text:
Twin Ink | Aaron & Jordan Kandell
Inspiration Information — Carl Sagan & Ann Druyan
by aaron on August 15, 2010
"For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love." –Carl Sagan
I am a collector of stories. As a writer it's part of my profession. But it's also a lifelong obsession, a hobby that consumes as much as it inspires me. As a result I have heard a lot of love stories in my life. But the one that follows is by far the most romantic, mythic story I have ever heard.
In the Summer of 1977, nearly a decade after Neil Armstrong first walked on the moon and the Race for Space swept through American conscious like a meteor storm… Nasa launched a special mission of a very personal nature. It was called the Voyager Interstellar Mission, and it's goal was to send two spacecraft into the greater expanses of the universe, carrying an ultimate mix tape of the human experience — recorded onto a golden record designed to survive for a billion years.
Sound like the plot to a James Cameron movie? Hold on to your skeptical sense of awe. It only gets better in the details…
Here is the message President Jimmy Carter inscribed on the spacecraft:
We cast this message into the cosmos… Of the 200 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy, some — perhaps many — may have inhabited planets and space faring civilizations. If one such civilization intercepts Voyager and can understand these recorded contents, here is our message: We are trying to survive our time so we may live into yours. We hope some day, having solved the problems we face, to join a community of Galactic Civilizations. This record represents our hope and our determination and our goodwill in a vast and awesome universe.
Now then, the question remains how do you condense the core essence of humanity into a series of sounds and images, recorded on a single album? What message do we as a race wish to express in this galactic timecapsule — this cosmic message -in-a-bottle cast out into the vast ocean of space?
And here is where our story picks up momentum. Enter Carl Sagan — preeminent astronomer and astrophysicist. Author of the paradigm shifting novels Cosmos, Contact, and Pale Blue Dot. Carl was hired to spearhead this bizarre mission with the overwhelming responsibility of conveying all the hopes, dreams and wonders of an entire planet. To handpick the very best our culture and society has to offer, all that is universal, elemental and (fingers-crossed Carl!)… eternal. No small task to say the least.
Fortunately Carl had help. Enter Ann Druyan, creative director of the project. Long time professional acquaintances, Carl and Ann worked closely together to compile the 115 images, the 90 minute selection of world music, the sounds of nature, man and animal that would form the ultimate mix tape.
Ann describes the mission in her own words below:
"Two Spacecraft lifted off from the planet earth. moving at an average speed of 35,000 miles per hour for the next thousand million years. And on it would be a kiss, a mother's first words to her new born baby, mozart, bach, beethoven, greetings in the worlds 59 most populous languages, as well as one non-human language — the greetings of the humpback whales. And it was a sacred undertaken because it was saying 'we want to be citizens of the cosmos. We want you to know about us.'"
There is something deeply poetic about the human psyche in undertaking such an improbable missive. The desire to reach out and make contact, the belief that we can know and be known by beings and worlds beyond ourselves is more revealing to me of the core Human capacity for curiosity and hope and love, than anything that could be encoded into the thin grooves of a vinyl track.
Which is why the real story for me, the one that touches the base resonance of my storyteller heart, is not that of the Voyager Interstellar Mission at all, but rather of Carl and Ann sending out their personal timecapsules into the unknown void of love and finding each other.
And so it happened that two working friends, who had barely flirted andnever kissed… called each other late one night to share in the excitement of a 2500 year old chinese song that would be included on the mixtape. And over the course of that random conversation, in the context of developing this huge, odd, beautiful project… something profound and completely unexpected happened. Carl and Ann fell in love. Just like that. Like a rocket bursting through the atmosphere into the clarity of space, Carl and Ann knew… they were meant for each other.
Carl said, "I've been waiting for this call for 10 years." By the time they hung up, they were engaged to be married. A month later, on august 20th, the voyager spacecrafts lifted off. On august 22, Carl and Ann announced their engagement. They were together every day after until Carl's death in 1996.
Two days after that fateful phone call, Ann checked into the neurological department at Bellevue, New York for the final element of the golden mix-tape. It was Ann's grand idea to measure the electrical impulses of the human brain and nervous system, convert that into a sound and then put that onto the record. Perhaps alien civilizations in the distant future might find a way to decode the sounds back into human thought.
So for an hour, Ann meditated on the wonders of love and being in love while electrical nodes recorded her brainwaves into harmonic vibrations. And right now, somewhere 17 billion km from earth, all the newness and joy of Ann and Carl's love is hurtling still toward some other pale planet, where perhaps another sentient being will find it washed up on the shore, will pull the golden message from its bottle and read what the human experience is really all about.
Thank you NPR for the incredible story. I highly recommend checking out their link and hearing Ann Druyan tell the story in her own words.
One comment • Tagged as: ann druyan, carl sagan, golden record, human contact, inspiration information, npr, space travel, the human experience, voyager interstellar mission
[…] Around Valentine's Day, we explored the inexplicable beauty of human experience through the inspiring true love story of Carl Sagan & Ann Druyan. […]
by Inspiration Information — Year in Review |Twin Ink on January 3, 2011 at 2:33 am. Reply #
Required. Not published.
Follow @Kandellbrothers
Screenwriting (17)
Proudly powered by WordPress and Modernist, a theme by Rodrigo Galindez. RSS Feed.


It has long been known that roots alter the soil in their immediate vicinity, where other microorganisms live and the chemical composition is altered compared to that further away from the roots. An international research team has now demonstrated in experiments at the Paul Scherrer Institute that the soil in the vicinity of roots also contains more water – contrary to the earlier belief that there must be less water in this region, as the plant takes up water from the soil. Apparently, however, plants create a small water reserve that helps to tide them over through short periods of drought. These findings could help, in the long term, in the breeding of plants to cope better during periods of drought or in support of the development of efficient irrigation systems. These results were obtained from experiments carried out with the benefit of neutron tomography at the Paul Scherrer Institute, using a method that makes it possible to exactly show the distribution of water to a fraction of a millimetre, without having to remove a plant from the soil. The researchers have published their results in the prestigious journal New Phytologist.
Despite the importance of rhizosphere properties for water flow from soil to roots, there is limited quantitative information on the distribution of water in the rhizosphere of plants.
Here, we used neutron tomography to quantify and visualize the water content in the rhizosphere of the plant species chickpea (Cicer arietinum), white lupin (Lupinus albus), and maize (Zea mays) 12 d after planting.
We clearly observed increasing soil water contents (θ) towards the root surface for all three plant species, as opposed to the usual assumption of decreasing water content. This was true for tap roots and lateral roots of both upper and lower parts of the root system. Furthermore, water gradients around the lower part of the roots were smaller and extended further into bulk soil compared with the upper part, where the gradients in water content were steeper.
Incorporating the hydraulic conductivity and water retention parameters of the rhizosphere into our model, we could simulate the gradual changes of θ towards the root surface, in agreement with the observations. The modelling result suggests that roots in their rhizosphere may modify the hydraulic properties of soil in a way that improves uptake under dry conditions.


text:
Castanea Fellowship
Fellows-2020
Fellows 2019
Helga Garza
Organization: Agri-Cultura Network
In her words...
"As a Native woman in agriculture I am guided by our ancestral calendar, and I share this knowledge through an intergenerational process. As a farmer myself, I know first-hand the challenges of farm to market. I have experience and lessons learned to develop a farm cooperative in Brownsville, Texas and in Central Mexico. This inspired my strong commitment to protecting the environment, and to building a healthy, sustainable, local economy through agricultural practices. '
What gives her hope...
Helga became a shareholder activist to convince a chain of variety stores to eliminate toxic chemicals in its supply chain, and is encouraging the discount giant to invest in communities that generate its profits. She thinks the CEO should visit her in Albuquerque to see her operations, and learn a bit about where that chain's wealth originates and how it could be a better community partner.
Helga's Story:
Helga Garcia-Garza has a vision for equity and food justice for underserved Hispanic and Native communities in her Central New Mexico region. With lived experience as a member of a marginalized Native and Indigenous community, and two decades as an organic farmer, today she is Director of Agri-cultura Cooperative Network/ La Cosecha CSA (ACN). Together, the community-driven initiative brings fresh, local produce from a collective of more than 40 small farmers near Albuquerque to the tables of hundreds of families who battle diet-related diseases in the South Valley of Albuquerque. She bases her work in a from-the-ground-up approach to building an environmental economy, as she believes the nutritional needs of her community are best served by local farmers who grow healthy, culturally appropriate food using organic and sustainable practices.
As a business development engine, ACN also gives farmers the chance to access lucrative markets in local restaurants, hotels, and public schools and offers skills training in soil health, and pest and weed management, among other services. La Cosecha, an innovative community-supported agriculture (CSA) program, is a key part of ACN. During the growing season, it distributes more than 300 bags of fruits and vegetables weekly to local families, which they can purchase with SNAP funds. Next, she's going big: her new project is a multi-million dollar Eco-Wellness clinic, a major real estate partnership that will centralize and expand community health and wellness resources. As part of the planned 20-acre facility, she will triple her farming capacity with four acres of fields and three greenhouses for maximum production capacity and optimal land use, all in a state-of-the-art solar-powered facility.
Send Helga a Note
Send a note with your congratulations, hopes, and appreciation for their work to build a more just food system.
Alex Askew
Tavia Benjamin
Shane Bernardo
Shantell Bingham
Kelly Carlisle
Anthony Chang
Deepa Iyer
Jose Oliva
Esperanza Pallana
Bren Smith
SUPPORT THE CASTANEA FELLOWSHIP
Join the numerous foundations, nonprofit, and business leaders in this multi-sector collaborative committed to shaping an equitable future for food. Grants, gifts, and individual donations are welcome.
© 2020 Castanea Fellowship
Castanea Fellowship is a 501(c)3 fiscally sponsored by the Earth Island Institute.
The Castanea Fellowship is not affiliated with the Castanea Foundation, though we are avid supporters of their inspirational work.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Véronique Clamot gives an interpretation of the bronze sculptures (lost wax) series " Les Baigneuses".
"Look at them, they are the Stars of our beaches. Unrestrained yet discreet, graceful and very feminine in their 'one piece' bathing suits, they display their generous curves.
Idle and greedy, they take advantage of an interlude in the sun, during the warmest days of our too-short summers."


text:
Copablepharon albisericea is een vlinder uit de familie van de uilen (Noctuidae). De wetenschappelijke naam van de soort is voor het eerst geldig gepubliceerd in 1976 door Blanchard.

