text:
Line of Control
Coordinates: 34°56′N 76°46′E / 34.933°N 76.767°E
The areas shown in green are the two Pakistani-controlled areas: Gilgit–Baltistan in the north and Azad Kashmir in the south. The area shown in orange is the Indian-controlled state of Jammu and Kashmir and the diagonally-hatched area to the east is the Chinese-controlled area known as Aksai Chin.
United Nations map of the Line of Control. The LoC is not defined near Siachen Glacier.
The term Line of Control (LoC) refers to the military control line between the Indian and Pakistani controlled parts of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir—a line which does not constitute a legally recognized international boundary, but is the de facto border. Originally known as the Cease-fire Line, it was redesignated as the "Line of Control" following the Simla Agreement, which was signed on 3 July 1972. The part of the former princely state that is under Indian control is known as the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The Pakistani-controlled part is divided into Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit–Baltistan. The northernmost point of the Line of Control is known as NJ9842. The India–Pakistan border continues from the southernmost point on the LoC.
Another ceasefire line separates the Indian-controlled state of Jammu and Kashmir from the Chinese-controlled area known as Aksai Chin. Lying further to the east, it is known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
Former US President Bill Clinton has referred to the Indian subcontinent and the Kashmir Line of Control, in particular, as one of the most dangerous places in the world.[1][2]
The Line of Control divided Kashmir into two parts and closed the Jehlum valley route, the only entrance and exit of the Kashmir Valley at that time. This territorial division, which to this day still exists, severed many villages and separated family members from each other.[3][4]
Predominant religions in northwestern British India, 1909
The Pakistan Declaration of 1933 had envisioned the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir as one of the "five Northern units of India" that were to form the new nation of Pakistan, on the basis of its Muslim majority. Pakistan still claims the whole of Kashmir as its own territory, including Indian-controlled Kashmir. India has a different perspective on this interpretation.
Maharaja Hari Singh, King of the princely state of Kashmir and Jammu, agreed to Governor-General Mountbatten's[5][6] suggestion to sign the Instrument of Accession. India demanded accession in return for assistance. India claimed that the whole territory of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir had become Indian territory (India's official posture) due to the accession; it claims the whole region, including Azad Kashmir and Gilgit–Baltistan territory, as its own.
Indian Line of Control fencing
The Indian Line of Control fencing is a 550 km (340 mi) barrier along the 740 km (460 mi) disputed 1972 Line of Control (or ceasefire line). The fence, constructed by India, generally remains about 150 yards on the Indian-controlled side. Its stated purpose is to exclude arms smuggling and infiltration by Pakistani-based separatist militants.[7]
The barrier itself consists of double-row of fencing and concertina wire eight to twelve feet (2.4–3.7 m) in height, and is electrified and connected to a network of motion sensors, thermal imaging devices, lighting systems and alarms. They act as "fast alert signals" to the Indian troops who can be alerted and ambush the infiltrators trying to sneak in. The small stretch of land between the rows of fencing is mined with thousands of landmines.[8][9]
The construction of the barrier was begun in the 1990s, but slowed in the early 2000s as hostilities between India and Pakistan increased. After a November 2003 ceasefire agreement, building resumed and was completed in late 2004. LoC fencing was completed in Kashmir Valley and Jammu region on 30 September 2004.[10] According to Indian military sources, the fence has reduced the numbers of militants who routinely cross into the Indian side of the disputed state to attack soldiers by 80%.[11]
Pakistan has criticised the construction of the barrier, saying it violates both bilateral accords and relevant United Nations resolutions on the region.[12] The European Union has supported India's stand calling the fencing as "improvement in technical means to control terrorists infiltration" and also pointing that the "Line of Control has been delineated in accordance with the 1972 Shimla agreement".[12]
Crossing points
There are three main crossing points on the LoC currently operational. These are, from north to south:
Chakothi / Salamabad
Salamabad crossing point is located on the road between Chakothi and Uri in the Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir along the Indo-Pak LoC.[13] It is a major route for cross LoC trade and travel. Banking facilities and a trade facilitation centres are being planned on the Indian side.[14] The name in English translates to "bridge of peace" is located in Uri. The bridge was rebuilt by Indian army after the 2005 Kashmir earthquake when a mountain on the Pakistani side had caved in.[15] This route was opened for trade in 2008 after a period of 61 years.[16] The Srinagar–Muzaffarabad Bus passes through this bridge on the LoC.[17]
Tetrinote / Chakan Da Bagh
A road connects Kotli and Tatrinote in Pakistan side of the LoC to Indian Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir through Chakan Da Bagh crossing point.[13][18] It is a major route for cross LoC trade and travel. Banking facilities and a trade facilitation centres are being planned on the Indian side for the benefit of traders.[14]
The flag meetings between Indian and Pakistani security forces are held here. These meetings are held at the border or on the Line of Control by commanders of the armys of both sides. A flag meeting can also be held at the brigadier level on smaller issues.[19] If the meeting is on a larger context, it could be held at the general level.[20]
Chilliana / Teetwal
The Teetwal crossing is across the Neelum River between Muzaffarabad and Kupwara. It is usually open only during the summer months,[21] and in contrast to the other two crossings is open only for the movement of people, not for trade.[22]
Further crossings
Two further crossings are at Haji Pir pass and one near Tattapani, but these are currently not operational.[23]
Wagah, an international border crossing between India and Pakistan
Indo-Bangladeshi barrier
Kashmir conflict
Actual Ground Position Line
Wakhan
Siachen conflict
^ "BBC News | SOUTH ASIA | Analysis: The world's most dangerous place?". news.bbc.co.uk.
^ "The Hindu : 'Most dangerous place'". www.thehindu.com.
^ Ranjan Kumar Singh, Sarhad: Zero Mile, (Hindi), Parijat Prakashan, ISBN 81-903561-0-0
^ Women in Security, Conflict Management, a Peace (Program) (2008). Closer to ourselves: stories from the journ towards peace in South Asia. WISCOMP, Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness the Dalai Lam 2008. p. 75. Retrieved 19 June 2013. CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Viscount Louis Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of British India, stayed on in independent India from 1947 to 1948, serving as the first Governor-General of the Union of India.
^ Stein, Burton. 1998. A History of India. Oxford University Press. 432 pages. ISBN 0-19-565446-3. Page 368.
^ "cross-border infiltration and terrorism" Archived 21 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine
^ "LoC fencing in Jammu nearing completion". The Hindu. 1 February 2004. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
^ "Mines of war maim innocents". Tehelka.
^ "LoC fencing completed: Mukherjee". The Times Of India. 16 December 2004.
^ "Harsh weather likely to damage LoC fencing". Daily Times. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 31 July 2007.
^ a b "EU criticises Pak's stand on LoC fencing". Express India. 16 December 2003. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
^ a b "Jammu and Kashmir: Goods over Rs 3,432 crore traded via two LoC points in 3 years". Economic Times. PTI. 9 January 2018. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
^ a b "Cross-LoC trade at Rs 2,800 crore in last three years". Economic Times. PTI. 13 June 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
^ "J&K CM inaugurates rebuilt Aman Setu". hindustan Times. 21 February 2008. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
^ "Trucks start rolling, duty-free commerce across LoC opens". Livemint. 21 October 2008. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
^ "Re-erected Kaman Aman Setu will be inaugurated on Monday". Outlook. 19 February 2006. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
^ "404". Zee News. 14 August 2014. Archived from the original on 17 January 2013.
^ "India, Pakistan hold flag meeting". The Hindu. 23 August 2017. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
^ "Flag meet held to defuse LoC tension at Chakan da Bagh". The Tribune. 24 August 2017. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
^ https://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/kashmir/teetwal-loc-crossing-point-reopens-after-3-months/232593.html
^ http://www.ajktata.gok.pk/crossing-points/
Ranjan Kumar Singh, Sarhad: Zero Mile, (Hindi), Parijat Prakashan, ISBN 81-903561-0-0
2001–02 India–Pakistan standoff
The 2001–2002 India–Pakistan standoff was a military standoff between India and Pakistan that resulted in the massing of troops on either side of the border and along the Line of Control (LoC) in the region of Kashmir. This was the second major military standoff between India and Pakistan following the successful detonation of nuclear devices by both countries in 1998, with the first being the Kargil War of 1999.
The military buildup was initiated by India responding to a terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament on 13 December 2001 (during which twelve people, including the five terrorists who attacked the building, were killed) and the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly on 1 October 2001. India claimed that the attacks were carried out by two Pakistan-based terror groups fighting Indian administered Kashmir, the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, both of whom India has said are backed by Pakistan's ISI–a charge that Pakistan denied.In Western media, coverage of the standoff focused on the possibility of a nuclear war between the two countries and the implications of the potential conflict on the American-led "Global War on Terrorism" in nearby Afghanistan. Tensions de-escalated following international diplomatic mediation which resulted in the October 2002 withdrawal of Indian and Pakistani troops from the international border.
2011 India–Pakistan border skirmish
The 2011 India–Pakistan border skirmish was a series of incidents which took place during the months of July and August 2011 across the Line of Control in Kupwara District and Neelam Valley. Both countries gave different accounts of the incident, each accusing the other of initiating the hostilities.
2013 India–Pakistan border skirmishes
The 2013 India–Pakistan border incidents was a series of armed skirmishes along the Line of Control (LoC) in the disputed Kashmir area. Starting from the mid-January 2013, they have been described as the "worst bout of fighting in the region in nearly 10 years". It began on 6 January 2013, when according to Pakistani reports Indian forces attacked a Pakistani border post, killing one soldier. Indian authorities claimed the incident as a retaliation against preceding Pakistani ceasefire violations, but denied having crossed the demarcation line. In a second skirmish on 8 January, Indian authorities said that Pakistani forces crossed the LoC, killing two Indian soldiers. The incident sparked outrage in India and harsh reactions by the Indian army and government over the news that the body of one of the soldiers had been beheaded. Pakistan denied these reports. On 15 January, a third skirmish reportedly led to the death of another Pakistani soldier.After talks between Lieutenant General Vinod Bhatia and Major General Ashfaq Nadeem, an understanding was reached to de-escalate the situation. But the skirmishes continued despite peace efforts by the countries resulting in 8 Indian casualties in total and 9 Pakistani casualties till August. Civilians were also affected adversely by the border skirmishes.
On 9 October 2014 Indian media claimed that a total of 9 military personal and 6 civilians were killed on Pakistani side. 12 Indian soldiers and 1 civilian were killed on Indian side
2016 Indian Line of Control strike
On 29 September 2016, India announced that it conducted "surgical strikes" against militant launch pads across the Line of Control in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, and inflicted "significant casualties". Indian media reported the casualty figures variously from 35 to 70. Partial footage of the strikes was released to the Indian media on 27 June 2018 as proof to the strike.Pakistan rejected this claim, stating that Indian troops did not cross the Line of Control and had only skirmished with Pakistani troops at the border, resulting in the deaths of two Pakistani soldiers and nine wounded. Pakistan rejected India's reports of any other casualties. Pakistani sources reported that at least 8 Indian soldiers were killed in the exchange, and one was captured. India confirmed that one of its soldiers was in Pakistani custody, but denied that it was linked to the incident or that any of its soldiers had been killed. Pakistan said India was hiding its casualties.Media outlets noted that the details regarding the "attack" were still unclear. Earlier that month, four militants had attacked the Indian army at Uri on 18 September in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, and killed 19 soldiers. India's announcement of the claimed raid on 29 September marked the first time that the government had publicly acknowledged its forces crossing the Line of Control, amidst skepticism and disputing accounts. In the succeeding days and months, India and Pakistan continued to exchange fires along the border in Kashmir, resulting in dozens of military and civilian casualties on both the sides.
2019 Balakot airstrike
The 2019 Balakot airstrike was conducted by India in the early morning hours of February 26 when Indian warplanes crossed the de facto border in the disputed region of Kashmir, and dropped bombs in the vicinity of the town of Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan.Pakistan's military, the first to announce the airstrike on February 26 morning, described the Indian planes as dropping their payload in an uninhabited wooded hilltop area near Balakot.India, confirming the airstrike later the same day, characterized it to be a preemptive strike directed against a terrorist training camp, and causing the deaths of a "large number" of terrorists.The following day, February 27, in a tit-for-tat airstrike, Pakistan retaliated, causing an Indian warplane to be shot down and its pilot to be taken prisoner by the Pakistan military before being returned on March 1.Analysis of open-source satellite imagery by the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensics Laboratory, San Francisco-based Planet Labs, European Space Imaging, and the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, has concluded that India did not hit any targets of significance on the Jaba hilltop site in the vicinity of Balakot.On 10 April 2019, some international journalists, who were taken to the Jaba hilltop in a tightly controlled trip arranged by Pakistani government, found the largest building of the site to show no evidence of damage or recent rebuilding.The airstrikes were the first time since the India-Pakistan war of 1971 that warplanes of either country crossed the Line of Control and also since both states have become nuclear powers.
