text:
Diary #248
Posted in Diary, tagged activism, cell phones on March 31, 2015| 6 Comments »
When I wrote last week's diary, I was only barely keeping up with my work, but I've been slowly getting all the distractions out of my way and I've actually managed to get up to about three days ahead again; that's not great, but it's at least breathing room. All last week Jae was hard at work helping Savannah Sly with her musical, which was performed on Sunday night at the Highway 99 Blues Club; I wasn't directly involved but I helped out all I could (mostly by driving people hither and yon). I also got to meet Dr. Charles Hill to talk about some research on sex work he wants to do, and did a little of the Good Work myself (though I still have a way to go before I achieve a normal rate of business again; 100 clients a day my arse!) Those of you who laughed at my tech-reluctance will also be glad to know that I'm even getting used to my "smart" phone, as evidenced by this selfie (taken in a local cafe). For a while the only way to keep myself from being constantly annoyed by an incessant series of "alerts" was to mute the sound for such things, but now I've figured out how to turn off the sound for everything other than text messages, Twitter DMs and business emails, and to assign each of those a different sound. Jae says they'll have me in 2015 eventually, but I certainly hope it doesn't happen too soon.
Back Issue: March 2012
Posted in Miscellaneous on March 30, 2015| 2 Comments »
In a very real sense prohibitionists of all types are pro-crime, because they WANT people of the group they hate beaten and caged, not helped to stay straight. – "Misdirection"
By March of 2012 "That Was the Week That Was" had stabilized to one per week, and with the addition of the Metaupdates feature (later absorbed into the column instead of grouped separately), the blog only lacked the weekly "Links" columns, the Q & A becoming a weekly feature and the Cliterati reprints to achieve the form it held for two years, from the beginning of 2013 to the end of 2014; I think I'll always view that as the "classic" format even though it has changed since then and will no doubt keep changing as my life changes. I think some things will probably remain for a long time to come; fictional interludes like "Penelope" and harlotographies like "La Belle Otero" are too popular to retire, event columns like "Only Rights Can Stop the Wrongs" are too important to lose, holiday columns like "Ostara" afford me a much-needed break, and news/essay hybrids like "A Broker in Pillage", "The Immunity Syndrome", "Thou Shalt Not", "Worms in the Apple", "Above the Law", "Enabling Oppression", "Useful Idiots", "Same As It Ever Was", "Prudish Pedants", and "Ape and Angel" are so easy to write they are unlikely to vanish in the near future.
The formats you're seeing less of these days are interviews (like this one with psychologist Stanley Siegel), movie review and book review columns, and others that require hours of preparation (such as reading books) before I even sit down to write them; the ones you're seeing more of are personal accounts like "Target Audience" and answers to reader questions like "Misdirection" because they flow easily and quickly from my fingers. But don't worry; I know my readers enjoy history columns like "The Profumo Affair" and "Circle", and value analyses of human behavior such as "Fear of Commitment", so they'll never completely go away even if they've become less frequent. And I enjoy needling prohibitionist profiteers like Nicholas Kristof far too much to ever stop writing essays like "Knights Erroneous" and "Double Deal".
Links #247
Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Tyranny, tagged Arizona, California, comics, cops, nanny state, Never Call the Cops, New York, Pennsylvania, prisons, psychology, Sweden, teachers, Twitter, video on March 29, 2015| 8 Comments »
The students do NOT have to eat the Oreo if they do not wish to do so. – Mrs. Porter
I'm slowly beginning to catch up, though I still have quite a way to go to be comfortable with my work schedule. This week's video was supplied by Popehat, who also provided "protect" and "Jew"; the links above the video came from Wendy Lyon ("resistance"), Jasper Gregory ("cookie"), and Jesse Walker ("911").
To protect and serve.
Facts are stupid things.
Signed permission to eat a cookie.
'Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished.
911 summons the cops, y'all; never call it, either.
Replacing "cishet white male" with "Jew" in hate posts.
Cops, de-extinction, police state, hysteria, censorship, Scientology, fascism and propaganda videos.
If you personally were to pay for a male escort, what is the #1 service you would like him to deliver to you?
When everybody suddenly noticed that cops think it's OK to rape whores before arresting us.
"Bring Your Greenbacks", "Jezebel", "Louise", "Big City Girls" and "Baroque Bordello".
Police state, megalomania, pets, bureaucracy, cops, Mr. Rogers and George Harrison.
How should I answer a therapist's claim that ALL prostitutes are slaves?
Can you imagine U.S. cops contradicting a prohibitionist politician's lies?
Truth about "authorities" who pretend they want to "help" sex workers.
Phone app for teen girls who are suddenly "trafficked" by surprise.
China aims to prove it can be at least as stupid & brutal as the US.
Indian government reverses its sneaky criminalization attempt.
Real information in the public discussion of sex work in Canada.
Does a whore enjoy sex more with an attractive (to her) client?
Dr. Feelsad wants DNA surveillance of whores due to sadfeelz.
The Dutch consider licensing, despite knowing it doesn't work.
A $100,00 grant to develop "the next generation of condom".
More on the escort who was arrested for reporting a stalker.
Rape hysteria image now promotes hysteria-debunking site.
How can I get my boyfriend to be more sexually aggressive?
Charlotte Shane on the weakness of "enthusiastic consent".
Officials pretend that licensing schemes "help" sex workers.
Playing the Whore, legendary lands and the Pink Panther.
The real attitude of Swedes toward the sex payment law.
A really bad review of a "sex trafficking" propaganda film.
Strippers sue cops for sexual violation under color of law.
Bolshoi ballet dancer calls the company a "giant brothel".
Over half of Britons oppose criminalization of sex work.
The topless Tunisian checks into a psychiatric hospital.
Sex worker says calling her a sex worker is "slander".
French neofeminists want sugar baby sites censored.
Is this really the company you want the US to keep?
The US Treasury's first attempt to regulate Bitcoin.
Victim blaming is blessedly absent from this story.
Contrasting stories on sex work with the disabled.
More harassment of legal sex workers in Canada.
A retrospective of my columns from March 2011.
Rapist cop of the week, and another a year later.
Oregon ramps up the "sex trafficking" hysteria.
Interviews with Rob Arthur and Laura Agustín.
New Wikipedia article on "Migrant Sex Work".
Another serial killer preying on sex workers.
Anti-child-porn politician busted for…guess.
RAINN repudiates "rape culture" hysteria.
Because prohibition always works so well.
Indian sex worker has a soccer-star son.
Ira Isaacs' obscenity conviction upheld.
Yet another client shaming program.
In politics, facts change to fit beliefs.
Porn Studies releases its first issue.
Amanda Brooks' advice for clients.
Latex emits dangerous sex rays.
King of the Hill: North Carolina.
How you can support my work.