albisericea

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Terry Crews Reveals Why He'd Do 'America's Got Talent' For Free
Terry Crews and son Isaiah Crews joined Kit Hoover and Melissa Peterman on Access Daily to talk about their new competition show "Nickelodeon's Slime Up." The "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" actor also talked about his love for "America's Got Talent," saying, "Let me tell you something, I would do 'AGT' for free... it gives me such a sense of satisfaction. It's why I'm here. It's why I became successful, in order to host a show like this." "Nickelodeon's Slime Cup" premieres Saturday, June 25 at 8PM on Nickelodeon.
NRCelebrity and Gossip Daytime Highlight
Tags: Terry Crews, isaiah crews, Father, son, Nickelodeon, Slime Cup, America's Got Talent
Taylor Swift Announces 'Lavender Haze' Music Video On Same Day John Mayer Shares Tour News


text:
Man intentionally plows car into pedestrians in Germany
The attack occurred early New Year's Day and appears to have been racially motivated.
NSFW BOTTROP, GERMANY — The attack occurred in the early hours on New Year's Day and appears to have been directed at immigrants.
According to DW, a 50-year-old man seen driving a silver Mercedes first targeted a male pedestrian in the Western city of Bottrop. The man managed to avoid being hit.
The man then drove into the inner city where he plowed into a group of pedestrians on the side of the street, injuring four.
He then attempted to run over a group of people waiting at a bus stop in the nearby city of Essen before being detained by police.
Police said those hit by the car included Syrians and Afghans, some of which were seriously injured.
According to local authorities, the man made racist remarks after his arrest. The man is also suspected to suffer from a mental illness.
According to a statement by the interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia state, Herbert Reul, "there was a clear intention by this man to kill foreigners.
NEXT ON TOMONEWS
Manchester New Year's Eve stabbings leaves 3 injured
Facebook Conversation
We've got all the latest viral headlines from around the internet.
Sign up for our daily email to stay on top of what's trending now!
TRUMP IN OFFICE
Trump's border wall could threaten wildlife and plants
Could the Democrats win the U.S. House of Representatives?
Will the Democrats be able to impeach Trump or Kavanaugh?


text:
6 hrs ago Yeddyurappa plays cricket with party MLAs as ruling coalition gasps for survival
Andhra to get special status if Congress wins, says Rahul Gandhi in Dubai
oi-PTI
| Published: Friday, January 11, 2019, 19:55 [IST]
Dubai, Jan 11: Congress President Rahul Gandhi said on Friday that his party will grant special category status to Andhra Pradesh if voted to power in the upcoming general elections.
Gandhi, who is in the UAE on a two-day visit, addressed a gathering of Indian workers at the Labour Colony in Dubai. He said, "As soon as our government comes to power, we will give special status to Andhra Pradesh".
Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated into Telangana and the residuary Andhra Pradesh State on June 2, 2014.
"You helped India, Indian states and the poor people and you worked to make this city of Dubai, which is great in the whole world. I want to say thank you heartily," he said.
Hailing the development of the UAE, Gandhi said all the "massive developments you see here, tall buildings, large airports and metro, wouldn't have been built without your contribution. You have given your sweat, blood and time for the development of this city and you have made Indians of all backgrounds proud."
Gandhi reiterated what he told a group of party workers protesting at Jantar Mantar in March last year for Andhra Pradesh''s special status.
"We will give special category status to Andhra Pradesh. It's the first thing we will do after coming to power in 2019," he had told the workers.
"I am confident that if we stand together we will convince the Government of India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi that what is due to the people of Andhra Pradesh should be given to them," he said.
The general elections are due to be held between April and May this year.
More ANDHRA PRADESH News
AP EAMCET Option Entry delay: Will stalemate end before this month
AP EAMCET Option Entry to be further delayed
AP EAMCET option entry on apeamcet.nic.in soon
Key take-aways from Jagan Mohan Reddy's first budget
AP EAMCET option entry process postponed, check when to book seat
APPSC Group 2 Revised Answer Key released, results on this date
AP EAMCET Counselling 2019 postponed: Check new schedule, allotment date here
AP EAMCET counselling 2019 revised schedule: All details here
T'gana Cong leaders visit Secretariat; oppose construction of new buildings
AP NEET Counselling 2019 provisional merit released, check documents needed for verification
Now, Andhra govt issues notice to Chandrababu Naidu to vacate official residence
With assets worth Rs 5,10,38,16,566, Jagan Reddy is richest minister in Andhra
andhra pradesh special status rahul gandhi lok sabha elections 2019 dubai
Story first published: Friday, January 11, 2019, 19:55 [IST]


text:
Joe Hockey eyes new fee to fix dodgy ABS jobs data
By John Kehoe
October 9, 2014 — 10.56am
ABS employment data revised: Australians have been fed a 'statistical furphy'
Treasurer Joe Hockey has signalled that market participants may be charged a fee to access data provided by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) as he blamed Labor's budget cuts for dodgy job figures produced by the agency.
The credibility of monthly employment data – arguably the most crucial gauge of the economy's health – has been thrown into doubt by the official statistician, who said it was conducting a review of its July, August and Thursday's September figures.
Speaking in Washington, Mr Hockey acknowledged the August reporting of a jump of 121,000 new jobs seemed "extraordinary" – an indication the Treasurer was himself sceptical of the official figures. By comparison, the much-larger US economy created 142,000 jobs the same month.
Blaming Labor for the jobs data fiasco, Treasurer Joe Hockey flagged at the sidelines of the World Bank/IMF Annual Meeting in Washington the Abbott government is looking to charge fees for ABS data.
Mr Hockey said the government was "actively looking" at a user-pays system for ABS data and that he would be taking proposals to Cabinet in the coming weeks.
But he declined to take responsibility for the fiasco, instead censuring Labor for the errors.
"The fact is the previous government left the ABS with insufficient resources to be able to upgrade their computer systems and also some structural issues that need to be addressed including the fact they haven't got a chief statistician," said Hockey, who's in Washington for the IMF autumn meeting of central bankers and finance ministers.
The ABS had $50 million stripped from its budget by the previous government and is losing about 115 staff.
The cuts are mainly a result of repeated efficiency dividends by the former Rudd and Gillard governments.
Before retiring in January the head of the ABS, Brian Pink, pleaded for $300 million to "keep the lights on" and to modernise its 30-year old technology systems.
"The overall situation has been progressively impacting on the time and effort required to produce key official statistics on time and to the quality expected by our users and now seriously compromises our longer-term sustainability," he wrote in the agency's annual report.
ABS monthly employment data are a crucial reference point for economists, investors and the Reserve Bank of Australia to determine the state of the economy.
Treasury Secretary Martin Parkinson has been asked to investigate the matter.
The Treasurer said the government would not be "writing a blank cheque" to better resource the agency.
"We have been for some months been working on a new plan for the Australian Bureau of Statistics including better utilisation of resources and also importantly better ways of collecting data..." Mr Hockey said.
The Treasurer said the ABS remained "one of the best statistical collection agencies in the world" and data trends showing solid job growth were broadly in line with separate job advertisement figures.
He said the numbers produced by the ABS had always been "volatile", especially monthly employment data.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday after the September jobs data was released, Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek retaliated to Mr Hockey's comments, pointing to funding cuts the Treasurer had made to the ABS in the May budget.
"I don't know how long Joe Hockey will keep blaming the rest of the world for the things that he is responsible for," she said.


text:
Quella dei Thun-Hohenstein (o Thun und Hohenstein) è una nobile famiglia trentino-tirolese, che ottenne il titolo di conti dell'Impero nel 1629, dopo aver ricoperto importanti cariche amministrative e vescovili nel Sacro Romano Impero. A quell'epoca un ramo della famiglia si era trasferito in Boemia, intraprendendo una rapida ascesa all'ombra del potere imperiale degli Asburgo.

Nel 1629 ottenne il titolo comitale e nel 1911 un ramo boemo, quello di Tetschen an der Elbe, fu elevato al rango principesco.

La famiglia è originaria della Val di Non, in Trentino.

Etimologia

Il cognome composito di Thun und Hohenstein viene derivato essenzialmente dalle antiche influenze germaniche dell'area alpina. Il cognome è noto sin dall'XI secolo, epoca dalla quale viene indicato in diversi modi, tra i quali Thunne, Tunnum, Tonnum, Tonno, Tono e Tunno.

Il cognome di Thun venne per la prima volta ufficializzato nel 1407, quando Simon von Thun ottenne di essere incluso nella matricola nobiliare tirolese e gli venne agganciato quello di Hohenstein dal nome della contea che la famiglia ottenne nel 1628.

Storia

Le origini

Le origini del casato dei Thun und Hohenstein sono riconducibili per certo al XII secolo, anche se una certa tradizione locale vuole il loro nome associato a quello di San Vigilio, patrono di Trento, vissuto già nel IV secolo, soprattutto per i legami con i loro possedimenti in Val di Non.

La prima sede della famiglia si trovava a Dosso del Castelletto, nell'area ove attualmente sorge la locale chiesa di Santa Margherita, da dove la famiglia trasmigrò nel XV secolo per passare al Castel Thun, designato feudo.

Nel corso dei secoli e grazie a matrimoni attentamente studiati con i maggiori proprietari di zona, la famiglia Thun und Hohenstein riuscì ad accumulare una grande fortuna costituita anche da numerosi beni immobili e proprietà titolari come:

Castello di Brughiere con le sue terre, dalla famiglia Coredo (1321-1322)
i possedimenti del castello di Altaguardia, dagli Altaguardia (1387)
Castel Caldes, dai Caldes (1464)
Rocca di Samoclevo
metà del castello di Cagnò, dai Cagnò
Castel Mocenigo
Castel Rumo
Castello di Sant'Ippolito
Castello di Thun
Castello di Klösterle
diritti su Castelfondo (feudo dal 1471)
diritti su Masi di Vigo, Tuenetto, Rabbi
maniero Weißhaus a Bolzano (Aslago)
numerosi palazzi a Praga e Vienna

La nobilitazione
A partire dal XV secolo la famiglia aumentò considerevolmente i propri possedimenti espandendosi sul territorio. Dal 1469 alcuni membri della famiglia divennero sistematicamente "coppieri" del principe-vescovo di Trento e dal 1558 ottennero tale privilegio anche presso il vescovato di Bressanone. Nel 1530 la famiglia ottenne il titolo baronale dall'imperatore Carlo V d'Asburgo . Pur avendo formato diverse linee, sino al XVI secolo la famiglia riuscì sostanzialmente a mantenere inalterata la divisione del proprio patrimonio sino alla reggenza di Sigmund (1537-1597), il quale alla sua morte diede disposizione che i suoi beni venissero ripartiti tra i suoi tre figli maschi.