Azad Jammu and Kashmir (Urdu: آزاد جموں و کشمیر Āzād Jammū̃ o Kaśmīr, translation: Free Jammu and Kashmir), abbreviated as AJK and commonly known as Azad Kashmir, is a nominally self-governing jurisdiction administered by Pakistan. The territory lies west of the Indian-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir, and was part of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Azad Kashmir is part of the greater Kashmir region, which is the subject of a long-running conflict between Pakistan and India. The territory shares a border with Gilgit-Baltistan, together with which it is referred to by the United Nations and other international organisations as "Pakistan administered Kashmir".
Azad Kashmir is one-sixth of the size of Gilgit-Baltistan. The territory also borders Pakistan's Punjab province to the south and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province to the west. To the east, Azad Kashmir is separated from the state of Jammu and Kashmir by the Line of Control, the de facto border between India and Pakistan. Azad Kashmir has a total area of 13,297 square kilometres (5,134 sq mi), and a total population of 4,045,366 as per the 2017 Census.
The territory has a parliamentary form of government modeled after the Westminster system, with its capital located at Muzaffarabad. The President is the constitutional head of state, while the Prime Minister, supported by a Council of Ministers, is the chief executive. The unicameral Azad Kashmir Legislative Assembly elects both the Prime Minister and President. The state has its own Supreme Court and a High Court, while the Government of Pakistan's Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan serves as a link with Azad Kashmir's government, although Azad Kashmir is not represented in the Parliament of Pakistan.
The 2005 earthquake killed 100,000 people and left another three million people displaced, with widespread devastation. Since then, with help from the Government of Pakistan and foreign donors, reconstruction of infrastructure is underway. Azad Kashmir's economy largely depends on agriculture, services, tourism, and remittances sent by members of the British Mirpuri community. Nearly 87% of the households own farms in Azad Kashmir, while the region has a literacy rate of approximately 72% and has the highest school enrollment in Pakistan.
India–Pakistan border
The India–Pakistan Border, known locally as the International Border (IB), is an international border running between India and Pakistan that demarcates the Indian states and the Pakistani four provinces. The border runs from the Line of Control (LoC), which separates Indian-controlled Kashmir from Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, in the north, to the Zero Point between the Indian state of Gujarat and the Sindh province of Pakistan, in the south.Drafted and created based upon the Radcliffe line in 1947, the border, which divides Pakistan and India from each other, traverses a variety of terrains ranging from major urban areas to inhospitable deserts. Since the independence of India and Pakistan (see British India), the border has been a site of numerous conflicts and wars between each country, and is one of the most complex borders in the world. The border's total length is 3,323 km (2,065 mi), according to the figures given by the PBS; it is also one of the most dangerous borders in the world, based on an article written in the Foreign Policy in 2011. It can be seen from space at night due to the 150,000 flood lights installed by India on about 50 thousand poles.
India–Pakistan border skirmishes (2016–2018)
On 29 September 2016, border skirmishes between India and Pakistan began following reported "surgical strikes" by India against militant launch pads across the Line of Control in Pakistani-administered Azad Kashmir.Pakistan rejected that a strike took place, stating that Indian troops had not crossed the Line of Control but had only skirmished with Pakistani troops at the border, resulting in the deaths of two Pakistani soldiers and the wounding of nine. Pakistan rejected India's reports of any other casualties. Pakistani sources reported that at least 8 Indian soldiers were killed in the exchange, and one was captured. India confirmed that one of its soldiers was in Pakistani custody, but denied that it was linked to the incident or that any of its soldiers had been killed.The Indian operation was said to be in retaliation for a militant attack on the Indian army at Uri on 18 September in the Indian-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir that left 19 soldiers dead. In the succeeding days and months, India and Pakistan continued to exchange fire along the border in Kashmir, resulting in dozens of military and civilian casualties on both sides.
India–Pakistan border skirmishes (2019)
India and Pakistan have engaged in a military confrontation across the de facto border in Kashmir, a disputed region which is claimed by both countries and large parts of which are controlled by each country.The heightened tensions stemmed from a suicide car bombing carried out on 14 February 2019 in which 40 Indian security personnel were killed. A Pakistan-based militant group, Jaish-e-Mohammad, claimed responsibility for the attack. India blamed Pakistan for the bombing and promised a robust response. India has regularly accused Pakistan of utilising militants to destabilise Indian-administered Kashmir. Pakistan, however, denied any involvement in the bombing.Some twelve days later, India and Pakistan conducted airstrikes against targets in each other's territory.The first airstrike was conducted by India in the early morning hours of February 26 in the vicinity of the town of Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan, several miles inside the province's boundary with Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Pakistan's military, the first to announce the airstrike on February 26 morning, described the Indian planes as dropping their payload in an uninhabited wooded hilltop area near Balakot. India, confirming the airstrike later the same day, characterised it to be a preemptive strike directed against a terrorist training camp, and causing the deaths of a "large number" of terrorists.The second airstrike, a retaliatory one, was conducted during daytime on February 27 by Pakistan in a region of Indian-administered Kashmir. A dogfight during this airstrike caused an Indian MiG-21 Bison warplane to be shot down and its pilot, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, to be taken prisoner by the Pakistan military before being returned on March 1.Analysis of open-source satellite imagery by the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensics Laboratory, San Francisco-based Planet Labs, European Space Imaging, and the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, has concluded that India did not hit any targets of significance on the Jaba hilltop site in the vicinity of Balakot.On April 10, 2019, some international journalists, who were taken to the Jaba hilltop in a tightly controlled trip arranged by Pakistani government, found the largest building of the site to show no evidence of damage or recent rebuilding.The fighting continued into April 2019.
Kargil is a town in the Kargil district of Ladakh region, in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. It is the second largest town in Ladakh after Leh. It is located 60 km and 204 km from Drass and Srinagar to the west respectively, 234 km from Leh to the east, 240 km from Padum to the southeast and 1,047 km from Delhi to the south.
The Kashmir Valley, also known as the Vale of Kashmir, is an intermontane valley in the portion of the Kashmir region administered by India. The valley is bounded on the southwest by the Pir Panjal Range and on the northeast by the main Himalayas range. It is approximately 135 km long and 32 km wide, and drained by the Jhelum River.Kashmir division is one of the three administrative divisions of the Indian administered state of Jammu and Kashmir. The Kashmir division borders Jammu Division to the south and Ladakh to the east while Line of Control forms its northern and the western border. The division consists of the following districts: Anantnag, Baramulla, Budgam, Bandipore, Ganderbal, Kupwara, Kulgam, Pulwama, Shopian and Srinagar.
Line of Actual Control
The Line of Actual Control (LAC) is a demarcation line that separates Indian-controlled territory from Chinese-controlled territory in the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, formed after the 1962 war.There are two common ways in which the term "Line of Actual Control" is used. In the narrow sense, it refers only to the line of control in the western sector of the borderland between the two countries. In that sense, the LAC forms the effective border between the two countries, together with the (also disputed) McMahon Line in the east and a small undisputed section in between. In the wider sense, it can be used to refer to both the western line of control and the MacMahon Line, in which sense it is the effective border between India and the People's Republic of China (PRC).
Murovdag
The Murovdağ (also spelled as Murovdagh, Azerbaijani: Murovdağ) or Mrav (Armenian: Մռավի լեռնաշղթա - Mravi Lernash'ghta) is the highest mountain range in the Lesser Caucasus. The range is about 70 kilometres (43 mi) long, and Gamish Mountain is its highest peak at 3,724 metres (12,218 ft). It is made up mainly of Jurassic, Cretaceous and Paleogene rocks.The Murovdağ ridge extends north from Hinaldag Peak through Gamish (or Gomshasar) Mountain. The northeastern slope features a group of scenic lakes, including Göygöl near the northern slope. The Karabakh Plateau extends from the south of Murovdağ. Fir and spruce forests are spread as far southeast as the Murovdağ. The summer mountain pastures of Murovdağ were traditionally used by Azerbaijani and Armenian shepherds.
The mountain ridge forms the northern part of the line of control separating the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic from Azerbaijan. Its southern slopes run through the Martakert region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Neelum River
The Neelum River (Hindi: नीलम नदी, Urdu: دریائے نیلم), or Kishanganga (Hindi: कृष्णगंगा नदी, Urdu: کرشن گنگا ندی), is a river in the Kashmir region of India and Pakistan; it starts in the Indian city of Gurais and then merges with the Jhelum River near the Pakistani city of Muzaffarabad.
Siachen Glacier
The Siachen Glacier is a glacier located in the eastern Karakoram range in the Himalayas at about 35.421226°N 77.109540°E / 35.421226; 77.109540, just northeast of the point NJ9842 where the Line of Control between India and Pakistan ends. At 76 km (47 mi) long, it is the longest glacier in the Karakoram and second-longest in the world's non-polar areas. It falls from an altitude of 5,753 m (18,875 ft) above sea level at its head at Indira Col on the China border down to 3,620 m (11,875 ft) at its terminus. The entire Siachen Glacier, with all major passes, is currently under the administration of India since 1984. Pakistan controls the region west of Saltoro Ridge, far away from the glacier, with Pakistani posts located 3,000 ft below more than 100 Indian posts on Saltoro Ridge.The Siachen Glacier lies immediately south of the great drainage divide that separates the Eurasian Plate from the Indian subcontinent in the extensively glaciated portion of the Karakoram sometimes called the "Third Pole". The glacier lies between the Saltoro Ridge immediately to the west and the main Karakoram range to the east. The Saltoro Ridge originates in the north from the Sia Kangri peak on the China border in the Karakoram range. The crest of the Saltoro Ridge's altitudes range from 5,450 to 7,720 m (17,880 to 25,330 feet). The major passes on this ridge are, from north to south, Sia La at 5,589 m (18,336 ft), Bilafond La at 5,450 m (17,880 ft), and Gyong La at 5,689 m (18,665 ft). The average winter snowfall is more than 1000 cm (35 ft) and temperatures can dip to −50 °C (−58 °F). Including all tributary glaciers, the Siachen Glacier system covers about 700 km2 (270 sq mi).
Uri, Jammu and Kashmir
Uri is a town and a tehsil in the Baramulla district, in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Uri is located on the left bank of the Jhelum River, about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) east of the Line of Control with Pakistan.
Vijayanta
The Vijayanta (en: "Victorious") was a main battle tank built in India based on a licensed design of the Vickers Mk.1. The Vijayanta was the first indigenous tank of the Indian Army. The prototype was completed in 1963 and the tank entered service in 1965. The first 90 vehicles were built by Vickers in the UK. Production continued at the Heavy Vehicles Factory in Avadi until 1983 with 2,200 being built (other sources give much lower numbers: 1,600-1,800). A number of the tank hulls were converted to other uses such as self-propelled guns after being withdrawn from service. The Vijayanta has been supplemented by the T-72M1 in Indian service. Retired Vijayanta tanks have been used as static artillery, and utilized in engagements along the line of control during the 2019 Indo-Pakistani standoff.
XXX Corps (Pakistan)
The XXX Corps (30 Corps), known as Triple X Corps, is a corps of Pakistan Army currently assigned in Gujranwala, Punjab Province. The Corps is a major and integral part of the army, along with PAF's Eastern Air Command and Navy's Eastern Naval Command. It is currently commanded by Lieutenant-General Aamir Abbasi, who is designated as Corps Commander of this holding corps.
The vital area, which connects Pakistani Punjab and parts of Kashmir governed by India (extending from Jehlum to Narowal), has always been of strategic importance; the place was the site of major battles in both 1965 and 1971. Traditionally, this area had been held by I Corps. That corps already had offensive duties, and the task of defending this area was being neglected by the corps HQ.
To improve the situation, it was decided to raise another corps headquarters to look after this area. Thus the XXX Corps was raised and given the command of both new raisings and units and formations detached from I Corps, which was then dedicated to offensive tasks.Since the beginnings of an anti-India insurgency in Kashmir, the Line of Control has been an active operational zone. The corps has been deployed along its sector of the LOC and engaged in operations since 1989.
X Corps (Pakistan)
The X Corps is a corps of the Pakistan Army, currently assigned in Rawalpindi, Punjab Province of Pakistan. It's one of two corps that are currently active in Kashmir. One of its most important brigades, the 111th Infantry Brigade in Rawalpindi, is assigned Presidential Guard duties along with ceremonial duties for foreign dignitaries arriving in Pakistan.The current commander of this corps is Lt Gen Bilal Akbar.
India–Pakistan relations
High Commission of India to Pakistan
High Commissioner of India to Pakistan
High Commission of Pakistan to India
High Commissioner of Pakistan to India
Treaties and summits
Jinnah–Mountbatten Talks (1947)
Karachi Agreement (1949)
Liaquat-Nehru Treaty (1950)
Indus Waters Treaty (1960)
Tashkent Declaration (1965)
Simla Agreement (1972)
Delhi Agreement (1974)
Islamabad Agreement (1988)
Lahore summit (1999)
Agra Summit (2001)
Events and conflicts
Partition of India
Integration of Junagadh
1947–1948 War
Sir Creek
Operation Gibraltar
Pokhran–I
Kirana–I
Nuclear race
Maritime trespassing
Operation Brasstacks
Pokhran-II / Chagai-I / Chagai-II
Violence against Muslims in India
Persecution of Hindus in Pakistan
Human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir
Human rights abuses in Azad Kashmir
Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir
Balochistan conflict
Kargil conflict
Atlantique incident
Iran–Pakistan–India gas pipeline
2001 Indian Parliament attack
2001–2002 military standoff
2007 Samjhauta Express bombings
2008 Mumbai attacks
2008 military standoff
2011 border skirmishes
Sarabjit/Sanaullah murder incidents
2013 Pakistan Embassy attack
2014–2015 border skirmishes
2016–17 unrest in Jammu and Kashmir
2016 Uri attack
2019 standoff (media coverage)
Aman ki Asha
Samjhauta Express
Delhi–Lahore Bus
Srinagar–Muzaffarabad Bus
Thar Express
Indo-Pak Confederation
Indo-Pak Joint Judicial Committee
Peacebuilding in Jammu and Kashmir
India–Pakistan cricket rivalry
India–Pakistan field hockey rivalry
Foreign relations of India
Foreign relations of Pakistan