Do as cops say, not as they do.
When sex is your day job.
My favorite short stories.
Maggie in the media.
Superfreakonomics.
In the News (#525)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Obituary, Perception, Tyranny, tagged Above the Law, Arizona, asset seizure, avails laws, Bait and Switch, brothels, cops, drugs, end demand, Florida, Germany, Hall of Shame, Here We Go Again, Hollywood, hysteria, India, Latin America, law, Marching Up Their Own Arses, New York, pathologization of males, prisons, prohibitionist myths, rescue industry, sacred prostitutes, sex work is work, Shift in the Wind, Standard Operating Procedure, The Notorious Badge, Torture Chamber, Worse Than I Thought on March 28, 2015| 5 Comments »
Whole libraries of sex work laws have been written and enforced because lawmakers listened to nothing other than their own fears and paternalism. – Chris Hall
R.I.P. Sashimani Devi
Sashimani Devi, the last [devadasi]…at the Jagannath Temple in eastern India, died on March 19 in the city of Puri…She was 92…she was one of about 25 women assigned to care for Jagannath and other images of deities at the temple, conducting ritual baths, rubbing the statues with lotion and performing private songs and dances at bedtime…Sashimani…remained proud of her status until the end of her life, though she complained that temple authorities had reduced her role in temple rituals and paid her a miserly pension. She told one interviewer who asked about the god Jagannath: "He is my husband and I am his wife. There is no dispute about it." She was the last to perform a dance that had been practiced in the temple for 5,000 years…Laws criminalizing the dedication of devadasis began proliferating in the 1930s, and elite temples like Jagannath began to turn away from the practice, though "thousands and thousands" of devadasis are dedicated, to this day, at smaller temples throughout India…
Chris Hall looks at the connection between the belief in snuff films and the belief in "sex trafficking":
Of all the myths about porn, sex and crime to get a footing in popular culture, the belief in snuff films is one of the most improbable, yet enduringly resilient. For decades, journalists, politicians, law enforcement officials, and anti-porn crusaders talked about snuff films as if their reality had been as firmly documented as the address of the White House….[despite the fact that] no actual snuff films have ever been found…snuff movie hysteria is just a single link in a very long chain of moral panics around sex and sex work which stretches back centuries…the myths of white slavery and snuff films…depicted vast networks of deliberate, organized evil preying on society's most innocent. There are actual videos of murders by serial killers or terrorists, but…a true snuff film would be one where the victim is specifically kidnapped and murdered in order to make the film and distribute it through a vast, secret criminal network. Similarly, white slavery would necessarily involve a nightmarish web of kidnappers and pimps working cohesively in a well-organized criminal subculture…the existence of snuff films and white slavery would reveal a shadowy, near-omnipotent "other" infiltrating respectable society…
A…New York [City cop]…has been charged with multiple counts of rape related to a sexual relationship he's alleged to have maintained with a teen girl more than 20 years his junior…38-year-old Vladimir Sosa…was arrested in the Bronx [after the girl]…confessed to her mother about the relationship last month…
The Notorious Badge
Here's an amusing example of prohibitionists' obsession with the film Pretty Woman: On its 25th anniversary, a "sex trafficking" fetishist publishes a letter asking Richard Gere to espouse the "end demand" creed of the "sex trafficking" religion and denounce clients. I am not making this up.
Mistress Matisse: "If you've eaten poison and need to make yourself vomit, you should watch Dennis Hof and Nancy Grace debate sex work." I concur; Grace is one of the few creatures who can make Hof seem less-than-wholly-vile in comparison.
Shift in the Wind
More editorials like this, please:
It is unfathomable why adults are still being prohibited by law from engaging in sex work – whether as an individual providing or receiving such services – in and outside of Jamaica. To make matters worse, it is also illegal for you to "knowingly" benefit from the proceeds of sex work regardless of your relationship to the individual…This is preposterous….a child whose parent works tirelessly as a sex worker to send him or her to school…can, in fact, be charged for benefiting from their parents earnings from sex work….if you are the parent of a sex worker with a chronic illness such as cancer, you can be charged for allowing your daughter to pay for life-saving chemotherapy. What would you do if the person who supports you financially is a sex worker? Would you still feel the law is justified – that prostitution should be illegal?
Yawn. Are people still pretending this was unpredictable?
Agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration reportedly had "sex parties" with prostitutes hired by drug cartels in Colombia, according to a new inspector general report released by the Justice Department…In addition, Colombian police officers allegedly provided "protection for the DEA agents' weapons and property during the parties…The stunning allegations are part of an investigation…into claims of sexual harassment and misconduct within DEA; FBI…[ATF] and the U.S. Marshals Service…The congressional committee charged with federal oversight is already promising hearings and an investigation…
"Stunning". LOL!
Sex Work is Work
A brothel is advertising what many would consider a dream job: prostitute tester. The job entails rating sex workers for overall quality, cleanliness, value for money, and safe sex practices. The advert by the Berlin brothel…reads: "Practical experience with many years of brothel visits necessary. You should enjoy having fun with people and you should not be afraid of contact." Ideal candidates for the position would hold a university degree (preferably in business), have experience with brothels, and be able to show a health certificate indicating they are disease-free…a multilingual individual is desired, with knowledge of French a plus…
Torture Chamber
…[Florida prison guards] contaminated inmates' food, sprayed them with chemicals for no reason and threatened to break their fingers and to kill them…These practices flourished under former Warden Samuel Culpepper…inmates…said they were stripped naked or down to their boxers at the whim of guards and had all their belongings and their mattresses taken away, then left around the clock on a cold metal bunk for 72 hours or more…[where] they would shiver, cold and petrified, waiting to be gassed…guards would sometimes heat up the gas canisters before activating them, making the chemicals more potent and stick more stubbornly to inmates' skin…
Bait and Switch
Here's a long, detailed account of how an ordinary man was tricked and railroaded by cops and prosecutors, his life destroyed for their profit:
…he believed she was nineteen, and he adamantly denied at all times that she looked underage. He…thought she was lying about her age to try to get more money from him. It took cops almost half an hour of merciless interrogation and lie after lie to get something even arguably incriminating out of him. They kept telling him about how he tried to have sex with "that girl" who was sixteen. When he asked why they were fixated on the fake age of a fake escort, the police report noted that as him seeing no problem with the age of sixteen…