Nel 1628 la famiglia ottenne il titolo nobiliare comitale che dal 1629 venne associato al feudo di Hohenstein. Dal 1642, con la perdita dei propri possedimenti, l'infeudazione rimase comunque parte del cognome dei Thun und Hohenstein ma gli interessi della famiglia si concentrarono in Boemia, lasciando nel Tirolo un'altra linea che proseguì la casata nella terra nativa.

La rilevanza nel Tirolo
Fu proprio la linea trentina che diede alla storia Guidobald von Thun und Hohenstein, principe-arcivescovo di Salisburgo che nel XVII secolo venne nominato cardinale. Questa facile ascesa della famiglia, ulteriormente avvantaggiata dalla presenza di una nobiltà locale alla guida delle istituzioni ecclesiastiche tra le maggiori di rilievo nell'area dell'Austria. Sempre questo ramo ebbe l'onore di annoverare un primo ministro dell'imperial casa austriaca e Galeazzo von Thun und Hohenstein fu gran maestro dell'Ordine di Malta.

Genealogie

Struttura del casato

Membri notabili
Nella famiglia Thun Hohenstein si annoverano diverse personalità di rilievo:
 Sigismondo Alfonso Thun, principe vescovo di Bressanone e di Trento;
 Domenico Antonio Thun, principe vescovo di Trento;
 Pietro Vigilio Thun, principe vescovo di Trento;
 Emanuele Maria Thun, principe vescovo di Trento;
 Eleonore Barbara von Thun Hohenstein (1661-1723), principessa del Liechtenstein;
 Ferdinand Thun (1921-), diplomatico austriaco;
 Franz von Thun und Hohenstein (1847-1916), Primo Ministro austriaco;
 Franz von Thun Hohenstein (1826.1888), Militare austriaco;
 Friedrich-Franz von Thun-Hohenstein (1816-1881);
 Galeazzo von Thun und Hohenstein (1850-1931), Gran Maestro dell'Ordine di Malta;
 Antonio Thun Hohenstein (1911-1944), militare boemo naturalizzato italiano;
 Giovanni Thun Hohenstein (1913-1938), militare italiano, Medaglia d'Oro al Valor Militare;
 Guidobald von Thun und Hohenstein (1616-1668), cardinale;
 Jakob Maximilian von Thun und Hohenstein (1687-1742), cardinale;
 Johann Ernst von Thun und Hohenstein (1643-1709), vescovo di Salisburgo;
 Joseph Maria von Thun und Hohenstein (1713.1763), vescovo di Passau;
 Leopold Wolfgar Bernger Wratislaw Graf von Thun und Hohenstein (1811-1888), generale austriaco;
 Leopold Leonhard Raymund von Thun und Hohenstein (1748-1818), vescovo di Passau;
 Maria Anna von Thun und Hohenstein (1698-1711), principessa del Liechtenstein;
 Oswald Joseph von Thun und Hohenstein-Salm-Reifersscheidt (1849-1913), politico austriaco;
 Róża Thun (1954-), pubblicista;
 Roderich von Thun und Hohenstein (1908-1983), politico austriaco;
 Sigmund Ignaz von Thun und Hohenstein (1827-1890), politico austriaco;
 Thomas Johann Kaspar von Thun-Hohenstein (1737-1796), vescovo;
 Wenzeslaus von Thun und Hohenstein (1629-1673), diplomatico austriaco;
 Christoph Thun Hohenstein (ancora in vita) Alta figura nella regione di Vienna;
 Matteo Thun (1952-), architetto e designer italiano;
 Matteo II Thun (1812-1892), collezionista d'arte, mecenate e politico italiano.