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We use an express courier for South African shipping. The estimated delivery times are 24-48 hours for main centres, and 48-72 hours for regional locations.


Under Edit > Project Settings > Input (Input Manager) there are settings setup for handling joystick events, yet Unity is not acknowledging Xbox One controller input. Also, is there an explanation of all the controller buttons and joystick directions better than the cheat sheet at iOS game controller support? It would be helpful to see a full mapping of all the Xbox One controller buttons and stick to their corresponding Unity names. Additionally, it would even be better to encapsulate movement into a Unity collection of objects like UnityEngine.Input.Controllers.Controller[0-z] with property names/values and/or functions for each button/stick. That way we could simply get/set values similar to UnityEngine.Input.Controllers.Controller.ButtonA.IsPressed rather than having to know the "joystick button 14" or whatever the equivalent name is. Unity seems to know what controller is attached as I've seen the message "Joystick reconnected ("Controller (Xbox One For Windows)")." displayed in the console window.


We went for a drive in the countryside on a rainy Winter's afternoon, but quickly pulled off to the side of the road when I spotted an orchard of amazing glowing orange fruit. We always travel with our cameras on the back seat, in case opportunities like this present themselves unexpectedly. I stepped out of the car to the amazing and happy songs of Tui birds feasting on what we discovered was a Persimmon orchard that was full of ripe and ready fruit about to be harvested. It truly was farmer vs birds, and I'm not quite sure who won that day, I'd like to think it was a happy tie ! The farmer was generous and friendly in true Kiwi character, happy for me to walk around his section and snap a bunch of pics. On top of explaining to me about Persimmons and sharing some friendly banter, he gave me some fresh persimmons to take home. I found that I love to eat them fresh and they ended up in a simple Radiccio salad with grapefruit, shaved fennel, radish, pistachio and pickled grapes. One of my pleasures is discovering and meeting new producers that live and farm just a stones throw from where I live. We really live in a spectacular country .