Marching Up Their Own Arses (#452)
For a change, many outside the demimonde recognize anti-whore douchebaggery for what it is:
All sex workers are trafficking victims who desperately want out of the industry. That's the premise…of the new A&E show 8 Minutes, which is slated to premiere April 2….vigilante pastor (and former cop) Kevin Brown…sets up dates with sex workers, only to ambush them with attempts at rescue instead of payment—all filmed, hidden camera-style. The…series has been called "awful" by the Daily Beast, while VICE referred to Brown and the series creators as "manipulators seeking out women for their own gain." A Change.org petition…garnered just under 2,000 signatures. And…even local law enforcement condemned his methods…But none of this criticism has deterred A&E from airing the show…[so] about two dozen…groups that work with…sex workers signed a letter demanding a meeting with Tom Forman, the producer…
Worse Than I Thought (#524)
We can always count on Elizabeth N. Brown:
…the "Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act" (JVTA)…was [stalled]…by party-line disagreement over an abortion-funding provision. Thank goodness. This is one time that lawmakers using abortion as a political tool may actually be a boon for civil liberties…One should always be skeptical when politicians insist on new laws to target things that are already targets…it belies efforts to grant government agencies new powers and more money without people paying much attention…One under-looked but worrisome aspect of the bill would set up several cybercrime-fighting units within the department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement…By conflating all prostitution with sex trafficking, organizations that receive federal anti-trafficking grants can use it to go after prostitution more generally — something conservative rescue-orgs like because it fits their anti-prostitution agenda and police departments like because they can now use this money toward existing vice efforts. And the more arrests and/or "rescues" they make, the more money they get…
Posted in Current Events, Perception, Tyranny, tagged agency denial, Arizona, censorship, cops, Guinea Pigs, internet, Pennsylvania, prohibitionist myths, rescue industry on March 27, 2015| 18 Comments »
This essay first appeared in Cliterati on February 22nd; I have modified it slightly to fit the format of this blog.
As I've written many times, tyranny always starts with unpopular minorities, but it absolutely never stops with them. Every time a new kind of law, legal procedure or police tactic is dreamed up by those with the sick need to control others, it is invariably tested first on some group that the "authorities" know few others will defend; then by the time it's expanded to the general population, it's much too late to do anything about it. For example, US surveillance methods which were first excused as being necessary to uncover "terrorists" were quickly expanded to drug investigations, then to the entire population (as Edward Snowden revealed); similarly, the license-plate readers which were first used in the Drug War and "end demand" operations against sex workers' clients were recently revealed to be employed in vast numbers to build a nationwide database of all automobiles. Last year, I explained how men were being arrested for talking to a computer program intended to trick them into thinking it was a young girl, and in Florida and Arizona huge police operations (with cops in place of the program) have predatorily arrested hundreds of men whose only "crime" was looking for women their own age on dating sites. In the UK, an internet censorship regime which was sold to the public in the name of "protecting children" from "extreme porn" is now being used to block anything some government official decides he doesn't want the public to see. And "asset forfeiture" proceedings, which were first touted as weapons against "drug lords", are now being used to rob ordinary people who have done absolutely nothing wrong of their cash, cars and even real estate.
"Sex trafficking" has proved a bonanza for those who wish to install ever-greater tyranny without the slightest opposition from the populace; besides the increased surveillance, expanded asset seizure and new laws that criminalize ordinary behaviors, fanatical politicians are working to entirely destroy the internet as we know it by subjecting website owners and operators to criminal charges for third-party content. And even if they fail, other nosy parkers are trying to harness the power of computers to spy on otherwise-anonymous citizens by analyzing what they post online:
…researchers have developed software that allows police departments to mine online ads offering prostitution services. Traffic Jam gives police a rapid way to sort sex ads, spotting indirect language that may suggest sex trafficking, or grouping ads with similar language that may have been written by the same person… research analyst Emily Kennedy said more than 100 sites are commonly used in sex trafficking…
Regular readers know this is arrant nonsense; "sex trafficking" is here being used as a dysphemism for "sex work". Promoters of this incredibly misogynistic myth pretend that women are too asexual to choose sex for pragmatic reasons, and too stupid to place our own ads or plan our own travel; this article hilariously claims that women fly into towns "with a handler", which is especially funny because four-year-old interviews with the same cops from the same podunk little Pennsylvania town mention no "handlers" of any kind. These imaginary persons are almost literally pasted into the line to fit the "sex trafficking" narrative that is used to justify gross invasions of privacy.
But the aforementioned cops, who are well-known for the grotesque and evil lengths to which they will go to harass and victimize sex workers, fit right into the rogue's gallery quoted in support of this Orwellian surveillance program; another such collective entity is the Arizona State University School of Social Work, Dominique Roe-Sepowitz's highly-criticized factory for generating bogus prohibitionist studies and the academic leg of the awful Project ROSE. And who, pray tell, financed the development of this data-mining program? Why, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) which sunk $3.6 million into the project. Another, similar platform was funded by the CIA. But you just go right ahead believing that the US military-industrial complex is so very concerned with commercial sex that it's willing to spend considerable funds just to stop people from having it; I'm sure that's a lot more comforting than recognizing that whores are just the guinea pigs for yet another oppression that will soon be extended to everyone.
Fadeaway
Posted in Perception, Q & A, tagged dating, psychology on March 26, 2015| 13 Comments »