Note

Altri progetti


text:
Theoria-press △⃒⃘
What we can see follows from how we can look. Theoria is a higher vision. As Plotinus says, "We must invoke…a new manner of seeing, a wakefulness that is the birthright of us all, though few put it to use."
Calendar of the Soul
Face to Face with Invisible Honeybees
Honeybees of the Invisible
But Now Face to Face: Philosophy as Letters & Spirit
Five Themes: Mind, Life, Self, Truth, & Knowledge
Scattered Leaves
The Redemption of Thinking
Ethics, Miscellany, Philosophy
Miscellany: freedom, community, conscience, consciousness, moral relativism, and other subjects
Posted by Max Leyf on 2021-03-09
The first time and the last time:
An oft-repeated Zen maxim is to approach life with the beginner's mind. Jesus teaches a similar way when he admonishes that "lest ye become as little children, ye shall not enter the kingdom of heaven." A great deal could be said about this principle but here I only wish to establish it as a thesis through citing these testimonies. Interesting, and by way of a sort of antithesis which mysteriously serves to fortify the thesis rather than to challenge it: I recall reading an interview with an accomplished cellist who, when asked how he so consistently managed to bring such depth of passion and expression to his performance offered the very simple reply, "every time I perform a piece, I imagine it will be the last." It intrigues me that these instructions—to live as if it is the first time and to live as if it is the last—can at once appear as contradictions but at the same time, serve to kindle a similar state of presence in us. Perhaps they serve as approaches to the two "gateways" of existence and our egos must humble themselves and submit before what is greater than they.
On desire, restraint, and freedom:
In reading your thoughts on the subject of freedom and desire, it occurred to me that there is a sort of "asymmetry" in respect to the question of restraint, since to exercise restraint always takes a specific quality of effort while to realize a desire also takes a certain kind of effort but the quality is different. I think the difference consists in (1) the origin of the effort since in the first case it originates in conscience and in the second case it does not and (2) the degree of consciousness that is necessary to sustain the effort since we will always tend to default to carrying out our desires in any instant during which our attention flags. Think about the kind of effort it takes for an alcoholic to get a drink compared to the kind that it takes him to refrain from getting it.
On the essence of community:
I think it is just right to say that a community is a group of people but it is more than a mere group. The group must also possess "togetherness." "Togetherness" is often a quality that follows from a scenario in which members of a group share in a common principle. In fact, in more philosophical times before physical science become the standard of knowledge, a "principality" (Greek ἀρχὴ arche) was understood as a sort of angelic regent that lent unity to a mere aggregate and transformed "units" into "members."
On moral relativism:
I also thought your analysis of moral relativism was excellent. I want to make an explicit connection that you hinted at but did not establish outright. You wrote that "if someone who is a relativist says it is bad to be intolerant of other people's world views, that would be a moral truth. That would mean the person that has intolerance is morally wrong making them not a relativist." It is also self-refuting for a moral relativist to claim that "it is bad to be intolerant of other people's views" because (1) moral relativism entails that the only thing that could make a person's views bad is if she did not hold them, which doesn't make sense and (2) by undermining the basis of objective morality, it also undermines any basis for its own moral claims.
I think that your description of cultural relativism is very insightful. You wrote:
Cultural relativism is when two cultures believe in a same value as respect but show it differently. One believes no eye contact is a sign of respect when another one believes eye contact is a sign of respect.
It suggests that moral relativism (in contrast with cultural relativism) would be distinguished by the recognition of the principle of respect itself and not only its expression. For instance, in the example you gave, both cultures regard respect as an important value but they show this in a different way. If a third and fourth culture both maintained eye contact and also did not, respectively, but neither of these gestures had any connection to respect, and the cultures did not regard respect as an important value, and I thought that they were just as correct about this judgement as any culture that did regard respect as an important value, then I would be a moral relativist and you should hate me. Just kidding. But can you see what I am getting at here?
I agree with you that ethical precepts must transcend their cultural instantiations. Moral relativism is arguably a euphemism for "nihilism" because the claim that "no moral statement is any better than any other moral statement" is either a descriptive claim or a normative one. If it is a descriptive claim, the correct term would be cultural relativism and not moral relativism so the question is moot. If it is a normative claim, then it is relying on the very hierarchy of values that it professes to reject. "Better" is an evaluative term and you cannot do away with the basis for a statement without discarding the force of that statement as well any more than it is possible to remain seated on a branch that one has sawed off.
On achieving an adequate concept of "freedom":
I think that what you said about freedom is spot on. In fact, the conventional definition of freedom in contemporary Liberal society (i.e. philosophical Liberalism stemming from Enlightenment, mostly British, thinkers) as "freedom from external constraint on my actions" has the surreptitious effect of diverting our attention from the interior freedom that is our only defense against systematic manipulation of our subconscious beliefs and desires by means of marketing and propaganda. No more is a smoker "free" to have a cigarette when the craving comes upon him than a contemporary human being is free to seek to acquire the latest consumer good or political opinion. Plato's doctrine that a human being is least free when she does what she pleases and the only salvation is through wisdom or "self-knowledge" has never been more pertinent than today, in my estimation.
I think "freedom" is among the most deceptively simple terms in our language. It has become a sort of refrain in our discussions about critical thinking that believing oneself to know something is mutually exclusive with learning that thing. To my mind, "freedom" presents a case in point. Partly as an inheritance from Liberal philosophers like Hobbes, Mill, Locke, Rousseau, and Smith, modern Americans usually think of freedom as something like "lack of external impediment to my will." This is even enshrined in the Declaration of Independence as an "inalienable right" under the rubric of "the pursuit of happiness." This is obviously influenced by Hobbes, who had written that "Felicity is a continual progress of desire, from one object to another; the attaining of the former, being still but the way to the latter" (Leviathan, 1651). The conception of freedom as "being able to live out my desires" has the unfortunate effect of instilling in us the pretense of comprehension while at the same time, diverting our attention away from deeper insight into what is at stake. As long as we are monitoring our environment for adversaries who seek to deprive us of the freedom to act on our desires, we will be blind to the fact that we have already forfeit this freedom by indenturing our wills to these desires, which we did not freely chose but which rather sprang upon us from unconscious origins. These may include physiological processes, suggestions or subliminal messages from our environment and from other people—like marketing campaigns or political propaganda, for instance—or "spiritual wickedness in high places" (Ephesians 6:12). It doesn't do any good to close the barn door if the horse has already bolted and neither is libertarian freedom of any value if I am a slave to my capricious whims or extrinsic thoughts implanted in me without my awareness. It could even be said that a person has as many masters as he has desires. Suppose you want to sit in the sun but you are in Alaska and so you are compelled to drive for 7 days straight to get to California. Can you see the way in which the principle contained in this example can easily transform our lives into a condition of bondage and servility to our desires? I think it adds dimension to the question that is orthogonal to the one we are wont to consider.
On the perception of "similarity", Socrates as "midwife to the soul", and "the simulation hypothesis:
This is a deceptively simple issue that penetrates to the heart of our most fundamental processes of perception and truth. Suppose you see a red apple and a red flower. This means you have one object, which you see, and another object, which you see, but also a similarity, which you do not see but which nevertheless is there. You can paint the apple on a canvas. You can paint the rose on a canvas. You can paint both "the apple" and "the rose" on the same canvas. But you can't paint the "both" nor the "sameness" or "similarity." What does this suggest to you about perception and, more specifically, what our physical senses on the one hand and our intelligence on the other contribute to perception?
A midwife is someone who assists a mother in giving birth. Socrates is establishing an analogy between the manner in which a midwife assists a mother in giving birth to a child and the manner in which he assists the soul of his interlocutors in giving birth to wisdom—midwife:mother:infant::Socrates:soul:wisdom.
I agree that the question is intriguing. It has recently experienced a surge in popularity in the Zeitgeist following movies like The Matrix (1999) and the simulation hypothesis propounded by some theoretical physicists and advocated by Elon Musk. One thing to consider is that the relation is asymmetrical: "dream" or "illusion" is defined against "wakefulness" or "reality" and not the other way around. In the same way, "error" is measured against "truth." It would be impossible to measure error against error or truth against error because error does not provide a standard except by ceasing to be error. It's not clear that it is a sensible proposition to affirm that "reality is an illusion" or that "waking is sleeping" except by an appeal to some external standard against which experience could be evaluated. I think a good place to start is to consider what kind of thing this external standard could be. In the past, people thought of God as the guarantor of absolute reality against which all of our subjective fancies could be judged. But it is distinctly unfashionable to believe in God today, or at least to appeal to God in addressing philosophical or scientific questions. I hope this can serve to inspire you to further thoughts on the subject.
On conscience and consciousness:
I think you were correct to observe that, despite that it is possible to distinguish consciousness from conscience, they are not altogether different. You said they are "similar" but perhaps it is more accurate to say they are related. More specifically, perhaps it could be said that consciousness is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for conscience. The latter, as you indicated, entails besides mere wakefulness (1) an element of moral intelligence, by which I mean the ability to evaluate things according to their goodness, and (2) a recollective capacity, by which I mean the ability to render past experiences present to oneself in the face of any critical decision or moment. Conscience then, could be understood as consciousness that is both possessed of moral intelligence and continuous or sustained and therefore ready at hand for recollection. What do you think? I say this because this seems to be the argument that the remainder of your reflection presents.
Finally, I very much appreciated your observation that to transform a state of momentary consciousness into a trait of character demands some kind of initiative on our part. This initiative appears to be necessary in order to counteract what seems to be an innate disposition to torpor that we all possess. Being alive risks becoming a habit when instead we could be living in freedom and in presence. Have I understood your view correctly? I would be very curious to hear more about practices you may have to combat the waking sleep that you described, or to "turn the soul about, passing from a day which is little better than night to the true day of being," as Plato says.
Conscience is an internal sense-organ; the eye perceives light and conscience is the moral sense. Consciousness is the substrate for all perception.
On knowledge as "unforgetting":
You observed that "If I misunderstand a question, and answer in kind, with a similar, but only somewhat fulfilling response that does not entirely satisfy the inquiry and meet the criteria it proposes, I risk deceiving myself, that I understand a greater entirety of something." I wonder if you have in mind the way that any belief that I have understood something obviates any attempt I might otherwise have ventured to grasp that thing. In this way, believing I know something actively prevents me from acquiring knowledge of it.
I would also like to add to your reflections around the fruitfulness of the question by pointing out that it seems to serve as a source of interior illumination to reveal knowledge that we did not know we possessed. "Interior" here is a spatial metaphor to refer to something non-spatial. If we consider posing a question, usually we are able to reject incorrect answers and recognize correct ones. How is this possible given that the knowledge that could provide for this kind of discrimination is just what we are ostensibly seeking with our question? In some way, we seem already to possess the knowledge that we seek and must only discover a means of "unforgetting" it. Hence Plato's doctrine of knowledge as anamnesis, which is sometimes also translated as "recollection"
On the ethics of abortion:
I think you did a good job exploring the issue of abortion but I think there is a very crucial element to the question that you did not really address and it has led you to argue for a position that is perhaps more radical than you really believe. It is generally held that an individual possesses physical autonomy over her person and therefore, like you argued, she is justified in making decisions that affect her body. But this right is not without qualifications. Indeed the present pandemic scenario has stirred up a substantial amount of conflict over the limits to this autonomy when it risks infringing on the autonomy and welfare of others. I imagine you see where I am going with this. For your defense of the right to abortion to be convincing, you would have to establish that a fetus is not a human being. Otherwise you would be effectively arguing for a mother's right to revoke the life of any of her children on the mere basis that it threatened her autonomy. Most opponents of abortion do not argue that a woman should be deprived of her bodily autonomy in any categorical sense. Instead, on the basis of a recognition that rights exist in a complex hierarchy and inter-relation, opponents of abortion argue that a woman's right to autonomy, like anyone else's, is ultimately subordinate to the right to life of another human being.
It is not easy to "draw a line," as you observed, since we also know that an infant cannot survive without constant care from its mother, and this remains the case for a number of years at the very least. Despite that it is not a simple case of stumbling upon "the answer" to a question like this, I do firmly believe that there is virtue in thinking critically about it if nothing else than to demonstrate good will towards those who do not share one's viewpoint.
On forming the proper relationship to technology:
You wrote about how the internet provides us with a superabundance of answers. I think I understand what you mean, though it makes me wonder whether having an "answer" to something is the same as having knowledge of that thing. Does it make sense to think of possessing "knowledge" that one does not understand? I could grant that having access to something that was intelligible but not yet understood is a kind of potential knowledge or virtual knowledge, but it is hard for me to see how it could be actual knowledge without its being apprehended by a subject (i.e. a person like you or me). In this way, Google does indeed magnify the scope of our potential knowledge to an almost inconceivable degree by providing access to "matter" for our understanding to work upon and seek to transform it into actual knowledge. But again, access to potential knowledge alone is not the same thing as the possession of actual knowledge any more than the fact of grapes growing in a vineyard is the same as having wine. In fact, the world also presents us with potential knowledge in the form of nature arrayed before our senses, but we recognize this for what it is and do not suppose to possess actual knowledge of it until we have understood our perceptions by working on them with our intelligence. By degrees, we gain in wisdom through this process of observation and comprehension. I think that the kind of potential knowledge that Google provides access to actually risks vitiating the development of wisdom because it encourages us to conflate information or potential knowledge with understanding or actual knowledge. In this way, we are comparable to the prisoners in Plato's cave, who flatter themselves to be free and so remain in captivity by their own conceit. Do you see what I am getting at here? What do you think of this?
Photo by Ivica Du017eambo on Pexels.com
Previous Post Video: The Invention of the Written Word and Plato's "The Myth of Theuth"
Next Post Miscellany: questions concerning the philosophy of science
Inauguration 2022-03-31
Grafting to Substock 2022-03-28
Miscellany: on free speech, objective love, and the metaphor of conscience as a "moral compass" 2022-03-19
Ten Questions on The Redemption of Thinking 2022-03-09
Miscellany: On the incoherence of "follow-the-science" as a political slogan and other topics 2022-02-21
Miscellany: on love 2022-02-20
Miscellany: On the reason for belief, the perfection of design, freedom versus constraint, and other topics 2022-02-01
Miscellany: On complementary modes of perception, ethics, freedom, and other topics 2021-12-12
Waves of Thinking Lap the Shore of Consciousness 2021-12-01
Miscellany: On the Cosmic Mountain, Human Nature, the Threefold Soul, Genomic Identitarianism, the Logic of Mask Mandates, 2021-11-22
Miscellany: On freedom and authenticity 2021-11-20
Miscellany: On V for Vendetta, vaccination, moral phylogeny and other topics 2021-11-13
The Archetype of "Reversal" (περιπέτεια, peripeteia) or "the Flip" in Perception and Thinking 2021-10-31
Miscellany: on information and knowledge, COVID-19 profiteering, and other subjects 2021-10-25
The Archetype of Reversal: On Light and Thought 2021-10-17
Miscellany: On issues surrounding vaccination mandates 2021-10-17
On Theoria, the persistence of vision, and the consummation of dialectic 2021-10-11
Miscellany: On the faceless tyranny of the generic, analogy and music, light, vaccination mandates, etc. 2021-10-10
On the radix of ethics 2021-10-02
Aphorisms on non-duality and the simultaneous presence of the I in all perception (3) 2021-09-13
Further aphorisms and observations on perception and cognition in the spirit of Rudolf Steiner's Philosophy of Freedom and other early epistemological works (2) 2021-09-06
Miscellany: On the first philosopher, the scientific method in theory and practice, and other subjects 2021-09-04
Some aphorisms and observations on perception and cognition in the spirit of Rudolf Steiner's Philosophy of Freedom and other early epistemological works (1) 2021-09-04
Time and the Archetype of "Reversal" (περιπέτεια, peripeteia) or "the Flip" 2021-08-26
Miscellany: On light, beauty, sense-perception and other topics 2021-08-17
Variations on the theme of perception that Plato outlines in the Theaetetus 2021-08-17
On "ecstasy," (ἔκστασις, from ex- "out of" + stasis "to stand,") or "reversal": 2021-08-06
Miscellany: On the soul, calculating "risk," narcissism, and iconoclasm 2021-07-10
Does time pass? 2021-07-09
Miscellany: On Babel, art, Barfield, and Girard 2021-07-08
On diálogos (διάλογος, "dialogue") as Communion 2021-07-05
Sense-making in the 21st Century: understanding the incommensurateness between perceived danger and actual danger in contemporary First World societies 2021-07-05
Miscellany: On ethics, revolution, and viriditas 2021-07-01
Rudolf Steiner on Higher Cognition 2021-07-01
Miscellany: On censorship in the time of Corona and other topics 2021-06-21
Miscellany: mind in science, Genesis, deontology & utilitarianism, etc. 2021-06-08
Miscellany: Left & Right, the Euthyphro dilemma, the scapegoat mechanism, etc. 2021-06-01
A Brief Reflection on the "Placebo Effect" 2021-05-28
Miscellany: involution, evolution, and "the experience machine" 2021-05-28
Elements of an Ethics Textbook (6): Self, Society, Nature 2021-05-12
Elements of an Ethics Textbook (3.1): Seven Reservations with Utilitarianism 2021-05-10
Miscellany: On beauty, science, and revolution 2021-05-05
Miscellany: on education, art, science, music, and the Tower of Babel 2021-05-02
Miscellany: On "The Danger of Fact-ist Politics" and other topics 2021-04-22
Miscellany: "Science," "citizens," "consumers," and other topics 2021-04-19
Video Lecture: Science and Religion (3) and Philosophy 2021-04-18
Video Lecture: Science and Religion (2) The Essence and History of the Scientific Method 2021-04-17
Video Lecture: Science and Religion (1) Self and World 2021-04-12
Miscellany: Mary and "the Gardener", naming as invocation and not as labelling, and other topics 2021-04-12
Video Lecture: On the Reality of Thinking 2021-04-05
Miscellany: On the scapegoat, art, science, and authenticity 2021-04-05
Mythos, Logos, and the Lamb of God: René Girard on the Scapegoat Mechanism 2021-04-04
Video Lecture: On the Myth of Prometheus, Technology, and Archetypal Fire 2021-03-28
Miscellany: Truth in art, beauty in science, and other topics 2021-03-28
Miscellany: On teleology and evolutionary theory, the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, and other topics 2021-03-22
Video Lecture: Justice and the Good in Plato's Republic 2021-03-21
Miscellany: on evolutionary theory, knowledge, and ethics 2021-03-17
Plato's Republic: In Defense of The Poets 2021-03-16
Video Lecture: On Knowledge as "Unforgetting" in Plato's Meno Dialogue 2021-03-14
Miscellany: questions concerning the philosophy of science 2021-03-09
Miscellany: freedom, community, conscience, consciousness, moral relativism, and other subjects 2021-03-09
Video: The Invention of the Written Word and Plato's "The Myth of Theuth" 2021-02-28
Miscellany: roses and "roses," Aristotle, coronavirus 2021-02-28
Miscellany: On objective love, philosophy of science, and other subjects 2021-02-27
Video Lecture: Love and Wisdom in Plato's Symposium Dialogue 2021-02-19
Miscellany: "Happy is he who knows the causes of things" 2021-02-19
Video Lecture: On Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" 2021-02-15
Miscellany: infants, pigeons, "critical thinking" 2021-02-15
Miscellany: on the notorious "Trolley Problem," ethics, and the equivocations of happiness 2021-02-08
Elements of an Ethics Textbook (5): Virtue Ethics 2021-02-05
Elements of an Ethics Textbook (4): Deontology 2021-02-05
Elements of an Ethics Textbook (3): Utilitarianism 2021-02-03
Elements of an Ethics Textbook (2): Normative Ethics 2021-02-03
Miscellany: liberalism, knowledge, ethics 2021-01-30
Elements of an Ethics Textbook (1): Introduction 2021-01-30
Miscellany: Enneagrammatic types as ratios and questions about ethics 2021-01-16
Margaret Fuller's "A Credo," composed as a letter to a friend in 1842 2020-12-17
Miscellany: stereotypes, statistics, scapegoats and so on 2020-12-11
Miscellany: (1) lying, (2) Maslow's hierarchy of needs, (3) Corona lockdowns, (4) "a house divided," (5) the concept a health 2020-12-04
New Publication: The Redemption of Thinking 2020-12-02
Miscellany: on conscience and community 2020-11-23
Miscellany: on community 2020-11-19
Correspondences: on conscience and the inner law 2020-11-10
Miscellany: on freedom and scientific determinism 2020-11-10
Miscellany: Equality, equity, inalienable rights 2020-11-08
Video: Conversation with Debbie Elliott on Rudolf Steiner and how to see with our spiritual eyes in these interesting times 2020-11-01
New publication: Scattered Leaves 2020-11-01
Miscellany: theory, evidence, and observation and commentaries on various issues and parables 2020-10-26
Miscellany: "Observation and evidence…and theory" 2020-10-21
Video: On The Objectivity of Ideas 2020-10-18
Video: The Parable of the Chariot and the Problem of Knowledge 2020-10-16
Miscellany: "Ethics and technics" 2020-10-11
Video: Technology and the Myth of Prometheus 2020-10-09
Video: Conversation with Debbie Elliott on Rudolf Steiner and the Archangel Michael 2020-10-09
Video: Dreaming and Wakefulness, and Technology in the Myth of Thoth 2020-10-05
Miscellany: "debate and/or dialogue" 2020-10-05
Miscellany: "critical thinking" 2020-09-30
Two Poems 2020-09-28
Cloak and Dagger: Some observations on an interesting pattern in the contemporary Zeitgeist 2020-09-28
Logic in Arguments About Atheism II 2020-09-25
Logic in arguments about atheism 2020-09-24
Correspondences: On dualism and its opposite 2020-09-21
Poem: "You, lark of the morning" 2020-09-21
Correspondences: On Realism, Magical Realism, and Psychedelics 2020-09-19
Poem: "And is that not the carpenter's son?" 2020-09-07
Correspondences: On Trust and Knowledge 2020-09-07
Correspondences: On Corona and Causality, and on Conspiracy, Censorship and Critical Thinking 2020-09-07
On Adam & Eve II 2020-09-07
Poem: "How is it we can smile…" 2020-09-05
Correspondences: On Moral Relativism and Scapegoating 2020-09-05
Poem: In memoriam 2020-09-02
Michaelmas Poem: "Fellowship of the Setting Sun" 2020-08-31
Poem: "Autumn's sentinels" 2020-08-25
Plato and the Poets 2020-08-24
Is the Earth flat? 2020-08-18
On "Conscience" and "Conscious" 2020-08-05
A critique of "Plato was right: Earth is made, on average, of cubes" 2020-07-22
On communities, hierarchy, and Go(o)d 2020-07-22
On The Book of Job (2) 2020-07-17
On the eucharist of symbolism 2020-07-11
Correspondences: On love 2020-07-09
On the sublimation of speech 2020-07-08
More on the spectrum of the will and its translumination by consciousness 2020-06-30
Moral evolution and the translumination of the will with consciousness 2020-06-28
What is the effect of certain forms of art on the psyche and the evolution of consciousness? 2020-06-27
On Adam & Eve 2020-06-25
On virtue, the ethics of dialogue, and biography 2020-06-24
On decision and the love of wisdom 2020-06-21
Thesis Disputation: "The Redemption of Thinking: A Study in Truth, Knowledge, and the Evolution of Consciousness with Special Reference to Goethe, Barfield, & Steiner" 2020-05-21
Poem: "…for spring is here" 2020-05-17
Poem: "Did you ever wonder?" 2020-05-15
Article on Owen Barfield and the Evolution of Consciousness published in Cosmos & History Journal 2020-05-09
On Rudolf Steiner's The Philosophy of Freedom (3): Thinking, Freedom, & Love 2020-04-23
On Rudolf Steiner's The Philosophy of Freedom, Part II 2020-04-21
On Rudolf Steiner's The Philosophy of Freedom, Part I 2020-04-20
A Short Exchange On the Parable of the Cave and the Parable of the Blind Men and the Elephant 2020-04-19
Video Lecture: Moral Reasoning and Concluding Thoughts 2020-04-17
Video Lecture: On AI and Human Freedom 2020-04-14
Is COVID-19 proof that God is wrothful or that he does not exist? 2020-04-14
A Brief Reflection on COVID-19 & 5G 2020-04-12
Mythos & Logos (3): The Scapegoat and the Lamb of God 2020-04-11
Caritas and Biography: Two Exhortations 2020-04-11
Video: Mind & Brain 2020-04-09
Mythos & Logos (2): Mimetic Desire, Violence, and the Scapegoat 2020-04-08
Poem: Vision of the Rood 2020-04-08
Mythos & Logos (1): Saturn, Jupiter, and René Girard 2020-04-07
Video: Prometheus & Archetypal Fire 2020-04-06
An Offering of Video Lectures 2020-04-05
Categories Select Category Anthroposophy "Reversal" (περιπέτεια, peripeteia) Calendar of the Soul Christianity Correspondences Epistemology Ethics Evolution of Consciousness Goethean Science Hors catégorie Miscellany Philosophy Philosophy of Science Plato and Aristotle Poetry and Sonnets Publications Videos
Chronological archives