I like to broil zucchini instead of roasting or sautéing to avoid using a lot of oil and/or ending up with mushy zucchini. Broiled zucchini is very good with Vegan Tzatziki but goes with a lot of sauces too. With a substantial side dish, broiled zucchini with a sauce can serve as a wonderful low-calorie entree.
Preheat broiler on high. Place a rack 3-4 inches from the broiler element.
Trim the ends off the zucchini. Slice it diagonally into ½" oblong slices.
Line a sheet pan or cookie sheet with foil. (Parchment paper can catch fire, and silicone mats may melt at this temperature.) Spray or brush the pan with oil. Lay the zucchini slices on the foil. Spray or brush with oil and season with salt and pepper and/or other spices (e.g., Montreal steak seasoning, Italian herbs).
Broil the zucchini until it is brown on top (timing is extremely variable depending on the broiler—check after 4 minutes and go from there), then flip and broil until there are brown spots and it's tender but not mushy.
These fritters are very much like pakora appetizers at Indian restaurants. Baking them rather than deep-frying makes them a lot healthier. They're substantial enough to serve as a main course or side dish.
The zucchini. Trim and grate the zucchini. Move to a colander, sprinkle generously with salt and toss well, massaging the salt into the zucchini. The salt will be rinsed off later, so don't worry.
Leave the grated zucchini in the colander for 20 minutes, then rinse under cold water. Squeeze as much water out as you can, then spread out on a clean dish towel. Cover with another clean dish towel and press or roll, getting the zucchini as dry as you can.
The onion mixture. In a microwave-safe dish, microwave the following ingredients until the onion is transparent and soft, about 4-6 minutes.
The "egg". Blend the following ingredients together with an immersion blender in a smallish container (e.g., a two-cup measure). Blend on high until the mixture is thick, about a minute.
Flour and assembly. Whisk together the following ingredients ina medium-large bowl.
Add in the zucchini, "egg," and onion mixture and stir until well blended. There should be no more flour showing and you should have a thick mixture.
Line two sheet pans with parchment paper. Drop scant 1/4 cups of the mixture onto the sheet. Press down lightly. Bake for about 25 minutes or until fully cooked with definite golden or brown edges.
Serve with chutney, such as my Mint Cilantro Chutney.
This chutney is super-flavorful. Packed with cilantro and mint, it makes a big impact on breads, appetizers, roasted vegetables, or just spooned out of the container into your mouth! It has a great sweet-sour thing going on with the dates and onions. You can control the spiciness with the number of peppers and whether you de-seed and de-vein them.
In a food processor or blender, add these and combine into a paste.
Transfer to a container and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Mushrooms and ricotta cheese couldn't be more complementary: earthy vs. sharp, chewy vs. creamy, brown vs. white. Throw in tomatoes and Italian spices, and you've got a delicious party going on inside the folded-over pizza crust.
If you have a pizza stone, put it in the oven, preheat the oven to 500°, and let it heat 30 minutes after it hits 500°. If you do not have a pizza stone, preheat the oven to 475°.
The dough. You'll need one pound of pizza dough, thawed. Most supermarkets sell one-pound slabs of dough. I have not found one that is oil-free. If you want to make your own, note that recipes with around 2 cups of flour make about a pound of dough.
The filling. Water-sauté these ingredients in a large skillet over low-medium heat until the liquid released by the mushrooms is evaporated and the mushrooms start to brown, 8-10 minutes.
Turn off the heat and stir in the following ingredients.
Divide the pizza dough in half. Stretch out the first piece with your hands (or a rolling pin) into a ¼" thick round (10-12"). Put half the filling in the center of the dough. Fold the round in half over the filling. Press or crimp the edges of the dough to seal the calzone. Repeat with the second piece of dough and remaining filling. Cut a few small vents in the top of the calzones to let steam escape.
Put the calzones directly on the pizza stone and bake for 12-15 minutes until browned. If you are not using a stone, put them on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and bake at 475°for 16 to 18 minutes or more, until browned. Let them stand for at least 5 minutes before serving.
While the calzones bake, in the pan used to cook the mushrooms, combine the following and cook at low-medium heat for 5-6 minutes. Serve alongside the calzones for topping or dipping.
My husband is picky about texture. I have been through a lot of vegan meatball recipes. I kept tweaking this recipe once I was on the right track, and the finished result is here. These are great with spaghetti and marinara or with whatever sauce you fancy. They also have 15 grams of protein per serving and freeze well.
Sauté the peppers and onion in a skillet with water (start with ¼ cup water) for 5-10 minutes, until the onions are transparent and soft and the pan is dry. (Do not microwave, because that results in too much moisture.) Set aside.
Place the following ingredients in a food processor and pulse a few times until well combined.
Combine this mixture with the pepper and onions and mix them with your hands for a few minutes to activate the gluten's elasticity.
Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Make 16 ping-pong-ball-size meatballs. Place on the baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.
Turn them over and cook for another 15 minutes or more until they are a full shade darker with some parts nicely browned.
Serve with Gracious Vegan Marinara Sauce or whatever sauce you like, and your choice of pasta.
You don't have to tell people there's tofu in this lasagna unless they insist on knowing. My guess is that they will not care what's in it. They'll only want to know if there's more. Multiply the recipe by 1.5 if you want to use a 9" x 13" pan. This freezes well.
Thaw the package of spinach by leaving it out for a few hours or by microwaving it for a few minutes. Let it cool a bit then squeeze out the water well.
Noodles. Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions.
Vegetables. Microwave or water-sauté the following vegetables until they are fully cooked. Drain away any excess moisture.
Tomato sauce. Use Gracious Vegan Marinara Sauce or your favorite (you'll need about 4 cups).
"Ricotta." In a blender or food processor, process the following ingredients until smooth. The cashews may not get 100% smooth, but that's okay.
Stir the thawed, squeezed spinach into the ricotta mixture separately.
Assembly. In a baking dish (9" x 9" or 7" x 10"), pour in about a cup of sauce to cover the bottom. Layer 3 lasagna noodles (fold or tear them if necessary). Top with a third of the ricotta mixture. Top with a third of the mushroom-vegetable mixture. Repeat 1 cup sauce – 3 noodles – 1/3 ricotta – 1/3 vegetables two more times. End with the final cup of sauce. Top with breadcrumb mixture.
Bake uncovered for 50 minutes. Let sit about 5 minutes before serving.
Hard to believe that you can have eggplant parmigiana with virtually no oil. No breading, no frying. Just broiling the eggplant slices releases their flavor, caramelizes them, and keeps the dish clean tasting. Vegan parmesan means you can also avoid heavy dairy. Light and delicious, this Parmigiana will please the eggplant lovers among us. This dish freezes well.
Eggplant. Turn on broiler to high (500°). Line a baking sheet with foil, spray it with oil, and fit as many slices as you can in a single layer on the foil. Spray the top of the slices with a little oil. (They get tough and dry if you don't use any oil.) Broil 3-4" from the element until the tops are brown to dark-brown, about 4-5 minutes. Then flip them and broil until the other sides are browned, about 3-4 minutes. Repeat for remaining slices. Set aside and change the oven to bake mode at 375°.
Sauce. In the meantime, water-sauté the aromatics in a Dutch oven or large skillet with ¼ cup water until onion is translucent, around 5 minutes.
Add tomatoes and oregano, breaking up any whole tomatoes. Cover and simmer 15-20 minutes.
Add and stir these in to finish the sauce.
Use a 9" x 9" square or an oval (12" x 8" or so) baking dish. Spread thin layer of tomato sauce in the bottom of the pan, then add a thin scattering of vegan parmesan.
Then create a single layer of eggplant. Repeat until all ingredients are used, ending with a little sauce and a sprinkling of parmesan. Sprinkle the bread crumbs on top.
Bake at 375°until the mixture is bubbly, at least 35 minutes and maybe more. Remove from the oven and allow it to rest for 5 minutes before serving.
This creamy concoction tastes excellent and a lot like ricotta cheese. Some of us would say better than dairy ricotta. It works well on pizzas, in calzones, in lasagna, and in many other recipes.
Drain cashews and place them with remaining ingredients into a blender or food processor, and process until creamy. (I find that the food processor is better than a blender for this recipe, even a high-speed blender.) You might have to stop and scrape down the sides once or more.
Taste for flavors. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for an hour or two, to stiffen the cheese.
Baking enchiladas has its drawbacks—they can dry out, merge together, and the tortillas can get too saturated. These verde enchiladas are easy and quick—they're folded rather than rolled and then go right onto the plates. They keep their shape, look fantastic, and taste divine.
Start the vegan crema if you choose to use it (Gracious Vegan Crema).
Sauté these ingredients in a large skillet with a Tablespoon or two of water, stirring frequently, until the liquid released by the mushrooms is almost evaporated and vegetables are soft, about 8 minutes.
Add spinach and salt and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently, until spinach is reduced and soft.
Drain mixture if there is excess liquid and cook a bit longer to make sure the mixture is dry. Then add the crema and stir it in. Set aside. Unless you have several large skillets, you may need to move the filling to a bowl and clean the large skillet for the final step.
Heat 1.5 cups of the salsa in a small-medium skillet over low heat. Dredge both sides of each tortilla in the warm salsa using tongs, and stack the tortillas on a plate.
This dish approaches the texture of a creamy korma. The spicing is simple, but the result is wonderful. The fenugreek spice is important to the flavor of this dish, so go online or to a local Asian market.
Soak cashews in cold water at least 2 hours, or pour boiling water over them, cover, and let them soak 20 minutes while you start the rest of the recipe.
Water-sauté these ingredients in a Dutch oven until the liquid released by the mushrooms is evaporated and the mushrooms start to brown, 8-10 minutes.
Add the spices and stir 1-2 minutes.
Add the diced green chili pepper and cook 1-2 minutes.
Separately, drain the cashews and place them in a blender with water 1 cup water and process until absolutely smooth and creamy.
Then add tomato paste to the blender and blend it with the cashew cream.
Add the cashew-tomato mixture to the Dutch oven along with the peas, salt, and additional water. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Add additional water to achieve a desired sauce consistency.
Garnish with cilantro and serve over rice, other cooked grains, or with flatbread.
I wanted to show people that vegan food could go upscale. This elegant presentation is matched by the scrumptious flavors. The pesto-based vegetable mixture inside the pasta shells offers a pleasant surprise if you don't know what's coming (and even if you do). The pan sauce adds a savory goodness with a hint of wine. This recipe can be easily multiplied to serve more people--I set up this recipe for a romantic dinner for two. Note in the picture that I served this with Brussels Sprouts with Hazelnut Butter. A lovely combination.
Preheat oven to 375°F and start the pasta water boiling.
When the oven is hot, toast the pine nuts for about 6 minutes (until just golden) and the breadcrumbs about 8 minutes, until golden. Leave the oven on after you take them out.
Meanwhile, boil the pasta shells for about 10 minutes – until al dente, but not too firm. Drain.
Separately, cook the following vegetables in the microwave (or water-sauté on the stove) until the vegetables are soft, about 3-4 minutes. Drain off any extra water.
To start the pesto, mince the garlic in a food processor.
Add the following and process into a paste.
Add tofu and process for a few seconds to mix it in.
Stuff the mixture into the 8 cooked shells. Transfer the shells to a baking dish, pour vegetable stock into the bottom of the dish, cover tightly with foil, and put in the oven for 15-20 minutes.
While the shells are baking, make a pan sauce.
Sauté shallot in vegan butter in a medium skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the shallot is softened and starting to turn golden, 2 to 3 minutes.
Add vermouth or wine and boil rapidly until pan is almost dry, about 3 minutes.
Add broth and boil rapidly, 4-5 minutes, until there is about ½ cup of liquid left.
Pre-blend the cornstarch and the water, then whisk the following ingredients into the skillet and bring to a boil while whisking. The sauce should come together in about 30 seconds.
If the sauce is too thick, add more broth, water, or nondairy milk.
When you are ready to serve, ladle a bit of sauce onto each plate, place the shells on top, then spoon on more sauce and top with breadcrumbs.