I've never been very confident with women, so at the age of 28 I lost my virginity to a sex worker. I continued to see other professionals since then as time and money allows. Then two years ago I met a sex worker who was exactly my type; she soon gave me her personal phone number, and we texted a lot about upcoming meetings and about other things. The last time we met in person she trusted me enough to let me take pictures of her (she advertised without showing her face), and invited me to karaoke with her. A few weeks later I texted again, and her sister replied to me, saying she was in hospital and wouldn't be working. I wrote to her booker (who knew she liked me) and asked if she knew more, and she led me to believe that the problem was mental health related. Not knowing what else to do, I'd send a little "get well soon" text to her every few weeks. Eventually she responded, saying she was out of the hospital but unlikely to ever work again. She seemed to appreciate my messages, and we continued to text for most of last year. Eventually, I offered to take her out to a platonic dinner in August. She said yes, and I made arrangements. A couple of days before, she pulled out and begged forgiveness, saying she still didn't feel physically up to anything. I took this well, and continued to text her every other week as I had been before, but she soon stopped replying. She's been out of hospital for a year now, and I haven't heard from her since summer. I'm wondering if there's anything else I can do. I just don't know how to deal with silence. If she told me to "please stop" I'd absolutely respect that, but I'm worried she may have had a relapse or something like that too.
Human beings are complicated creatures; not only is it possible for us to feel multiple conflicting emotions at the same time, but we do it with astonishing frequency. What this means in your case is that, though the lady does seem to have been genuinely interested in you, it's also pretty clear that she doesn't want you in her life any more. Why? There's no way to know for sure, but I suspect it isn't coincidental. If the reason she ended up in hospital was indeed mental health-related as you suspect, it could be tied in with burnout or with ambivalent feelings about her work, and if that's the case it's no surprise that she no longer wants to communicate with a client, even a cherished one…especially a cherished one, really. My guess is that she wants to break entirely with her old life, and that includes you. But since she really does like you, she doesn't want to hurt you and is instead pulling a classic feminine move called the fadeaway. In a way, this breakup method is even more cruel because there's no closure for the one rejected; however, it feels less cruel to the one doing the fadeaway, and in her mind that's what counts. You don't have much choice but to move on; at this point all you're accomplishing is hurting both of you. Enjoy your memories of her, send her prayers or good wishes, and then close that chapter in your heart so you can be ready to love someone else. Because she did give you one priceless gift: your first love. And you may find that, painful as the experience was, it has prepared you for other intimate relationships, paid or otherwise.
(Have a question of your own? Please consult this page to see if I've answered it in a previous column, and if not just click here to ask me via email.)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged activism, bogus studies, brothels, California, Canada, Challenge, condoms, cops, Do As I Say, Down Under, Florida, hysteria, India, Ireland, law, New Zealand, porn, stripping, Swedish model, The Last Shall Be First, The Pro-Rape Coalition, Traffic Jam, transgender, Tyranny by Consensus, Under Every Bed, Who Watches the Watchmen?, Wisconsin, Worse Than I Thought on March 25, 2015| 4 Comments »
When two consenting adults have sex behind closed doors and if money changes hands then that is none of the state's business. – Laura Lee
Police in eastern India were left red-faced when a raid on a sex district discovered four of their own along with a convicted murderer whom they were supposed to be…transporting…to hospital for a check-up…
Who Watches the Watchmen?
I'm really happy to see the media slowly growing more skeptical of ludicrous statistical claims:
…[Several news sources claimed that] "According to the FBI's latest study, more than 58,000 kids were abducted by non-relatives in one year"…The number is derived from data collected between 1997 and 1999, mainly from a telephone survey in 1999…these numbers come from an era that predates the wide use of mobile phones, which allow parents to keep much closer track of their children…this is an estimate, based on a survey, not based on actual incidents…Two key components of the 58,000 figure are children who are reported missing by their caretakers or children who were missed by the caretaker for at least an hour but no report was filed…These incidents may meet a legal definition of "abduction" but generally do not conform to the public's understanding of an abduction…The number of stereotypical kidnappings is significantly smaller: 115…the most recent (2014) FBI data on abductions by a stranger in a single year is 332…
A Porirua man is facing two rare charges of failing to use a condom during sex with a prostitute. The safe-sex law is thought to have been applied only about seven times since the Prostitution Reform Act was passed in 2003…Before prostitution was decriminalised, sex workers were not able to complain about clients not wanting to use condoms…[The man] said he knew the prostitute would not have consented to his taking the condom off, so he did it without her knowledge…
Tyranny By Consensus
I certainly hope you saw this coming:
Since Los Angeles County passed a 2012 law requiring all male porn performers to wear condoms, some Californians have been trying to extend the requirement throughout the state. Legislation to this effect failed last summer, but activists are now seeking to put the matter before voters in 2016…If…Michael Weinstein gets his way, he could be subsidized by the state to sit around reviewing porn. Under the proposed condom measure…"Weinstein would be placed in charge of monitoring any adult film produced in California to determine if condoms were used…If a condom wasn't readily apparent in each scene, Weinstein would be deputized by the Attorney General to review the raw footage of the production, and file lawsuits against anyone involved in the production, including but not limited to the producers, distributors, agents, and anyone with a demonstrable 'financial interest' in the production"…To remove Weinstein from this role would require a majority vote from both houses of the state Legislature…
Under Every Bed
Small towns can't credibly claim to be "sex trafficking hubs", so they call themselves "stops" instead:
Hundreds of social workers, police officers, clinicians and concerned locals gathered…to learn about the growth of…sex trafficking in southeastern Wisconsin…the Human Trafficking Forum…explored the causes and symptoms of what they call "modern-day slavery"…Every 10 minutes, a woman or child is trafficked in the U.S, resulting in more than 15,000 victims each year*. An official with the Department of Homeland Security…described Kenosha as a "stopping spot" between Chicago and Milwaukee…[a cop bloviated that] "Twelve and 13-year-olds are the primary target, that's middle schoolers. We need to get the word out to parents and teachers"…
Canadian cops are just as absurd:
…Is there human trafficking in Guelph [Ontario, population 121,668]? "Absolutely"…[lied cop Patty] Pronovost…girls as young as 12 are exploited by pimps…classified ad sites like Backpage…are popular among prostitutes and pimps…The average age of a girl entering the sex trade is 14. On average, they would see 10 to 15 customers each day, but 30 in one day is not uncommon…
I wish 30 clients a day really were "not uncommon"; if that were true my bank account wouldn't be in the sorry shape it's in.