text:
RCX releases new promo video "F5"
Today, RCX released his new video for his song "F5", the first song on his new, upcoming album, "Lonestar Outlaw". The video was self produced by RCX and it was his first time using green screen technology in one of his self produced videos. RCX says, "Working on this video was a great learning experience, and while it does have a few flaws, I think it was a great first attempt." The song F5 also contains two feature verse from Mikey G of Ill MInd Entertainment and Yung Prophecy of WAR studios. The full version of the song will be available upon the release of RCX's album, due out this Summer.
Follow the link to watch the exclusive video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdTMDpizis8


text:
HomeMachine GunsLight MGsVintage Saturday: Italians in the Snow
Vintage Saturday: Italians in the Snow
April 27, 2013 Ian McCollum Light MGs, Vintage photo 25
Bad news, Marino – you're shipping out to the Eastern Front. And worse news; we're giving you a Breda.
Italian soldiers on the Russian Front, with a Breda M30 machine gun and a Carcano carbine. Thanks to Max Popenker for the photo!
Brøndby Rifle Photos
Czech CZ-52 Pistol Video
AS Val, VSS Vintorez, OTs-14 Groza, and more: 9x39mm with Max Popenker
September 10, 2019 Ian McCollum Commentary, Interview, Select-fire Rifles, Suppressor, Video 14
Today we welcome back Max Popenker of ModernFirearms.net to discuss the Soviet and Russian development of the 9x39mm suppressed rifle cartridge. From the early unsuccessful and sidetracked efforts to replace the PBS suppressor through the […]
Book Review: Col Chinn's 5-Volume Opus on Machine Guns
January 14, 2018 Ian McCollum Book review, Video 58
George Chinn's 5-volume opus machine gun-icus is a massive and extremely valuable reference work on the development of machine guns, as well as aircraft machine guns and aircraft cannon. It also includes and entire volume […]
Semiauto pistol
Italian Vitali 1910 pistol
March 7, 2012 Ian McCollum Semiauto pistol 6
We have been able to find very little information on the Vitali 1910 automatic pistol, but we did have the opportunity to take a look at one recently. It is very clearly marked Vitali […]
I don't think he voted National Fascist Party again after this.
Fidel Feederle says:
I don't think he lived to vote after this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_participation_in_the_Eastern_Front
These soldiers seem to be somewhat lightly dressed for the Russian winter. Could be sometime in the autumn with early snowfall but with more tolerable temperatures. Either that, or this photo might have been taken during the first winter of the Russian Campaign, when most Axis forces were caught flat-footed without adequate winter wear.
Interesting how Breda could have come up with a design as unforgiving as the M30, yet the same firm was responsible for what many consider one of the best MMG's of the war — the Breda Modelo 37 8mm, whose only real idiosyncrasy was the 20-round strip feed which could slow down the rate of fire viv-a-vis a belt-fed system. It has been said that the LRDG actually preferred the Modelo 37 ( on the occasions when they could capture both the gun and its ammunition ) to their own Lewis and Vickers guns.
Weren't all of the Italian troops the 1st winter Alpine? Those don't look to be Alpine helmets, as the Alpines retained the feather. I've seen pictures of them fighting with the feather in their helmet, but maybe they did at times remove them.
Italy's ground-based involvement in the first year on the Russian Front comprised three divisions, namely the 52nd Motorized Division "Torino", 9th Motorized Division "Pasubio" and 3rd Cavalry Division "Amadeo Duca d'Aosta". They were chosen because their inherent mobility was compatible with the Blitzkrieg warfare techniques of their German allies. Together, the three Italian divisions formed the "Corpo di Spedizione Italiano in Russia" ( Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia ) or CSIR.
It was only in August 1942 that an additional seven divisions were sent to augment the CSIR, the collective name then being changed to "Armata Italiana in Russia" or ARMIR, which was synonymous with the 8th Italian Army. Of these, four were infantry divisions ( 2nd Infantry Division "Sforzesca", 3rd Infantry Division "Ravenna", 5th Infantry Division "Cosseria" and 156th Infantry Division "Vicenza" ), while the remaining three were Alpine units ( 2nd Alpine Division "Tridentina", 3rd Alpine Division "Julia" and 4th Alpine Division "Cuneense" ). The ARMIR was divided into three Corps : The XXXV Army Corps ( essentially the original CSIR — 52nd Motorized, 9th Motorized and 3rd Cavalry Divisions ) ; the II Army Corps ( 2nd Infantry, 3rd Infantry, 5th Infantry and 156th Infantry Divisions ) ; and the Alpine Corps ( 2nd, 3rd and 4th Alpine Divisions ).
The ARMIR also had an organic "Comando Aereo" or Aviation Command with its own fighter, bomber and transport aircraft. In addition, the following assets were included in the TO & E of the ARMIR — the German 62nd and 298th Divisions, one Croatian Volunteer Legion and three Fascist Blackshirt Legions.
So the answer to your question is no, not all the Italian troops on the Eastern Front were Alpini, but yes, a good number of them were. Hope this helps with any research you may want to pursue regarding the topic.
Yeah, it's really sad. Few words can really describe the terrible price of war.
These soldiers had no idea what they were getting into; numbers of dead and captured are astounding. They were beaten to shreds by combination of Red Army and Russian winter, regardless of quality (or lack of it) of their equipment.
They had just little better deal with West. One young man I met in Canada told me (his mather was Italian, father English) that his parents had to apply for special permit to get married since his mother was considered "enemy alien". This was the 'harvest' the Italians collected for their fascist past.
It was also their leaders who put them in such an untenable position. As usual, it is the ordinary soldier or civilian who ends up paying the bitter price for the ambitions and visions of the upper heirarchy.
Yes that is all reality; we all did pay or shall pay for sustaining our leaders. There are no exceptions.
Danny F says:
Some time ago, in the 'Notes & Queries' column of the Guardian newspaper in the UK, someone asked about an Italian poster from 1943 advertising a concert where the tickets were to be paid for in wool. This was an attempt to provide some sort of warm clothing for the troops serving on the Eastern Front, as the army had none.
If Benni' had been planning to sabotage the axis war effort, he couldn't have done it any more effectively
Showing up fashionably late for Barbarossa – just in time for the Russian winter.
Denny,
I'd be very interested in your take on this.
I met someone a few weeks back, who's mother had been Russian; from Rostov (I'm guessing the Rostov on the Volga).
apparently, the Soviet's military conquest of Russia, only just to say arrived in her home area, before the Nazi invasion.
She wasn't going to put up with either, and walked to Egypt, where she met her future husband.
I knew previously that the bolsheviks had a long and murderous task to subjugate the Russian empire, but I had'nt realized quite how long that process took.
Your friend's mother had quite a story to tell. Hopefully, that story has been preserved in one form or other as part of the human heritage. Here in the U.S., National Public Radio has a wonderful ongoing project known as the StoryCorps Oral History Project. It can be accessed via the Internet at http://www.npr.org and anyone can participate. The idea is to encourage people to share their life stories, or important bits thereof, and these stories are permanently archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library Of Congress for posterity. Over time, the aggregate of these stories has come to represent the human experience through its multi-faceted diversity. Some of the stories are heart-warming, others are heart-breakingly poignant, and many are everything else in between. I believe similar projects now exist in some other countries, eg., Singapore. If there is one in the UK as well, her story could be told and not lost with time. If she is unable to do so herself, it could still be narrated by a family member ( after all, most personal stories are handed down by word-of-mouth ).
Yes Keith, we are often open to whirlwind of circumstances, sudden motions of mind, cruelties of others and all what is commonly called – destiny. Rostov might have been the city on (Ukrainian) river Don. Ukrainians fought bravely in their resistance to be eventually subdued by revolutionaries by 1921. All they wanted was to be free and independent.
I tell you what I think about incredible amount of strive Russia and her people (and people in neghbouring nations) went thru since begining of 20th century – it was extremely unfortunate. I attached song with title "No need to worry gentlemen (officers)" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRUxxzFmoUA
This reflects among other things on events in country's past in true Russian fashion – with soulful nostalgia. It reminds that by far not all were "murderous bolsheviks" and many of those who resisted Bolsheviks ended their patriotic duty tragically, away from support from their own nation. Those were brave men who fought tooth and nail …and lost. As you may know, Bolshevik's conduct and cruelties was to great deal orchestrated by foreign interest, contrary to real nature and needs of Russians. This may be past the scope of my intent and I let you to educate yourself on the subject, it you care for it.
During WWII the situation was dramatically different – old-time patriotic moods had risen and the 'proletarian internationalism' was on back burner. From this point of view, and relating to subject of article, the invaders including our poor Italians were clearly shortsighted.
There is a memoir by an Italian artillery officer: Few Returned: Twenty-eight Days on the Russian Front by Eugenio Corti.
Chris Morton says:
I recall a movie about Italian POWs in the Soviet Union starring Peter Falk. It made a point of noting the practice of cannibalism in the camps. I think I saw it on local Chicago TV in the early '70s.
Still, I think that both German and Italian POWs had a higher return rate from Soviet POW camps after the war than did Japanese POWs.
As I recall from distant past, my parents had friends in Germany who visited once with us. The man who's name was Otto was German ex-soldier captured by Russians and held captive untill Konrad Adenauer, German chancellor menaged to get them (those who were still surviving) back home in 1956. The mentioned man had story to tell – he lost his right arm to frost, least of perils which could have happened.
Denny, please see my reply to Keith dated April 28, 2013 @ 6:09 a.m. Perhaps you could do something similar where you are to help save priceless memories and experiences before they are gone forever. Thanks for sharing, as always.
I appreciate your trust in me Earl. I will say something, albeit with degree of reluctance and respecting hospitality of webmaster; I do not want to stray from his intended subject too much.
However, just for short – I am sceptical of human kind's future. New tragedies are in offing; just watch the relentless push of forces behind the governments…. there will be plenty of stories to come, untill last human lives on this planet, so to say.
This is not to say the firearms are useless, but they do not come even close to awesome power of weapons of new kind. If used in future (and final) conflict – not much is left to tell. Thanks for your attention.
Denny's post of April 28th, 2013 @ 10:44 a.m. is a good summary of the heart and soul of Russia in many ways. For all those who want to really understand more of this, I would recommend reading "Red Army" by Ralph Peters ( Pocket Books / Simon & Schuster, New York, 1989 ). Although the book was written as fiction, it was based on the very real possibility of a large-scale conventional war in Europe between the Soviet Union and NATO. The author was an experienced U.S. intelligence officer who specialized as a Russian linguist and analyst, and had served extensively in Europe during the Cold War years. He really understood the Russians and the myriad of other ethnic communities that made up the Soviet Union because he was able to think in their language, with all the nuances, symbols and meanings that are not apparent in translation, and therefore was able to become, in effect, a Russian. He therefore wrote "Red Army" as seen through the eyes of Russian soldiers in the front lines, with all their strengths and weaknesses as ordinary human beings committed to a conflict driven by events greater than themselves. All in all, a frightening, deeply insightful, thoroughly realistic and ultimately moving story that could so easily have become harsh reality, and a homage to both the human spirit and the terrible price of war.
Excellent contribution Earl! Just if I may,… little bit of humour to show a kind only Russian person can have and Westerners will have difficulty to grasp. I met a Russian man who was commander of unit – he was quite educated actually. He told me this (it was apparently re-told in their armed forces as a joke): "Yes, of course we can declare war on America; but we have to be ready to give up next day!". This goes to time of Russia's invasion to Afganistan.
:):):)! Reminds me of the standing joke ( told to me by a Russian sea captain who was formerly in the military ) in the Combat Engineer units of the former GSFG ( Group Of Soviet Forces In Germany ) that when engineers don't know what to do, they wave their arms around and point in all directions as if to signify something really important is being accomplished. A version of this actually appears in "Red Army".
Ian, sorry to deviate somewhat from the original pathway of this article, but since the side topics typically encourage critical thinking and lead to related informative and educational threads that can only be of ultimate benefit to everyone, I hope you won't mind too much.
Mu says:
Your faith as a POW on the eastern front depended strongly on whether you were marked in some way or not. The overall survival rate for German POW in Russian hands was 50% (better actually than the one for Soviet troops in German hands). But of 200,000 men at the end in Stalingrad, only 100,000 even made it on the official POW rolls, and only 6,000 of those made it home. Mostly those who volunteered for Paulus's Free Officer Committee.
If you can understand Italian (or the Castellan subs), here is a 1952 movie about the Charge of the Savoia Cavalleria at Isbushensky.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB_niblRkW0&t=14s
Leave a Reply to Mu Cancel reply


