.
Stay tuned, Australian golf fans. And most importantly, put all of your voice and all of your weight behind this crop of female talent that we are fortunate to have right now.
Will Grace Kim be the next Bruce Springsteen? Will the new cohort elevate the female side of our sport to an unprecedented level of notoriety in mainstream media and social consciousness?
The answers will not appear until time.
But in the meantime, I'm using the privilege of my soapbox to "dip the lid" on Kim – it was really exciting to watch.
And if the buzz around Dubbo golf fans tonight is any indication, maybe a legend was indeed born to run.
© Golf Australia. All rights reserved.
Smith dominates day one in Northern Ireland
AREA GOLF: The Dolan family meets for the 50th golf tournament | News, Sports, Jobs
Cycling golf, beating the boys and surviving a collapsed lung – the making of Laura Kenny, a great British sportswoman
Wisconsin's recreational golf boom continued into 2021
This entry was posted in Golf Sport. Bookmark the permalink.
Lee Elder, who broke golf color barrier, dies at 87
OC Welch Helps Attract More Kids To The Golf Course With New Sponsorship


New York, NY—Skipping school, running away, or violating curfew may seem like normal adolescent acting out. But for thousands of kids every year, these misbehaviors result in being taken to court or even locked up. A new special online report documents what we know about these behaviors—called "status offenses" because they are only illegal because of a kid's status as a minor—and why criminalizing them doesn't work.
For many teenagers, misbehaving can be part of normal development, but for others, it's a symptom of—or response to—an underlying problem. For example, one in every five cases of runaway children is tied to abuse. When a teenager is sent to court for a status offense—often because a school administrator, family member, or police officer didn't know what else to do—these underlying problems may remain unaddressed and can be made worse. Whether a kid's behavior is normal acting out or a cry for help, the experience of being criminalized can set them on a detrimental path of further justice-system involvement that is difficult to get out of. Furthermore, status offenses push those young people into the system who are already underserved and more likely to be subject to biases, specifically: girls, kids from poor communities, kids of color, and LGBT and gender non-conforming kids.
There were 100,100 known cases nationally in 2014 in which kids were sent to court for status offenses. However, this number is a significant underestimate because not all courts that handle these cases report the data centrally.
In 2013, 27 percent of kids in detention—the equivalent of youth jail—were locked up either because of a status offense, or for misbehaving while on probation for a previous offense.
The legal definitions for what makes a misbehavior turn into a court matter varies widely—for example, in Wisconsin, students can be referred to court for as little as being late to class five times. In South Carolina, "school disturbance" is defined as any time a student interferes with or disturbs students or teachers "in any way" and it is punishable by up to 90 days' imprisonment.
Schools with more black students are more likely to suspend and expel kids for "acting out," while schools with fewer black students are more likely to respond with behavioral treatment and special education programs.
The report also demonstrates what can be done to shift away from this punitive approach by profiling Connecticut's substantial status offense reforms over the last 20 years, which have helped to drive down the number of youth in the juvenile justice system to a point where the state is now looking to close its last state-operated juvenile prison.
The report builds on Vera's more than 15 years of experience to pilot community-based, non-criminal responses to status offenses. Vera is currently working with Colorado and Hawaii to develop such responses through its Status Offense Reform Center, which also provides tools and resources to jurisdictions nationwide.
The full interactive report, including an accompanying short documentary film, is available on Vera's website at www.vera.org/just-kids.


Membership in BHFC can be attained by 1) paying annual or monthly floor fees or 2) paying daily floor fees and registering with the USF A as a BHFC fencer. Membership allows the fencer to compete for BHFC, to wear the team insignia and to participate in the government of the club. See BHFC by laws for the full explanation if the rights and responsibilities of membership.
Rules and Code of Conduct. I acknowledge that I have read and understand Beverly Hills Fencers' Club Rules and Code of Conduct printed on the other side of this application, and agree to be bound by them and any other rules of the Club.
Assumption of Risk. I understand that any athletic activity involves physical exertion and risk of injury, and that the sport of fencing involves aggressive physical contact with other participants. I assume the risk of any injury or other medical condition arising as the result ofmy participation in any athletic activity in which I engage at Beverly Hills Fencers' Club. I understand that it 1s my responsibility to wear the appropriate clothing to all classes, clinics, private lessons, tournaments and open fencing sessions. I understand I am responsible for my own safety and for comporting myself in a safe manner at all times.
Consent for Medical Treatment. I certify that on this date I,give my consent to Beverly Hills Fencers' Club and its representatives to obtain medical care from any licensed physician, hospital or clinic for the above named athlete for any injury or illness that may arise during activities associated with BHFC.
Liability Release. I agree to indemnify and hold harmless, and hereby release Beverly Hills Fencers' Cub and its officers, directors,instructors, coaches, members, guests and other participants, and the United States Fencing Association, from all claims, liability,demands or actions of any kind in connections with my participation in any class, olinic, private lesson, tournament, open fencing or other activity that I may attend at Beverly Hills Fencers' Club, or any other training or athletic activities sponsored by Beverly Hills Fencers' Club on or off the Club Premises. This includes, but is not limited to, claims, liability, demands or actions for personal injury or property, damage or loss. This agreement also shall be binding on my personal representatives, heir and assigns.


Items where Author is "Vithalani, Hiral A."
Vithalani, Hiral A. (2012) Survival Analysis of Breast and Certix Cancer and their Statistical Study. PhD thesis, Saurashtra University.
This list was generated on Fri Apr 19 02:43:56 2019 IST.