*15,000/year = 1.7/hour = 1/35 minutes ≠ 1/10 minutes.
My friend Laura Lee does it again:
A sex worker is using European human rights legislation to try to overturn a new law in Northern Ireland that makes it illegal to pay for prostitutes. Dublin-born law graduate Laura Lee is launching an unprecedented legal challenge that could go all the way to Strasbourg, against a human trafficking bill which includes banning the payment for sex among consenting adults…
Traffic Jam (#439)
Nearly two years ago, Monica Jones was…arrested for prostitution during a massive police sweep. Now, she's in Geneva, Switzerland, taking her case to the United Nations. The arrest in May 2013 was not the first time the cops had harassed Jones, and she fought back, successfully challenging the charges in court while rising to become an outspoken activist and a widely recognized human rights advocate. Beating her own charges was not enough for Jones, and now she is using her story to challenge the United States' prostitution policies on the global stage. The UN Human Rights Council is preparing its quadrennial review of the US's human rights record in May, and this week Jones and advocates from across the world are lobbying the council's member countries on policy recommendations…
The Last Shall Be First (#513)
A bill that would ban transgender people from using their preferred public bathrooms has now…been amended to make an exception for some transgender people who have legally changed their gender on government documentation. In essence, it means transgender people would need to have their papers on them to pee…[the bill's sponsor] claims that the ordinance would prevent male sex offenders and other perverted, unsavory characters from entering women's bathrooms and that it's a matter of public safety. Of course…such incidents…are almost unheard of in other states and municipalities that have passed protections for transgender individuals…
The Pro-Rape Coalition (#523)
The fact that money is tight and online porn free couldn't possibly have anything to do with this; it must be video games!
Strip clubs, with flashy signs advertising nude dancers, once had a strong footing in downtown centres across Canada. But…an adult industry insider says strip clubs are an endangered species being killed off by lack of demand…Tim Lambrinos…[said] "It seems that young Canadian males are more distracted with other types of interests — Game Boys, plugging in things and so on"…Toronto had 63 strip clubs a decade ago, now it only has 14. Lambrinos admits licensed clubs are plagued with the perception they are tied to crime and unsavoury characters, but…that doesn't match with the reality. "In terms of crime, even public complaints, the licensed adult entertainment clubs were the bottom of the list…There were nail salons and hair salons and barber shops, restaurants that got far more complaints"…
A new "sex trafficking" law is so bad (HOW BAD IS IT?) that at least one "anti-trafficking" NGO has denounced it:
Looking to criminalize our way out of something hasn't worked in any other issue and won't work here…Services shouldn't have to push victims to cooperate with law enforcement in order to receive funding…We need to be removing children from the judicial system, not increasing their involvement…being a trafficker is a specific crime and not just a catch-all for everyone who did something wrong to a child…This bill buys into a sensationalized presentation of a complex issue, to which the criminal justice system is somehow the solution…
Posted in Biography, Harlotography, History, tagged brothels, courtesans, Japan, Japanese Prostitution, politicians, red-light districts, violence vs. sex workers on March 24, 2015| 5 Comments »
Unlike Takao who is very much missed, Komurasaki is missed by no one. – a Yoshiwara courtesan, quoted in 1683
By now the regular reader should have noticed three recurring themes in my harlotographies: one of them pertains only to whores of pre-modern times; the second up to at least a century ago (though it is more pronounced in ancient stories); and the third up until the present day. Taking these in reverse order, they are as follows: the inability of amateurs to simply report biographical facts without embellishing, dramatizing and romanticizing them; the difficulty of ascertaining even numeric biographical details with any certainty; and the confusion of more than one harlot with the same name. All three principles are highly noticeable in the tale of Takao, a Japanese oiran (courtesan) who lived from 1640 to 1659; the lady in question was one of at least six courtesans (some sources say as high as eleven) with that name, and so is generally designated with the unimaginative moniker "Takao II". Very little is known about her with any certainty other than the day of her death, December 5th, 1659; however, that didn't stop talespinners from turning her story into one of the most popular of kabuki plays.
I've written at length about the world of the oiran, but this passage bears repeating:
Until 1617 prostitution was completely legal in Japan, but in that year the Tokugawa Shogunate issued an order restricting prostitution to certain areas on the outskirts of cities. Yujo ("women of pleasure") were licensed and ranked according to an elaborate hierarchy, with oiran (courtesans) at the top and brothel girls (who were essentially slaves) at the bottom. These "red-light districts" were not implemented for the moralistic reasons which spurred their creation in the West, but rather to enforce taxation and keep out undesirables such as ronin (masterless samurai); prostitutes were also not allowed to leave the district except under certain rigidly-controlled circumstances. Soon the districts grew into self-contained towns which offered every kind of entertainment a man might want, all entirely run by women. Once a girl became a prostitute her birth-rank ceased to matter, and her status was determined by such factors as beauty, personality, intelligence, education and artistic skills. Even among the oiran there were ranks, of which the highest were the tayu, courtesans fit to entertain nobles…
Takao was a tayu under contract to the Great Miura, the largest brothel of the Yoshiwara district. Though we know absolutely nothing about her personality or skills, they must have been as striking as her beauty for her to achieve the position of "top girl" at the Miura house soon after her debut, and to become the most sought-after courtesan in Yoshiwara within a short time thereafter. Every contemporary source (of which there are three) say she died of tuberculosis; Takabyōbu kuda monogatari (Tales of Grumbling Otokodate) also states that several of Takao's clients paid for her funeral even though they had failed to visit her on her deathbed. But despite "consumption" being the traditional cause of courtesan demise in Western romance, Takao's tragic death at the peak of her success wasn't nearly dramatic enough for kabuki; for that love, treachery and violent death needed to be added.