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Revivogen MD is an all-natural treatment for hair loss. It has not gone through FDA clinical trials like Finasteride and Minoxidil, but Revivogen's ingredients have been scientifically proven in independent studies to lower DHT production.
Propecia and other prescription pills on the market today for hair loss inhibit DHT production internally throughout the body. As mentioned, in the All about hair loss section of the website, DHT production is the mechanism in the body that causes the hair follicle to become dormant. A topical solution, such as Revivogen MD inhibits the DHT production directly from the hair follicle. The topical versus pill form do the same thing essentially; they just go about it in two different ways.
Board-certified dermatologist Alex Khadavi, M.D. selected Revivogen MD's active ingredients because they are natural compounds that have been proven to inhibit 5-alpha reductase (the enzyme necessary for DHT production). Revivogen MD's ingredients include gamma linolenic acid (GLA), alpha linolenic acid (ALA), linoleic acid, oleic acid, azaleic acid, vitamin B6, zinc, saw palmetto extract, beta-sitosterol and procyanidin oligomers. Click here to learn more about the ingredients in Revivogen MD.
After evaluating the studies Revivogen MD has performed (evaluating its success rate) and the study it did to prove that topical Revivogen MD inhibits DHT production greater than topical Finasteride and topical Dutasteride (see News releases), it is this website's opinion that this is a great product. It is worth a try for those that like an all-natural no-side effect alternative. This is a product that can be used by men and women and has been shown to work on the entire scalp, including the hairline.
My experience and opinion on this product: I consider this product to be a very strong hair loss treatment, one of the best. My product (4hairlossMen and 4hairlossWomen) contains some of the same ingredients as Revivogen but at different concentration levels. Like my product, this product contains ingredients that inhibits the production of DHT and stimulates hair growth, which is what you want in a product. It is priced well compared to other hair loss products. My only issue with this product is it leaves your hair and scalp greasy and it is strong smelling; I only tested this product for a few weeks because of the consistency. You can use the product at night but you will need to wash it out every morning. I had a hard time washing it out every morning, almost like it left a residue on my scalp, but mainly I just don't like showering in the morning, so it didn't fit my lifestyle. Also, not everyone likes to wash their hair every day, especially women, but with Revivogen you will want to. If you don't mind the consistency and having to wash your hair every morning then this is a very good product to try.
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text:
World Trade Center Cross Rested in Memorial
By Bilal Khan Jul 24, 2011, 4:22pm EDT
The 17-foot tall symbol was inserted into the memorial earlier today when a "giant, red-and-white crane lifted the massive steel structure off of a flatbed truck around 10:50 a.m. and slowly lowered it into place."
· World Trade Center Cross Lowered into 9/11 Memorial [DNAinfo]
Next Up In World Trade Center
A Photo Tour of The World Trade Center
Bjarke Ingels design for 2 World Trade Center scrapped, Norman Foster's back on
The real story behind Philippe Petit's World Trade Center high-wire stunt
The status of the World Trade Center complex, 18 years later
Two major NYC developers may join forces on 5 World Trade Center
5 World Trade Center site could sprout 900-foot residential tower

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Literature and the Arts >
Music: History, Composers, and Performers: Biographies >
Sowerby, Leo
Sowerby, Leo sō´ərbē [key], 1895–1968, American composer and organist, b. Grand Rapids, Mich. Sowerby studied at the American Conservatory, Chicago, and with Percy Grainger. In 1921 an American Prix de Rome was created to enable him to study in Rome. In 1925 he became teacher of composition at the American Conservatory and in 1927 organist and choirmaster of St. James Episcopal Church, Chicago. A prolific composer, he wrote such important works as A Set of Four (1917), Symphony in B Minor (1927), and Symphony in F Sharp Minor (1940), for orchestra; a concerto (1938), for organ and orchestra; the oratorios The Vision of Sir Launfal (1925) and The Canticle of the Sun (1944); and Symphony in G (1932), for organ.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Music: History, Composers, and Performers: Biographies


text:
package com.phantommentalists.Twenty14;

import com.phantommentalists.Twenty14.DriveMotor.Gear;
import edu.wpi.first.wpilibj.can.CANTimeoutException;

/*
 * DriveUnit allocation
 */
public class DriveUnit {

    public Wheel front;
    public Wheel rear;
    private DriveMotor driveMotor;

    public DriveUnit(String name, int frontCANID, int rearCANID, int frontDriveMotorCANID, int rearDriveMotorCANID
            , int driveShiftSolenoidChannel, double ForwardRev, double RearRev) throws CANTimeoutException {
        front = new Wheel(frontCANID, "Front" + name, ForwardRev);
        rear = new Wheel(rearCANID, "Rear" + name, RearRev);
        driveMotor = new DriveMotor(frontDriveMotorCANID, rearDriveMotorCANID, driveShiftSolenoidChannel);
    }

    public void enablePositionControl() throws CANTimeoutException
    {
        front.enablePositionControl();
        rear.enablePositionControl();
    }

    public void disablePositionControl() throws CANTimeoutException
    {
        front.disablePositionControl();
        rear.disablePositionControl();
    }

    public void slewDrive(double drivePower, double turnAngle) throws CANTimeoutException {
        double frontPOS = convertJoystickToPosition(turnAngle);
        double rearPOS = 0.0;
        if (frontPOS == 0.5) {
            rearPOS = 0.5;
        } else {
            rearPOS = 0.5 + (0.5 - frontPOS);
        }
        driveMotor.set(drivePower);
        front.setPosition(frontPOS);
        rear.setPosition(rearPOS);           //Return to convrtjtp(turnangle) for sensor
    }

    public void crabDrive(double drivePower, double turnAngle) throws CANTimeoutException {
        driveMotor.set(drivePower);
        front.setPosition(convertJoystickToPosition(turnAngle));
        rear.setPosition(convertJoystickToPosition(turnAngle));
        //System.out.println(turnAngle);
    }
    public void setGear(Gear gear){
        driveMotor.setGear(gear);
    }
//    public void axisTurn(char leftRight) {
//    }
    public double convertJoystickToPosition(double joystickValue) {
        double temp = joystickValue + 1;
        temp = temp / 2;
        if (temp >= 0.49 && temp <= 0.51) {
            temp = 0.5;
        }
        return temp;
    }

    public double getFrontPosition() throws CANTimeoutException
    {
        return front.getPosition();
    }

    public double getRearPosition() throws CANTimeoutException
    {
        return rear.getPosition();
    }

    public void processDriveUnit() throws CANTimeoutException
    {
        front.processWheel();
        rear.processWheel();
    }

    /**
     *
     */
    public double getFrontSteeringCurrent() throws CANTimeoutException
    {
        return front.getSteeringCurrent();
    }

    /**
     *
     */
    public double getRearSteeringCurrent() throws CANTimeoutException
    {
        return rear.getSteeringCurrent();
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Where do we go now to come together? It is all about activism and service? Could it be about something simpler, but perhaps more difficult? Friendships with people with whom we disagree? How to we rebuild the house that is divided?
We have firmly become flat characters in narratives. The good and the evil. The pink hatted; the red hatted. We hear the same words of the new President; for some it is hopeful and others hateful. Why? Because we are human and we want to belong to the tribe that surrounds us, and so we speak to belong? It is nothing new. We have turned on each other as Americans have in the past. What is the way out?
Let us go back in time for perspective. It is June 16, 1858, and we are listening to Lincoln's House Divided Speech during his unsuccessful bid for a Senate Seat. Although beloved now, it was very controversial at the time. The words cost Lincoln the Senatorial election, but it made him a statesman for the world and all time.
On June 16, 1858 more than 1,000 delegates met in the Springfield, Illinois, statehouse for the Republican State Convention. At 5:00 p.m. they chose Abraham Lincoln as their candidate for the U.S. Senate, running against Democrat Stephen A. Douglas. At 8:00 p.m. Lincoln delivered this address to his Republican colleagues in the Hall of Representatives. "A house divided against itself cannot stand," a concept familiar to Lincoln's audience as a statement by Jesus recorded in all three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke).
"A house divided against itself cannot stand." I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.
I was lucky enough to be in DC for the Inauguration and at the Women's March both of which were attended by friends that were passionately participating in citizenship that the ceremonies, galas and on the streets. I saw how moved my friends J and K were to the words of the Inauguration Speech. Let's take a look at what was said. Where is the what so and where we can agree? Here is what I can agree with. Let's talk about these things. Can we?
True. A nation exists to serve its citizens.
True. Americans want great schools for their children, safe neighborhoods for their families, and good jobs for themselves. These are the just and reasonable demands of a righteous public.
True. But for too many of our citizens, a different reality exists: Mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities; rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our nation; an education system flush with cash, but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of knowledge; and the crime and gangs and drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealized potential.
Great idea. We will build new roads, and highways, and bridges, and airports, and tunnels, and railways all across our wonderful nation.
Great idea. We will get our people off of welfare and back to work — rebuilding our country with American hands and American labor.
I like this. We do not seek to impose our way of life on anyone, but rather to let it shine as an example for everyone to follow.
I like this too. We must speak our minds openly, debate our disagreements honestly, but always pursue solidarity. When America is united, America is totally unstoppable.
I like this. We stand at the birth of a new millennium, ready to unlock the mysteries of space, to free the Earth from the miseries of disease, and to harness the energies, industries and technologies of tomorrow.
K asks me, "If you wouldn't mind I would love for you to tell me what you feel is the purpose of this movement and what is the outcomes you're committed to producing?" I say, "It is simply equality for women. Same pay. Same control over our bodies. Mutual respect for our bodies and potentials." Here is how he hears it and what he says.
K: "It would be good if you answered my question about what's the purpose I'm going to the outcomes. I always start there – if you get clear about that the path to producing it becomes pretty obvious. What is the purpose? What are the outcomes that you're committed to producing?
Now we are talking, and a house is being rebuilt.
NextHow not to talk to each other.