Knit, Knit, Knit, and Knit Some More! | Knitting. Just knitting.
Knit, Knit, Knit, and Knit Some More!
MCY was doing great for a while, then for whatever reason, people received their packages way later than they should have (months), didn't receive their packages at all, received yarn that was not even close to what was advertised, or the yarn bled (in one case, it bled enough to dye three other skeins of yarn!
When the complaints started pouring in, MCY let customers know that Danielle Glunt, owner and operator of MCY has been suffering with leukemia. People reported seeing her, doing just fine, after this announcement was made, while Danielle was supposedly in the hospital. Shortly after this, an email was sent out from a supposed family member, stating that Danielle had died and they were wanting to sell the leftover yarn to pay their creditors.
Danielle has since answered phone calls, been seen in public, and thus is either a zombie or still very much alive. I'm voting for very much alive. Despite this, only two people that I can remember offhand have been refunded money since Danielle died, out of many who are owed money.
Because of this scandal, though I have never purchased MCY yarn, I am putting together something detailing what exactly has happened, a timeline of events, as well as trying to inform people of how to contact the New Mexico Attorney General to try and receive a refund. If you feel you have been scammed by Danielle, please send me an email at FlaKnitter AT gmail DOT com, and let me know what has happened. I will forward to you the address for the NM AG, as well as a form you can easily fill out to clearly and concisely complain to the AG.
Right now, people are sending their complaints to the NM AG, and an IC3 investigation has been started. Any questions or comments, please feel free to email me.
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated in any way with MCY, and have never been a customer. I am simply trying to organize the facts to get them out easily to the public. Also, I am not a lawyer and cannot give any legal advice. All I can do is try and point you in the right direction. Please refer to a lawyer if you need more advice/legal advice. Thanks for understanding!
I killed my Icarus shawl. 😦 Never, ever, ever leave your bamboo needles where they could get sat on and broken! But, it's restarted, and I have gotten about half of the first repeat of chart 1 done. Since I've got Monday off, I'm hoping to catch up with everyone!
I also went on a yarn crawl yesterday with Peggy and Diane. So much fun!!! We started at Fay's (where I must go Monday to get some yarn for a hat…Peggy convinced me!), then to Really Knit Stuff, where I got 2 skeins of Cherry Tree Hill in turquoise and the pattern for the BSJ. Last, we went to Wooly Bully, where they were doing a weaving class. So interesting to watch, but I don't need another hobby!! 🙂 Didn't buy anything there, but plan on it when that dreaded paycheck comes in!!
I also found out about a Friday knit night at RKS, so I will be going to that after my knit night at Wooly Bully I think, I love meeting people and knitting, so it should be great fun!!
I figured out the pictures thingy, so let's take a loot at my Christmas knitting, shall we?
It's for by the keyboard, and there's a smaller one for by the mouse.
It's a sunset-inspired version of Sophie, and was made with yarn I hand dyed.
Yup. Knitted police tape. Unfortunately, I'm not quite done yet, so I'm going to have to mail it to him. But, I found a book on forensics involving motor vehicles (or something like that) for free at my library, so I picked that up for him.
Okay, well, last week I was at my boyfriends house. I decided to be daring and try that laceweight that I've been scared of touching for like a month now. Maybe two months… Anyways, the pattern I was doing wanted you to CO so many sts and k five rows garter st. So, I did that. Row 3 was off. So I ripped. Row 2 was off, so I ripped. Row 5 was off by like 7 sts, so I ripped again and had a beer. I tried a few more times, put the knitting aside, and swore off lace weight forever.
So what did I do tonight? Oh yeah, I CO for the Icarus Shawl from interweave knits. (Scroll way down). Yup, it's laceweight. And charted. I've never doe charts before. **sighs** All because a few other people from my knitting group are doing it. I'm such a copy-cat!
Well, at least it's going good so far. Actually, it's going great and I'm getting a little confident….that's not a good sign. Hopefully the knitting goddess is working with someone else this whole project and just skips over me, but I'm not too sure that's going to happen. **sigh** At least I'm over my fright!
My mom got a felted purse, which I hand-dyed the colors for. I can'd find blue kool-aid here, so she got red/yellow/orange. I was hoping it would look like the sunset and be something she takes with her to Hawaii… I'm not completely satisfied with how the handles turned out (I'll make them thicker if I do it again), but otherwise it was a really quick knit–I pretty much got it done Christmas Eve and a little Christmas morning.
My dad got the thingies that you put by the keyboard and mouse to help hold your wrists at the proper place. He had no idea what they were when he opened the package! LOL, but I think he likes them. They're in the computer room at least. And, he doesn't know it, but I'm working on a tie for him.
My brother is getting a scarf. Yes, is getting. He's seen it halfway done and likes it, but I way underestimated the time it would take to make it (my first stranding project, yay!). It's gonna be so cool when it's done! He's gonna be a cop, right? So what better gift from his dear sister than a scarf made to look like crime scene tape? Don't answer. I liked the idea!
ETA Sorry, pics aren't working. 😦 Gonna have to work on that!
Okay, so it's not like I don't have anything to knit. I do. Plenty. I've got about 4,000,000 dishcloths for my mom (well, maybe not that many, but close), a spa set for school (due Tuesday) for our White Elephant thingy, a scarf for my bro (knitted police tape, since he's gonna be a cop), a wallet for my dad (since he doesn't need ties anymore…), a bathmat for my mom, a blanket for my bf (in all fairness, it should only have like an hour of knitting left…), an quant for me (from Knitty.com), something (anything) out of the skein of Noro Silk Garden I bought today, a couple of pair of wristwarmers (for me and mom), the rest of the clapotis, and the rest of the sock from my last pattern. Oh, and socks for me and mom.
On the other side of things, I'll have 3 or 4 days dedicated to knitting, 3 half days at work where I can get some done, and nights now that schools over. Unfortunately I can't knit in Child Development anymore since I'm done with it….
Ah well, I'm going to go work on the spa set and watch some TV. Or maybe the socks. The blanket? Ah, whatever. I'll work on something.
WARNING: This has NOT been test knit. If you knit it, please let me know if you come across any problems.
Mine was knitted with LionBrand Wool (worsted weight), Hand-Dyed to my puppy's favorite color. I used size 3ndls, but you don't usually have to go that far in size to get a tight fabric–they were the only size I had free!
Written for knitting in the round, but can work for DPNs, two circs, or MLing. I used DPNs because that's what I have and prefer, but feel free to use another circular knitting method of your choice!
1)Measure the widest part of the dog's foot (the ball of the foot, basically).
2)Knit a gauge swatch in the yarn and needles you want to use. (Use a needle a couple of sizes smaller than you usually would to create a tight fabric to help prevent nails sticking through).
3)Determine your gauge, and multiply the gauge per inch by the inches around the dog's foot is.
4)Fudge a little to get a number divisible by 4.
5)Cast on this number of sts, and join in the round.
3)See above, divided to get sts/in which was 7.5, multiplied 7.5 by 4.25 to get 31.875.
K 3 rnds in 2×2 rib.
K until about 3/4″ from desired length.
decrease by SSK the second and third sts on each needle).
Decrease until half the # of CO sts are left (may have to add extra decrease in last decrease round).
eyelets at top and tie on!
me on Ravelry (FlaKnitter). Enjoy!!
I'm linked! Yay! My design has now been linked to my Ravelry profile, so if you're on ravelry, you can find it by looking for me– FlaKnitter! Cool stuff!
I've got a couple more patterns I'm working on writing, so we'll see how that works. I'm thinking about a stuffed animal that uses double knitting, what do you think??
Oh! And I'm working on getting my thingy that Casey is letting me test up here–I'll be working on that tonight. It's not supposed to work on wordpress, but I'm going to see if there is anything that I CAN do about it! Other than move, but I will if I must…. I'll keep you posted!
Not dead yet, just busy!
Materials/Guage: Doesn't really matter. Pick a yarn and needles, do a swatch with it, and figure out your sts/in. Multiply by the # of inches wide you want the scarf, and cast on that number.
CO required # for your yarn and width.
Row 6: K across, dropping all YOs.
Row 10: K across, dropping all YOs.
Row 14: K across, dropping all YOs.
Row 18: K across, dropping all YOs.
Repeat rows 5 through 20, pulling after the K rows to pull down the YOs. They'll stretch a LOT by doing this, and that' s what you want. End by K across an extra 2 rows, and bind off.
I found a pattern I liked for my mom's scarf, but….okay, well I didn't really like it…I've been having trouble with that lately. No one seems to be writing patterns for exactly what I want. So, I came up with my own! And I've been busy frogging and knitting and frogging and knitting all day, but I think I've finally got it now…going to knit again!


The Dallas School of Music teaches private euphonium lessons to Carrollton students of all ages and abilities. Young beginners through senior citizens can discover, learn, and play music with professional euphonium lessons Monday through Thursday from 10:00 AM to 9:00 PM and on Saturday from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
A private dlp Euphonium Support Website is built and published for euphonium piano student so personal assistance from our faculty can be easily received whenever questions arise between euphonium lessons. Documentation of lesson assignments, progress reports, and educational files are maintained at the site as well.


text:
Nouvelle Archive - NE DOIT PAS ETRE UTILISE CAR L'ARCHIVE SE CREE QUAND ON SUPPRIME UN INDIVIDU

    <?php include_partial('form', array('form' => $form)) ?>

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Skin Cancer ACS Research Highlights
New Drug Destroys Cancer-Causing Protein (C. Crews)
Understanding Virus That Causes Merkel Cell Skin Cancer (R. Wang)
Non-Genetic Drug Resistance (S. Spencer)
Hijacking the Body's Sugar (R. Wang)
Telling about High Risk (P. Kanetsky)
Brain Metastasis and Alzheimer's (E. Hernando)
Exhausted Melanoma "Killer" Cells (W. Cui)
How a Virus Causes a Rare, Aggressive Skin Cancer May Help Lead to New Treatments
Grantee: Richard Wang, MD, PhD
Institution: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas
Area of Research: Tumor Biochemistry and Endocrinology
Term: 7/01/2018 to 06/30/2022
"As a dermatologist, I see patients with viral skin infections, like warts, all the time, but these warts almost never result in dangerous cancers. By studying why some viral infections will develop into cancers, while others do not, I hope to identify pathways in immune cells
that can be targeted to treat these cancers and give a better understanding of cancer development in general."—Richard Wang, MD, PhD
The Challenge: Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare and aggressive type of cancer that starts in the skin. If left untreated, it has a high risk of coming back or spreading to other parts of the body, and there are fewer treatments available for MCC that has spread.
About 80% of MCC cases are caused by a virus called Merkel cell polyomavirus, but how the virus causes tumors to grow is not known. Only about half of patients with advanced MCC respond well to the current standard of care. A better understanding of how this virus promotes the cancer could yield better treatments for this cancer in the future.
The Research: To better understand MCC, Richard Wang, MD, PhD, and his team compared Merkel cell polyomavirus to two other very similar skin viruses that infect the skin, but do not cause cancer. In a recently published study, they reported that unlike the two other skin viruses, the cancer-causing Merkel cell polyomavirus "hijacks" a signaling pathway normally active in immune cells and uses it to promote its own growth and survival.
"The carefully controlled activation of the immune system is a critical defense against the development of cancers," Wang explained. "However, when inappropriately activated, immune signaling pathways can actually promote the development of cancers."
He and his team hope that continued studies into how these pathways function will yield new treatment for MCC and other cancers that abnormal activation of immune signaling pathways.
Why it Matters: Merkel cell polyomavirus was first discovered in 2008, and scientists are still learning about it. The pathway and genes that Wang and his team learned are "turned on" by the Merkel cell polyomavirus may be a future target for drugs to treat advanced MCC and possibly other cancers, as well.
"Interestingly, the same pathway we found is also critical in the development of other cancers like multiple myeloma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and melanoma," Wang said.
To learn more about Dr. Wang's research, see: Preventing Skin Cancer from Hijacking the Body's Sugar.