Enter Date Tsunamune, who had become Lord of Mutsu at the age of eighteen after the death of his father. Some of his kin, however, plotted against him and managed to trick him into visiting Yoshiwara as a means of getting him out of the way. While there he hired Takao and immediately fell in love with her, proposing to buy out her contract and marry her. This much is largely historical; Tsunamune was a real person whose did indeed face opposition from his family (and was deposed in 1660). He may indeed have visited Yoshiwara, though a letter claimed to be from Takao to him has been proven a nineteenth-century forgery. But the rest of the story as told for generations is the stuff of fiction. Naturally, Takao is supposed to have rejected his offer; some sources feel mere dislike for the man or a desire for independence after the termination of her contract are insufficient motivations for the rejection, and invent a lover who had pledged to marry her when her term of indenture was up. I'm sure y'all can guess where the story goes next: Tsunamune refused to take "no" for an answer and made the brothel owner an offer she couldn't refuse, Takao's weight in gold for the contract. The owner accepted, but took advantage of Tsunamune's lust by putting iron weights into the sleeves of Takao's robe, boosting her weight to 75 kilograms. Some storytellers say that on the boat trip from the brothel, Takao hurled herself into the river to drown, counting on the weights to take her to the bottom; others say Tsunamune caught her in the attempt and killed her with his sword instead, then dumped her body. Still another version says that Tsunamune had one of her fingers broken for every day she refused his bed, and after he had gone through both hands he had her hanged. But all of these say that her death (whether by murder or suicide) was the excuse used by Tsunamune's uncle to remove him from power.
Co-opting the lives of sex workers to tell lurid stories of woe and tragedy is nothing new; it's been done for centuries, perhaps millennia, and shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. But at least in the Japanese variety, the tragedy derives from the freely-chosen actions of a proud, accomplished woman in defiance of fate, rather than from the pathetic subjugation of a cookie-cutter victim stereotype. And I don't think there's any need to explain which I prefer.
Posted in Diary, tagged activism, blogging, law, Maggie in the Media, Washington (state) on March 23, 2015| 14 Comments »
Confused to see a diary column on a Monday? That was a sort of last-minute change designed to accommodate the fact that I'm really behind schedule and didn't have anything else for the slot. It's partly due to the fact that I haven't finished dealing with all the crap that comes along with divorce and relocation, and partly due to doing more on-the-ground activism; for example, last Friday I testified against a new "trafficking" law in the Washington state senate. But more than both of those is the fact that I lack the ability to focus on my work when my new life in Seattle offers so many distractions compared to my previous life in the country. We've decided the way to fix that is for me to get a small office space where I can go to work for a few hours every day, so that I can focus on my writing and actually get it done!
Later on the day that I testified, I was interviewed by a student writing for Humanosphere; she took the photo of me you see here on Occidental Street in Seattle's Pioneer Square. And Thursday saw this article (which quotes me extensively) published in the Daily Beast; it's amazingly refreshing to see a mainstream site recognizing the hysteria for what it is, and I think it's an excellent sign of the impending collapse of the hysteria. And assuming I can get my writing regime back on track, I'll be right there giving y'all a play-by-play on that collapse as it unfolds.
Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Tyranny, tagged Alabama, consensual crime, cops, Georgia, Massachusetts, Never Call the Cops, universal criminality, video on March 22, 2015| 5 Comments »
Detective Conway's use of force was justified and commensurate for the situation.
We had to spend the night away from our place last night, and like an idiot I forgot the power cord for my laptop so I couldn't finish this column in time! I know this is happening more frequently than it did prior to the start of my tour last year, but I'm afraid that's just a consequence of my far-less-settled schedule. This week's video is from Mike Siegel, and the links above it are from Rick Horowitz, Веселин Жилов, Jesse Walker, Jillian Keenan and Franklin Harris, in that order.
Has a crime been committed?
The legend of Giant Plastic Island.
Man jailed for going to work early.
What part of "never" do people not understand?
Umbrellas, bootlicking, bureaucrats, police state, cops, conspiracies, bigotry, redshirts, books, dogs, censorship, sorcery & Pokemon.
Prohibitionists use a young woman's murder as excuse to deny her agency and talk about short skirts.
How do I reconcile my dislike of sex work with my belief that people should control their own bodies?
Are most sex workers insulted by gifts with "get out of prostitution" hotline numbers attached?
If a sex worker doesn't see herself as a victim, the state must victimize her to prove her wrong.
French whores continue to push back against increased criminalization.
One would never know these claims have been repeatedly debunked.
Soi-disant conservative declares individuals are owned by society.
Sex therapist argues disability should cover hiring sex workers.
Dr. Brooke Magnanti on the lessons we can learn from Pompeii.
Tracy Elise of Phoenix Goddess Temple involuntarily committed.
The ACLU actually did something for sex workers for a change.
Client screening tips & helpful links from a New Orleans escort.
Video of my appearance at the Albany Law School symposium.
Arizona wants to force some women to use men's restrooms.
Increased access to sex services for disabled Netherlanders.
Busybodies who want to help cops brutalize & cage women.
The Rennie Gibbs case was another Steven Hayne travesty.
If it's just a job, why don't prostitutes use their real names?
Proposed South Australian law isn't quite decriminalization.
The evangelical Christian roots of "sex trafficking" hysteria.
Dutch anti-sex politicians use a shill to attack sex workers.
Tunisian sex workers demand their brothel be reopened.
Vancouver settles with the survivors of Pickton's victims.
Why don't sex workers mind being objectified by clients?
Yet another example of what real sex slavery looks like.
The wholly predictable outcome of prohibitionist idiocy.
Another good argument against anti-polygamy laws.
Baboons have been observed keeping dogs as pets.
Charlotte Shane reviews a sex surrogate's memoirs.
Taboo, cops, sex hysteria, tea, McFlurries and birds.
Bernard Baran, another victim of the Satanic Panic.
Ed Wood's early career in television commercials.
Horrible Houma whore helps cops entrap clients.
My two previous columns for the vernal equinox.
UK literally robs a sex worker of her life savings.
Danish researchers protest the Swedish model.
Advocates respond to rescue industry types.
Is it true that clients really hate prostitutes?
High school football causes "sex trafficking"!
Lawyers censure another lawyer for lying.
40 years after "Free to Be…You and Me".
14 more people have been cured of HIV.
The Fokkens sisters have finally retired.
Another ridiculous "sex trafficking" film.
Another good Noah Berlatsky article.
Caty Simon interviews Audacia Ray.
King of the Hill: Portland, Oregon.
No, rape is not worse than death.
Nevada joins the "pole tax" mob.
Eight of my favorite cake recipes.
When science looks like religion.
A new low in intra-family spying.
The developing Canadian mess.
One last raid, just for old times.
Library censorship in Sweden.
An anti-censorship protest.
Rapist cops of the week.
R.I.P. Harry Reems.
Whither Canada?