- Consistently prepares breakfast, lunch, dinner, or hor d'oeuvres to standards established by the Executive Chef.- Ensures that work area is kept clean and orderly.- Assists in training new Buffet Cooks.- Must be able to stand a full shift.- Exhibits a friendly, helpful, and courteous manner when dealing with customer of fellow cast members.- Any and all duties as assigned by your Supervisor or a member of management.
- Responsible for supervising staff and the overall daily management of a designated shift. Supports, administers and manages operational goals and monitors achievements of performance and profit objectives. - Adheres to scheduling and coordinates with manager any scheduling concerns, with attention to guest satisfaction.- Responsible for assisting in the budget process for the department by providing recommendations; supports compliance to departmental budget initiatives; reporting budget concerns to manager.- Enthusiastically supports, actively promotes, and demonstrates superior customer service in accordance with department and company standards and programs. Ensures customer service standards are followed by all team members and addresses issues as they arise. - Ensures the day-to-day cleaning of the Casino property is performed to established standards on a designated shift. Also ensures deep cleaning activities are performed with minimal impact to operations, during applicable shift.- Responsible for inspecting work Inspects completed work.- Responsible for keeping supply par levels according to standard operating procedures on a designated shift. Makes recommendations for needed supplies and equipment. - Assists in ordering all supplies and equipment inventory.- Responsible for ensuring OSHA standards are followed. - Responsible for ensuring department has all necessary tools to complete tasks and that all equipment is in working order.- Responsible for ensuring the compliance with all regulatory compliance within area of responsibility and reporting potential issues to management.- Maintains strict confidentiality in all departmental and company matters.
- Responsible for supervising an F&B Outlet designated to this role and the overall daily management of a designated shift. Supports, administers and manages operational goals and monitors achievements of performance and profit objectives. - Adheres to scheduling and coordinates with manager any scheduling concerns, with attention to guest satisfaction.- Responsible for assisting in the budget process for the department and provide recommendations; ensuring compliance to departmental budget initiatives; reporting budget concerns to manager.- Enthusiastically supports, actively promotes, and demonstrates superior customer service in accordance with department and company standards and programs. Ensures customer service standards are followed by all team members and addresses issues as they arise. Responsible for the overall achievement of department customer service goals. - Knowledge of and enforcement of all gaming laws and regulations which apply to the functions and duties of the Food & Beverage Department for which this position is responsible.- Assists in the maintenance and development of procedures for food service and inspects menu items for maximum customer satisfaction.- Assists F&B Outlet Assistant Manager to ensure efficient sanitary and pleasant service for all guests.- Assists in maintaining in maintaining cost control methods and procedures by monitoring consistent pars and inventory on designated shift. - Assist Food & Beverage Outlet Assistant Manager with administrative duties, as assigned.- Responsible for ensuring the compliance with all regulatory compliance within area of responsibility and reporting potential issues to management.- Maintains strict confidentiality in all departmental and company matters.
- Delivers and retrieves guest's vehicles to and from casino/hotel front entrance and valet parking lot.- Runner must run to the valet lot and bring the vehicle to the Casino/Hotel entrance.- Locks vehicle and gives keys to dispatch.- Adheres to all company and departmental policies, procedures and safety standards.- Must have a clean and neat appearance. Must maintain a valid driver's license in your- state of residence and maintain a clean driving record. Must have driver's license on their person at all times.- Exhibits a friendly, helpful and courteous manner when dealing with customers and fellow cast members.- Any and all duties as assigned by your Supervisor or a member of management.


text:
Angenis Hooft (1678 - Den Haag, 10 maart 1734) was de oprichtster van 't Hooftshofje, een liefdadigheidshofje in Den Haag.

Angenis was de achterkleindochter van Jan Luytgens Boeyshooft (voorheen Luytjesz, later Jan Lucasz Hooft) uit Schagen, de enige zoon van Luytgen Jansz Boeyshooft. Jan Luytgens werd omstreeks 1588 geboren, was kistenmaker en verhuisde in 1615 naar Amsterdam. Hij trouwde met Elisabeth Lenaerts, werd een succesvol koopman en overleed in zijn huis in Heemstede in 1662. Hij bezat twee panden aan de noordzijde van de Amsterdamse Leliegracht: De Roos en De Lelie. Deze twee panden werden door P.C. Hooft aan hem getransporteerd, tezamen met drie erven.

De oudste zoon van Jan Luytgens en Elisabeth was Lucas Janszn Hooft (september 1615 - november 1641). Hij kreeg in juni 1642 een zoon, Lucas Hooft. Deze werd advocaat aan het Hof van Holland en woonde met zijn vrouw aan de Brouwersgracht. Hij overleed al in 1679, kort nadat Angenis was geboren. Haar moeder was de Haagse Cornelia Verburch, in de Kloosterkerk gedoopt in 1649 en in de Grote Kerk begraven in 1726.

Angenis was het vierde kind van Lucas en Cornelia Hooft. Op 23 januari 1678 werd zij in de Kloosterkerk gedoopt.

Aan het einde van haar leven woonde Angenis Hooft in Rijswijk. Zij bezat nog steeds de twee panden aan de noordzijde van de Leliegracht.

Testament
Op 6 juli 1733 maakte de 55-jarige Angenis Hooft bij notaris Eduard van Velsen haar testament. Zij was bemiddeld en ongehuwd en zij bepaalde dat na haar overlijden haar roerende en onroerende goederen verkocht moesten worden. Het testament begint met een beschrijving van haar teraardebestelling. Er werd ook een inventarislijst gemaakt en een lijst van haar obligaties, rentebrieven en aandelen, waaronder aandelen van de VOC. Zij woonde in Den Haag maar had ook de beide panden aan de Leliegracht. De opbrengst van haar bezittingen moest twintig jaren worden vastgezet om rente te verzamelen, daarna moest er in Den Haag een liefdadigheidshofje gebouwd worden. Angenis Hooft overleed acht maanden later, op 10 maart 1734.

Aan haar knecht Hendrik Boom legateerde zij een woning in haar pakhuis Gottenburg op Droogback in Amsterdam en jaarlijks levenslang honderd gulden.

Begrafenis

Zij werd in de Grote Kerk begraven. Dit gebeurde 's avonds, zoals in haar kringen gebruikelijk was, mogelijk omdat er overdag rondom de kerk markt gehouden werd.
De stoet werd voorafgegaan door haar rouwbord, oorspronkelijk afgewerkt met zwart fluweel. Ze wilde een nieuw graf in de kerk krijgen, waarin haar moeder en grootmoeder bijgezet moesten worden. Op het graf moest een behoorlijke zerk komen en deze moest worden afgezet met witte tegeltjes. Zij verklaarde uitdrukkelijk dat niemand anders in het graf mocht worden bijgezet.

Het rouwbord werd in 1795 op last van het Franse bestuur uit de kerk verwijderd. Regent Theodorus Otto Becker bracht het toen naar het hofje. Rond 1906 is het aangeboden aan de Grote Kerk en vervolgens aan het Gemeentemuseum, dat toen nog was gehuisvest in de Sint Sebastiaansdoelen, het pand waarin tegenwoordig het Haags Historisch Museum is gevestigd. Geen van beide was geïnteresseerd in een verwaarloosd bord. Ten slotte ging het wapenbord naar Jhr Gustaaf Willem Joan Hooft van Woudenberg (1866-1945), die met zijn vrouw Johanna Petronella de Pesters op Huize Ter Wege in Huis ter Heide woonde. Hij liet het bord in 1907 restaureren, het vergane fluweel verwijderen en het hout zwart lakken. In 1937 overleed Johanna de Pesters en werd Ter Wege verkocht. Hooft bood toen het wapenbord aan het hofje aan, waar het sinds december 1937 heeft gehangen. Op 25 maart 2011 is het bord overgedragen aan de Grote Kerk, waar het vroeger bij het hoogkoor hing.

De grafsteen is in de 20ste eeuw verplaatst en ligt nu aan de linkerkant van het koor.

Trivia
 Cornelia Verburch was de zuster van Cornelis Verburch, geboren in 1646. Deze was getrouwd met Maria van Riebeeck, de dochter van Jan van Riebeeck, de stichter van de Kaapkolonie.
 Gustaaf Willem Joan Hooft van Woudenberg (1866-1945) is de grootvader van Pieter C. Hooft (1941), die nu op landgoed Geerestein woont.