text:
New legislation in Ireland restricts the sale and marketing of alcoholic drinks
Health campaigners have welcomed the passage of the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill through all stages in the Seanad.
The new legislation includes measures like minimum pricing, health warnings on labels, and restrictions on how alcohol is displayed in shops.
The latest version of the bill is said to contain some concessions on the display restrictions, following concerns from small retailers.
Following its passage through the Seanad, the bill will return to the Dáil next year.
The Alcohol Beverage Federation of Ireland (ABFI) has criticized the bill, and claims compulsory cancer warnings on labelling will be "devastating" for Irish drinks companies.
However, the Minister for Health Simon Harris believes the legislation will improve lives, and hopes it will be passed by TDs and signed into law "as quickly as possible".
He argued: "It's the first time ever in the history of our state we've introduced public health legislation in relation to alcohol.
"I believe that the measures in this Bill will make a real and substantial difference, and will reduce alcohol consumption and the harms caused by alcohol in Ireland."
He added: "As a country, we have already shown that public health legislation in the area of tobacco can work. Now let's do the same for alcohol."
Alcohol Action Ireland described the passage of the bill through the Seanad as a 'significant milestone' for the proposed legislation.
The group's head of communications & advocacy, Eunan McKinney, observed: "What goes now to Dáil Éireann is the most progressive piece of public health legislation advanced by any government in recent times.
"The historical significance of this cannot be lost and it is incumbent on all Deputies in Dáil Éireann to now give this legislation a safe and speedy passage early in 2018, before we face another year of lost lives, and utterly avoidable harms."


text:
Q: Enabling "Show all labels for this layer (including colliding labels)" in PyQGIS I am using PyQGIS 3.10.
I am working on a project that will display about 30 cities and their forecast weather variables (temperatures, winds, etc.), and some of the labels are a bit close together and technically collide.
I can click this checkbox in the UI, but I haven't been able to find a way to code this in the Python console.
Any ideas?
Below is my code that I've been working with.
for layer in QgsProject.instance().mapLayers().values():
    layer_settings = QgsPalLayerSettings()
    text_format = QgsTextFormat()
    buffer_settings = QgsTextBufferSettings()
    shadow_settings = QgsTextShadowSettings()

    text_format.setFont(QFont("Arial Rounded MT Bold", 12))
    text_format.setSize(12)
    text_format.setColor(QColor("white"))

    buffer_settings.setEnabled(True)
    buffer_settings.setSize(0.5)
    buffer_settings.setColor(QColor("black"))

    shadow_settings.setEnabled(True)
    shadow_settings.setOffsetAngle(135)
    shadow_settings.setOffsetDistance(1)
    shadow_settings.setBlurRadius(1.5)

    text_format.setBuffer(buffer_settings)
    text_format.setShadow(shadow_settings)
    layer_settings.setFormat(text_format)

    layer_settings.fieldName = "City"
    layer_settings.placement = 1
    layer_settings.quadOffset = 7

    layer_settings.enabled = True
    layer_settings = QgsVectorLayerSimpleLabeling(layer_settings)
    layer.setLabelsEnabled(True)
    layer.setLabeling(layer_settings)
    layer.triggerRepaint()

A: Set displayAll attributes of QgsPalLayerSettings as True.
layer_settings = QgsPalLayerSettings()
layer_settings.displayAll = True

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Girls Gone Wise: Would Swishing by Any Other Name Be as Cheap?
Would Swishing by Any Other Name Be as Cheap?
I swished this weekend. Or rather, I went to a clothing swap. It was awesome. Free clothes, timed conditions--it was like being on a game show. There was also socializing and snacks. One group I hooked up with had a whole strategy down. While we were still arranging our discarded clothes, they gathered their favorite items into a corner.
The way it worked (at this particular exchange) was that each person (girl) drew a number, 1 through 3. 1s would go first, then 2s, then 3s. Whoever happened to get a 1, would grab as many of the most coveted items as she could.
We would all have five minutes to grab six items at a time.
One of our group was a 1, and grabbed many nice things. I was a 2, and missed out on some asymmetrical braided leather sandals, but I grabbed more of the coveted pile. Actually, since I'm leaving the country soon, it was my intention only to dump, not to grab, and then see if I could live on my assigned capsule wardrobe.
But there were so many nice things.
One girl grabbed dress after fabulous dress, even as the rounds went on. I was inspired to do a little hunting myself, and probably grabbed some things I didn't need (but hey, it was free!). The gratis nature of the activity also encouraged me to try on or grab things that I wouldn't normally have bothered with. I had never been a bag person before, but I took home half a dozen (partially justified by how I would be more in need of bags to compartmentalize my things). I also got a dress that needed to be fitted, a pearl necklace, and a black pencil skirt from Banana Republic--just what I needed seeing that I my work skirts had gotten too frayed, too small, or too warm for the weather.
I had brought shoes, skirts, dresses, tops, jackets, coats, and jewelry. Some of it, I was sad to see go, but I was also mollified to see my peacock green dress from Thailand to go to one of my friends. Another dress, a black and white lace confection that had never looked good on me, was claimed by another girl who made it work. It made it easier to see my former clothes go, seeing other people wanting them. It also flattered my sense of style.
Bags to bring clothes to and from home vs. Bags to bring home.
I went in with a large trunk and a full bag and came out with few enough bags and clothes that they could fit inside the black traveling bag I had originally brought. Other girls recounted their own successes. They had come with two bags and come out with one. One girl was disbelieving. She had come with two bags and come out with three! There were still a ton of clothes left in the swap room. They would be left there until the next clothing exchange. Sometimes the owner of the property made donations to charity. Other times, when she was sick of her closet, she would go down and hunt for something new.
Swishing is a great way to rustle up some new clothes and accessories for yourself. It's a great way to reduce and revitalize your wardrobe. It's good for the environment, is great for socializing, and doesn't cost a thing. Organize one in your town this weekend.


Traditional Hispanic Catholism collided with conventional Anglo Protestantism in southern Colorado and resulted in construction of the unusual San Rafael Church. Located in the San Luis National Historic District, the church represents the clash and subsequent merger between Protestant Anglo and Hispanic Catholic missionaries.
A State Historical Fund grant funded asbestos abatement, a new wood shingle roof, restoration of the bell tower, indoor plumbing, and reinforcement of one adobe wall. The efforts from supporters have resulted in the full restoration of the church. In addition to restoring the church building, the community is working to revitalize the surrounding land via irrigation water rights.


Just a few neo-Nazis assembled yesterday at a demonstration in the Czech town of Vítkov, where seven years ago during the late night hours of 18 April and the early morning hours of 19 April an arson attack was committed on a home occupied by a Romani family. The neo-Nazis originally invited the public to yesterday's assembly by saying they wanted to support the racist arsonists who committed that particular attack.
Organizers subsequently altered the reason for the gathering, asserting that it would instead be an assembly against the "mafia" of collections agents, the courts and police. At around 14:00 CET yesterday, when the demonstration was supposed to begin, only a couple of people were at the demonstration site.
Even though organizers asserted that the demonstration was not intended to support the racist arsonists, the first speech involved a call to raise money for "the boys who are in jail". Those speaking said they believe the men received disproportionately severe punishments for the arson attack.
Similar words were spoken in the rest of the speeches. The speakers also verbally assailed Romani people, using the term "inadaptables" to refer to them.
Demonstrators alleged that the Romani people themselves were to blame for the arson attack and also referred to refugees as "scum" and "vermin". Pavel Matějný of the extremist organization National Resurgence (Národní obroda), which organized the event, posted the following to his Facebook profile before the demonstration: "The action in Vítkov will target the mafia of the collections agents, courts and police, as announced... Nothing more, nothing less, just like our action in 2013. It will not be focused on supporting those who were convicted in the Vítkov case, as they themselves don't want that. However, we will not waste the efforts of the dozens of people, the three political parties, and the many associations who have been preparing this action for six months."
The racist arson attack on the house occupied by a Romani family was perpetrated in 2009. Three of the people who were in the building at the time were injured as a result.
The most serious injuries were suffered by the family's youngest daughter, Natálka, who was about to turn two. She suffered life-endangering third and fourth-degree burns over more than 80 % of her body.
The trial of the racists began on 11 May 2010 - neo-Nazis Václav Cojocaru, Jaromír Lukeš, Ivo Müller and David Vaculík were charged with being accomplices to attempted murder and property damage. According to the indictment, the defendants committed acts intended to result in deaths.
Their motive was the victims' ethnicity. The attack was also supposed to have been committed to honor the 120th anniversary of the birth of Adolf Hitler.
The verdict in the case was announced on 20 October, finding all defendants guilty of attempted murder and property damage. Lukeš, Müller and Vaculík were sentenced to 22 years in prison, while Cojocaru, who had no prior criminal record, got 20 years, and all of the defendants had to pay compensation.
The convicts immediately appealed. The appeals court subsequently reduced Müller's sentence by two years because he collaborated with investigators and expressed regret.


The Mercedes Benz 600 was introduced in 1963 at the Frankfurt Motor Show. The car housed a V8 6.3 litre motor that developed 250 bhp. The engine runs 434 ft/lbs of torque at 3,000 rpm taking the car to a top speed of 127 mph. It also not surprisingly runs two alternators. There were two types of Pullman models available – one with four doors and one with 6 doors. The 6 door Pullmans were jump seat versions. The model was referred to in house as a W100. In total 428 units of the Pullman were built between 1963 and 1981. In 1972 (the year this particular car was supplied) only 36 Pullman units were supplied by Mercedes Benz.
The windows, front and rear power seats, the fresh air ventilation system, door closure, trunk closure, the sunroof and most importantly the suspension damping. The system runs on mineral oil and runs a nominal 3200 psi pressure. The reason this system was designed was in order to provide silent accessory operation. This was a completely unique idea and was a success.
This particular example has just had a full restoration. These cars must be fully restored in order to function without problems.
It is presented in chocolate brown with tan velour and will be supplied in immaculate condition.