text:
Q: TypeError: _axios.default.get.mockResolvedValueOnce is not a function I'm trying to write a test using React-lIbraries and Jest.
The test should render a mock axios that produces the mock data I've interested but I keep having the following error:
TypeError: _axios.default.get.mockResolvedValueOnce is not a function
Below is my test code:
import axios from 'axios'
import Home from '../pages/index'

afterEach(cleanup)

const response = [...
]
test('Should render a list of items', async () => {
  axios.get.mockResolvedValueOnce({ data: response })

  render(
      <Home />
  )
  await waitFor(() => expect(axios.get).toHaveBeenCalled())

  response.forEach(item => {
    const element = screen.getByText(products.title)
    expect(element).toBeInTheDocument()
  })
})

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Find out about the Governance of Table Tennis England, including the Board, National Council, AGM and voting information.
Information on Table Tennis England's Governance Review.
Profiles of our Board Members and the latest Board Reports.
The National Council acts as a voice for the players and leagues.
About our elections, including voting information for Company Members.
Information on the Annual General Meeting.
Information on Table Tennis England's articles of association.
Details on the laws of competitive table tennis.


History | Zipf Air - St. Louis HVAC CompanyZipf-Air Inc.
ZIPF-AIR was established in 1987 by John Zipf. The company started as a one man shop and has continued to grow through the years. His goal was and has continued to be to "provide prompt professional service" to all customers. Zipf-Air serves St. Louis and the surrounding areas in Missouri.
With over 100 years of combined experience installing and troubleshooting HVAC systems the company has earned an outstanding reputation within the heating and cooling industry as well as the certification under "Service Technician for Air Conditioning, Equipment, & Systems" from North American Technician Excellence (NATE).
Our technicians are members of either Local 36 Sheetmetal Workers or Local 562 Pipefitters. Our Service Department is in constant contact with our technicians for a quick response to your needs.
We offer total turnkey responsibility for all installs.


text:
from flask import Flask
from settings import ReploySettings
from views import ServiceHook

app = Flask(__name__)
reployhost =  ReploySettings.REPLOY_HOST
reployDebugStatus = ReploySettings.DEBUG_STATUS
reployPort = ReploySettings.REPLOY_PORT

app.add_url_rule('/', view_func=ServiceHook.as_view('home') \
                , methods=['GET', 'POST'] )

if __name__ == "__main__":
    app.run(host=reployhost, port=reployPort, debug=reployDebugStatus)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Attached - Before the start of the game, attach Blood Shaman to a friendly Faction warlock for the rest of the game. Each warlock can only have one model/unit attached to it.
Target friendly living Circle model. If the model is in range, RFP it. If the model is RFP'd, then choose one friendly Circle warrior model in the Shaman's command range. That model gains Divine Inspiration for one turn.
Divine Inspiration - This model gains an extra die on melee attack & damage rolls, but discards the lowest die.
Target this model's warcaster/warlock. If it is in range, once this turn when the warcaster/warlock casts a spell, reduce the COST of the spell by 1.
The Blood Shaman is a warlock support model and a melee combat solo. She should offer useful support to the warlock and be capable in combat.
Spell Slave is even more restricted than it sounds on paper.
As well as the "obvious" restrictions listed on the card (no upkeeps, no SELF, no CTRL, no COST 4+), you're also limited by the core rulebook's definition of "spellcaster" which renders a lot of spells as useless or near-useless. Because if the spell text includes a sentence that has "the spellcaster's battlegroup" or "the spellcaster's control range" you have to mentally delete that sentence from the spell effects (because the Shaman has neither a battlegroup or fury stat).
This page was last modified on 23 March 2019, at 17:44.


text:
Q: Python: Fastest way to generate unique lists from a range of numbers Im trying to generate 5,760,000 unique lists, i.e. no repeating elements in each list and no one list is the same. Each list will have 24 numbers, ranging from 1 to 10,000. Order matters so for example (1,2,3) and (3,2,1) will be considered unique.
I tried the following just to check if random.sample gives me unique lists out of the box but it has been going on forever:
import random
mainlist = []

for i in range(1,5760001):
    r=random.sample(range(1,10000),24)
    if r not in mainlist:
        mainlist.append(r)

How can I best solve this

A: The main problem with your approach is that mainlist is a list, meaning that if r not in mainlist will take more and more time. Change it to a set (and the actual elements to tuple so they are hashable), then the lookup will be much faster. In fact, you can just drop the in check, as a set can not have duplicates in the first place. Also note that your for loop will just try 5760000 numbers, but does (theoretically1) not ensure that the list contains that many elements in the end, so better use while.
mainset = set()
while len(mainset) < 5760000:
    mainset.add(tuple(random.sample(range(1, 10001), 24)))