Externe link
 Geerestein

Nederlands filantroop

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Jerusalem Post Blog Home Nu York New York
New York, Nu York: Try Not to be a Snob
By ELLEN LEVITT
Published: DECEMBER 17, 2015 01:51
I've been reading the novel "The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P." by Adelle Waldman, and I find just about every character to be unlikable. They are either smug snobs, whiny fools, or obnoxious snobbish fools. I do enjoy the dialogue and situations to some extent, so I will finish the book. But I am grappling with a story that has people I would not want to be around. And some of the characters are Jewish. Honestly, I know there are Jews who are snobs, fools and obnoxious. And at least the non-Jewish characters are also quite faulty.
But I notice how these characters, in their 20s and 30s, look down their noses at people who did not attend "the right schools." The main character went to private schools all his life, and he (as well as nearly everyone else in this book) judges people in a withering fashion, about their "second-tier" public schools and lack of a private school or even an elite school education.
I have never liked this kind of behavior, and have told off people for their comments about this. Some are apologetic, but too often they roll their eyes. And this brings to mind a few Jewish people I have known who seemed quite proud of their snooty evaluations.
One was an ex-boyfriend of mine. When we were already starting to grow apart, he once made a snippy comment about my being a "PSK." I had not heard that term and asked him what it meant. Eventually he 'fessed up: it stood for "public school kid." He had attended private Jewish schools whereas I had attended public schools, and even though I graduated from a prestigious college, I was still in his eyes a "PSK." Well, I glommed onto that and turned it on its tuches: I am proud to be a PSK, and most of the people in this country are indeed PSKs.
Years later I met an educator at my synagogue, while a group of us decorated a shul sukkah. The woman was speaking with a boy there, and asked which school he attended. It was a private secular school. She then mentioned that the school was so much better than the public schools in the neighborhood... which is not correct and certainly is very rude. I have never forgotten this comment, although I will assume that the boy did (he seemed barely interested in her response). And I was bothered then, and now, by the attitude some people hold that private schools are better than public schools, merely because private versus public is a given.
Finally, over a year ago I told an Orthodox man I know (a former neighbor) that my older daughter was attending my alma mater, a well-regarded public high school. He scoffed at that and stressed that I should not send her there, that I should put her in a Jewish all-girls school. Although I respect this man's opinions on certain topics, I told him off on this one. I emphasized that this public school offered quality education and extra-curricular opportunities. I even pointed out that I knew of teenaged girls at a local girls' yeshiva who complained bout how little social studies, science and math they were learning...unlike my daughter's coursework. The Orthodox man shrugged his shoulders.
So I sound like I've got quite a chip on my shoulder. I do. And I know that there are times when I have been a snob about certain things. But as I get older, I've been less of a snob and more understanding about the income discrepancies all around us, as well as the misconceptions some hold about the second-class status of a public school education. Yes, there are bad public schools. But there are also bad parochial and secular private schools. And ultimately, snobbishness really does not befit a Jewish person. I will take the high road here, and hope you think carefully about my messages.


The bestselling author of "Gorky Park" finds literary gold in a notorious English mining town.
Best known for his Russian detective novels, "Gorky Park," "Polar Star" and "Red Square," Martin Cruz Smith has temporarily abandoned his Slavic hero, Arkady Renko, for a 19th-century African explorer from America who is investigating a cleric's odd disappearance in a benighted coal mining town in the north of England. "Rose," published this month by Random House, is named for its heroine, one of the pit girls of Wigan, who not only worked at the mine in the town made notorious by George Orwell in "The Road to Wigan Pier," but insisted on wearing pants to do it.
"Rose" is the Northern California novelist's best book to date and the reviews have been uniformly enthusiastic; the writing is fluid, the mystery compelling and the characters exceptionally well-drawn. Smith explores 19th-century English conventions of gender and class and the problems they might pose for any thinking person. Like Arkady and the heroes of Smith's earlier novels -- the part-Indian/part-Anglo sleuths of "Nightwing" (about an invasion by vampire bats) and "Stallion Gate" (about the making of the atomic bomb at Los Alamos), for instance -- the protagonists of "Rose" are iconoclasts, estranged from their cultures, not really at home in the world.
Smith, who grew up in Reading, Pennsylvania (his father a white jazz musician and his mother a Pueblo Indian jazz singer), has said he believes that "you have&nbspto be an outsider to write." Known as Bill Smith to family and friends, he supported his wife, Emily, and their three children, first as a newspaper reporter and then churning out potboilers under various pseudonyms before he sold Gorky Park for $1 million in 1981. But as much as Smith loves and identifies with Arkady -- and he is working on a new Arkady Renko mystery now -- he says he never intended to confine his imaginative travels to Russia. You never know, as he puts it, where the gold will be.
How did you decide to write a book about coal mining and feminism in 19th-century England?
I'd always been a great fan of George Orwell. I read "The Road to Wigan Pier" back in high school. Then years back, when I moved to California, I happened to see a book about fashions of 19th-century Victorian England, only four pages of which was devoted to the dress of the working class. And half of that was about the pit girls of Wigan, who were the social scandal of Victorian England. For me it really connected to "The Road to Wigan Pier" -- Orwell's blighted post-industrial town, this very vigorous place with these highly independent and unusual and obstinate women. Then there was the whole concept of coal mining, which is a culture unto itself, the most dangerous occupation in the world, and which draws and develops a certain kind of man. And women, in fact, had been working in the pits until the 1840s when they were "reformed" out, but they still had considerably dangerous jobs on the surface and, in Wigan, chose not to make things more dangerous by wearing skirts, though they were the only pit girls in England who made that stand. I never thought I would write about them, but I knew it was gold when I saw it.
Why did you write about them now?
I couldn't forget about them. My mind kept returning to what a picture of England it was, so much more interesting than the upstairs/downstairs parlor dramas. What I enjoyed absorbing while I was making my own book was the Brontks, because they were part of that mentality, the mindset of the educated Victorian woman. Part of the research I did was to go visit their home in Haworth, which like Wigan is in Lancashire, and simply walk around. It was very grim when they lived there, grim enough to take their lives; they died of things like consumption and their health being undermined by the bad drinking water and the constant diseases of the period which were almost all related to issues of sanitation. Part of their well water came from the graveyard. Infant mortality was unbelievably high, especially in places like Wigan. And the reason people drank tea and beer was that you wouldn't die from it. Of course it is all very quaint now, and if you go to Wigan there are no coal mines functioning so you are no longer surrounded by that smoky veil, but if you have any imagination at all you can see how awful it was.
Your depiction of the world of the mines is so vivid, so very detailed. How did you do your research?
I was very lucky. The first or second night I was there I attended a lecture on mine explosions of Victorian England at the Wigan Library, and when I talked to the lecturer afterward he said, "You're a Yank, aren't you? What on earth are you doing in Wigan going to a lecture on mine explosions?" And when I explained, he offered himself up for the next week and when I returned he did it again, so he gave me weeks of his time. He is an amateur historian of coal mining and found mines I could get into, so I didn't have to rely entirely on written accounts or my imagination.
I expected it to be, but it was not that frightening because you have a sense of the miners being extraordinarily competent. I went into two -- one a museum and the other a working mine which has since been sealed. The government is shutting down the coal industry, they say it's cheaper to draw nuclear power off the French grid and cheaper to buy coal from Colombia. The miners say there are some questions out there about nuclear energy and that the reason coal from Colombia is cheaper is that it's mined with child labor. They feel they've been targeted by the Conservative government to be destroyed as a union, and one way to destroy a union which is so powerful that it has shut down the country on at least two occasions during this century is to destroy the industry that employs them. There is a huge antipathy in England between the north and the south, the working class and the owning class. If you take the contempt some Americans have for yuppies and multiply it by 10 you might come close to understanding their attitude towards the City, as they call it -- London, the people of the south. And I have heard from some very well-educated admirable citizens of London that once you get as far north as Manchester you will encounter nothing but barbarians.
Tell me about the miners you met.
Mining is the most dangerous occupation in the world and I guess always has been. They are enormously vigorous, strong men quite at ease with one another in somewhat the same way as men who work on a fishing trawler are. They have to rely on one another totally. You are not working in an office cubicle, you are working hand in hand with the man next to you, and there is always a degree of physical danger, a degree of necessary alertness. So of course what that fosters is enormous pride and comradeliness.
So they are set apart, in a way.
It is an entirely different world and they know they are the only ones who know it. I've met miners who hate talking about mining because it is so dangerous and hard and they don't want their wives to know. Terrible things happen down there. But at the same time I went down into the mines with working miners who are still young men, younger than I am, who are aware that their working life is coming to an end and they feel suddenly cut off. There is a heroic aspect to the work and now they're being terminated, and terminated by the kind of people they hold most in contempt.
Were they suspicious of you?
I've always been struck by how unsuspicious people are in general, if you tell them what you're about. Most people -- and particularly people whose lives have nothing to do with books at all -- are intrigued by the idea that somebody wants to listen to them and get it right. And they also treat a stranger down in the pit with a great deal of gentleness because they know how scary it can be, so there are no games played down there.
I love the scene in which the miners and their families make your detective, Blair, tell them stories about his life, the way they seem so menacing at first, but are in the end rather enchanted.
I was delighted to come upon that idea, to have him talk about himself to some degree, to explain himself. It was an opportunity to establish that delight people take in stories, the wonder of telling a tale, and this was a period when people still told tales, and he finds himself -- to his own surprise -- delighted to be the teller.
The writing in this book is very fluid and seems to me your best so far. Did you feel that way about it while you were writing it?
I think that each book, each country, has its own rhythm and this particular rhythm worked very well for me, it felt very comfortable. I think I was wise to use an American as the point of view, and I guess all that time I wasted as a kid reading Orwell and Waugh and Huxley set up some patterns, some little trails here and there to that rhythm. The fact is that I loved being in England. We all love the rhythm of English speech, probably for the same reason we love the King James version of the Bible, the up and downness of it. I'm very aware when I'm speaking to the English of how flat my Mid-Atlantic American voice is. I think the book has a very nice shape to it, a certain connectedness, and I think the fact that women play such a strong role in it makes a huge difference in the quality of the story.
Charlotte, the woman who was to have married the missing cleric, is from a very privileged background, very different from that of the pit girls, but her situation seems almost more restrictive in some ways.
She was very much a prisoner of that situation and time. She had the education and attitude toward the world almost of a governess, but a governess would probably have been very desperate to marry and she was desperately avoiding marriage. She was a prisoner of men and their expectations.
Was it difficult to assume a woman's point of view?
It wasn't a problem in this book because, for me, Rose and Charlotte were such intelligent and sympathetic creations. Those two women had a lot to say. I didn't have to create stuff for them; I just had to get out of their way. And at the same time I had to allow them to play, so that they didn't just hit one note all the time. I have to rewrite an awful lot to get things right, but I never got tired. I always looked forward to coming back to them.
So you didn't miss Arkady?
I didn't miss him while I was doing this. I never thought I would just be doing Arkady books. I never intended to do any after "Gorky Park," so I was pretty amazed when people asked me a few years ago what I was going to do now that the Cold War was over, as if I had been manufacturing missiles. I hate to be categorized. The great thing about being a writer is that you are always recreating yourself.
What other projects do you hope to do?
I'd love to do something set in Japan. I have the period already picked out. I have a French book with the period picked out, and I am working on something right now that I don't want to talk about at all. So I've got three things and none of them are easy. They all involve taking in a huge amount of material, but that's what seems to keep me from becoming stereotyped. I have another Russian idea, too, with a place and a period, so I guess I have enough to keep me busy for quite some time, especially considering that I'm such a slow writer.
How long did it take you to do this book?
Well, "Red Square" came out in 1992 and this could have come out last fall, but I didn't want to rush it. I wanted to make sure that this would be a book that was as finished as I could make it and that all of the people who would have an effect on it -- the editors and the sales reps and a whole lot of other people -- would have a chance to actually read it. So it took about four years, but the actual writing was probably about three, because it involved so much research. I feel very bad about getting things wrong. I've taken a few liberties, but I wanted them to be liberties I'd taken deliberately. You have to get all the rules of genealogy correct, the rules by which a title and property are handed down, and then all the mining has to be done right. The worst thing in the world would be for some miner you don't know to say, "He's balled it all up. He doesn't know what he's talking about." Because this book is about him and you can feel that small buzz of contempt on the periphery of your subconscious, no matter how far away you are, the diminishing of your own enjoyment and their esteem -- their trust really -- because there is a relationship of trust between writer and reader, I think. You are walking a curious tightrope in which you maintain your consciousness of reality, of what is actually possible, which you can then manipulate. But if you get that universe wrong, you are just manipulating stupidity.
I'm reading "The Monkey House" and Pinsky's translation of the "Inferno" and Ron Hansen's "Atticus." I'm reading Jane Austen, two or three of hers, and getting very exasperated. It's like watching somebody knit and noticing there's no yarn at all. I've got a book of poetry by the bed, one of these big collections that goes back to the Greeks and Romans. What's wonderful is to read the different translations -- some done in 1600 and some in 1900 -- of the same passage. It's fascinating to watch the same tale repeated in such a different way by two different centuries.
Do you think you will ever write again about Rose and Blair?
I don't mind the idea that people would want to see Blair again. That, to me, is the right reaction. I liked the characters in this book a great deal and I felt more than usual that I was working from the inside out. I really had a ball working with Rose and Charlotte and knowing what I knew about them and knowing that I was taking my hero and jerking him left and jerking him right. At the moment, I am writing about Arkady, and then I have a pretty good idea for another book, and then we'll see. I liked the way this one ended, which was them sort of disappearing into the night towards this dark horizon, this other place. It's funny. When I told people I was going off to do research on this book they would say, "So what romantic place are you going off to this time? And I'd say "Wigan." But you never do know where the gold lies.


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See all News Why Flash Fiction Series
In SmokeLong's "Why Flash Fiction?" series, writers and editors explore what draws them to the form. In this column, Ravi Mangla writes about flash's role in interstitial spaces and why the form is a middle finger to capitalism. Submit your own "Why Flash Fiction?" article or other flash-related essays on our Submittable page!
By Ravi Mangla
For the past month I have been a writer-in-residence at an art museum in Western Massachusetts. Each day, at lunchtime, I walk across a tracery of gilded cracks in the pavement. The installation (Sidewalk Kintsukuroi by Rachel Sussman) is part of The Space Between, an exhibition that shines a light on those peripheral spaces that most of us—as the distracted, harried, and (let's be honest) flawed individuals that we are—tend to overlook.
Flash serves a similar purpose. It gives voice to stories in the margins, the ones deemed too slight or elusive for more conventional narrative modes. And the deeper I get into the practice of writing, the more I am drawn to this interstitial space: between sense and scene, snapshot and story, silence and sound. By illuminating the underseen, we reveal a world more fully realized, in which small gestures resemble events, and a single moment can carry the weight of years.
It was nearly a decade ago that I encountered my first piece of compressed fiction and I still find the elasticity of the form enlivening. Novels surprise me less and less (especially those turned out by major publishing houses), but flash regularly upends my expectations, leaves me dazzled by its distillations and odd constructs. "Its littleness is the agency of its power," writes Steven Millhauser in an essay on the short story. Though one could just as easily affix this quote to flash.
The market urges writers to think bigger, act bolder, be more ambitious. But flash doesn't care a whit about the market. It's a middle finger to our whole system of capitalism, its demands and imperatives. There is no such thing as a commercial flash fiction writer. No Thomas Kinkade or Michael Bay. We don't do this work for remuneration. (Partly because there is none.) We do it to be accomplices to beauty, to produce pieces that aren't mediated by the latest taste or trend. I'm talking art in the margins. In the recesses. In the tiniest of cracks.
Ravi Mangla is the author of the novel Understudies (Outpost19). His very short stories have appeared in Mid-American Review, The Collagist, American Short Fiction, Gigantic, and Tin House Online. Follow him @ravi_mangla.
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text:
Cryptotriton nasalis es una especie de salamandra en la familia Plethodontidae.

Distribución geográfica
Habita en Honduras y en Guatemala.
Su hábitat natural son los montanos húmedos tropicales o subtropicales. Su rango altitudinal oscila entre 1150 y 2200 msnm.

Estado de conservación
Está amenazada de extinción debido a la destrucción de su hábitat.

Referencias

 IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group. 2014. Cryptotriton nasalis.   The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.3. Consultado el 23 de abril de 2015.

Enlaces externos

nasalis
Anfibios de Guatemala
Anfibios de Honduras
Fauna endémica de América Central
Animales descritos en 1924


1. iTunes Match, a theoretically awesome iTunes service that allows you (for about $25 per year) to stream your entire music library from the cloud on any device, is so temperamental and riddled with bugs that it's often more trouble than it's worth.
3. I've found Mac OS X Lion, which I only recently upgraded to, somewhat puzzling. Launchpad, for instance, which seems like an attempt to bring the iOS interface to the Mac to some degree, doesn't add much value to the UX. It looks cool, but it's not really worth using in lieu of the standard dock through which most Mac users access their apps.
But there's one factor that's bumming me out most by far these days as an "Apple guy"… It's the Siri commercials.
I'm sure many millions of words have been spewed into the blogosphere already about Apple's embarrassing, preposterous TV ads starring actors Zooey Deschanel, Samuel L. Jackson, and John Malkovich. Nonetheless, the more I see them, the more I wonder how Steve Jobs would have felt about the ads, and about Siri's reception in general so far. I'm inclined to agree with this Mashable story that quotes a former Apple employee who says Jobs "would have been embarrassed" by Siri.
Why do these ads fail, both as commercials in and of themselves, and as extensions of Apple's peerless brand? For starters, in the Zooey Deschanel spot, she asks Siri if it's raining, instead of consulting one of many nearby windows to SEE FOR HERSELF. Zooey chooses not to simply process the information that's right in front of her own dreamy eyes, instead opting to ask her smartphone a question about the current local weather, out loud, while alone in her little house. Has anyone watched this commercial and decided that this kind of ludicrous, antisocial behavior is something they aspire to? I sure hope not, because it's just about the most pointless use of voice recognition technology I can imagine.
Despite what Zooey would have us believe, though, Siri is not totally useless. When I first read about the technology, I figured it'd be neat to use it to dictate text messages while driving, for instance, or to look up information while your hands/eyes are otherwise occupied. This brings us to another spot from the ad campaign, the one with the legendary Samuel L. Jackson using Siri for help while preparing a romantic meal. Cooking, to me, is a good example of a situation in which Siri could logically be very helpful. If you're busy cooking and your hands are wet or messy with foodstuffs, you could press the button on your iPhone just once and theoretically get recipe information or whatever, using Siri with only your voice.
Trouble is, Sam's hands ARE free in the commercial—he's holding his iPhone up near his face and having a casual conversation with Siri. There's no reason why he couldn't find out how many ounces are in a cup by using Google, which would almost certainly turn up an answer quicker than Siri would. Most questions I've asked Siri myself have just led me to web search results pages anyway. So Sam, like Zooey, is basically just chatting with Siri for fun here, while at home by himself. Where's the value proposition? The way Siri is used in these ads reduces it to little more than a novelty, which seems to me like just the sort of thing that would drive Mr. Jobs nuts. Plus, are we really supposed to believe that this guy would use a phrase as pretentious as "organic mushrooms from Arizona"??? Actually, maybe he would. Dude is SUPER rich.
The point is that these ads are confusing, misguided, and obnoxious, and they lead me to question why Apple would throw so much of their weight behind Siri as a technology when they're clearly struggling to communicate the most logical, handy ways to use it. Siri is cool in theory, but until Apple finds a way to perfect it and convince consumers of its value, I don't see it moving past the point of being just a novelty. Much is made, and rightfully so, of Apple's branding strategy and focus on slick hardware and software design, but the primary reason they have such loyal supporters is that their products are often simply the most intuitive and reliable. Apple stuff is supposed to make our lives easier, and it's tough to see how Siri fits in with that.