For 5760000 numbers, this will still take a while, but the complexity should be down from O(n²) to O(n). If the sample-size approaches the maximum number of possible combinations, this will also get dramatically slow as you get more and more clashes, but for your numbers this should not be a problem.1 In fact, you might just as well just use a list comprehension without any checks:2
mainset = [random.sample(range(1, 10001), 24) for _ in range(5760000)]

Alternatively, you can generate all those combinations by combining itertools.combinations with permutations,3 but of course those will be massively too many2 in your case. (Seriously, do not run this with your numbers!)
>>> from itertools import combinations, permutations
>>> nums = range(5)
>>> [p for c in combinations(nums, 3) for p in permutations(c)]
[(0, 1, 2), (0, 2, 1), ... 57 more ... (4, 3, 2)]

1) In fact, the number of possible combinations is so immensely higher2 than 5.7M that you could just use a list and drop that in check and most probably still would have not a single clash.
2) Just to put it into perspective: There are (n over k) combinations, each having k! permutations. For n=10000 and k=24, this makes 1.56e72 combinations and 6.2e23 permutations per combination for a total of 9.72e95 possible elements. Comparing that to the meager 5.7e6 in your sample, the probability for a collision is practically zero.
3) Or just permutations with 2nd parameter.

A: If you're looking for any lists satisfying those criteria, this will give you a generator for the 5760000 lexicographically earliest unique lists of size 24; calling list() on mainlist will put the list into memory.
from itertools import permutations, islice
mainlist = islice(permutations(range(1, 10000), 24), 5760000)

For uniformly random lists, on the other hand, tobias's answer gives the solution. If speed or memory is a concern, using a generator, such as those given by islice or starmap, is recommended with large datasets.
mainlist = starmap(random.sample, repeat((range(1, 10000), 24), 5760000))


A colorful booklet based on the Discover Islam Poster Series. Great to give away for dawah/outreach. Filled with photographs and text from the poster series in a simple, Q & A Format Beautifully designed to help people understand Islam. This is the ideal gift to give to all your non-Muslim friends and neighbors.


In our activity index, you will find all the Ayame Sasamura matches currently in our database. Additionally, the most recent matches of Ayame Sasamura are listed below. To see all the matches Ayame Sasamura fought in a specific month, click the respective number in the index.


text:
Ghost Recon: Wildlands Kicks Off Operation Oracle with a Free Weekend
Source: Blue's News
Operation Oracle is now underway in Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands, offering new free content for the tactical shooter. Those who don't own the game can still check this out, as the launch kicks off with a free weekend on all platforms, and this page has all the details on how to get in on the action. This trailer (NSFW) shows that Operation Oracle introduces a new character played by actor Jon Bernthal, who's set to hand out some punishment. Here's the announcement:
Today, Ubisoft announced that Operation Oracle and a free weekend for Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands are available starting May 2 through May 5 on PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, the Xbox One family of devices including Xbox One X and Windows PC.
Playable in single-player or co-op, Operation Oracle sends the Ghosts on a rescue mission for a Skell Tech engineer taken hostage by Unidad. This typical rescue mission will soon turn into something much bigger. Forget what you know about your enemies and friends as you meet Cole D. Walker, a Ghost Team Leader on the hunt for the truth.
Operation Oracle comes after two years of substantial post-launch support for Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands and follows the completion of Year 2, which brought four free major updates to the game further expanding the Ghost Recon universe.
First-Person Shooters Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands | permalink
Armored Brigade – Campaign Generator Tool Guide
War Thunder Announces Upcoming Release of the Japanese Navy

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
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Divorce Lawyers in Rhode Island
How to File a Malpractice Lawsuit in Rhode Island
Medical malpractice lawsuits are among the most complex cases that are handled by the lawyers of Gemma Law Associates, Inc. In Providence and elsewhere in Rhode Island, these cases can take a great deal of time to prepare and prosecute.
To help you understand the process that goes into filing a medical malpractice claim, we present the following:
Conducting the Initial Legal Consultation
At Gemma Law Associates Inc., we do not charge for an initial consultation. We use the consultation to get to know more about you and your case. We hope you can use the consultation to learn more about us and our approach to helping clients. Ultimately, we will review your options, discuss our approach to meeting your goals and move ahead with our representation of you.
Gathering Medical Records
Your attorney will instruct you about how to make a formal, written request for medical records pertaining to your case. You may need to make multiple requests to ensure you obtain records of every medical consultation, test, and procedure you received.
Determining Whether to Go Forward with a Lawsuit
Once we have our medical experts' opinions about your case, it will be time to have a serious discussion with you. Unfortunately, not all cases of medical error or negligence become medical malpractice lawsuits. There must be ample evidence to prove the case in court. There must be a demonstrable reason that you, as the injured patient or the survivors of a deceased patient, deserve compensation. We must determine with you that you are ready to pursue a legal claim that could take many years to resolve.
Drafting and Filing a Lawsuit
If we believe your case has merit and are prepared to proceed, Gemma Law Associates Inc. will draft and file a lawsuit on your behalf, or complaint, will lay out the details of your case and request appropriate compensation for your medical bills, lost wages, pain, and suffering and other losses.
Litigating the Claim
After a lawsuit is filed, we will engage in a process that's called "discovery." We will seek certain documents from the parties we believe are at fault. We may also seek written (affidavits) or oral (depositions) sword statements. We may need to file motions to obtain this information or to deal with other aspects of your case. Keep in mind: The other side will be engaged in discovery and motions as well. In some cases, the other side in a medical malpractice lawsuit may request that you undergo a medical examination.
Negotiating a Settlement
Settling a medical malpractice lawsuit can allow you to obtain the compensation you deserve more quickly and get on with your life. As your medical malpractice attorneys, Gemma Law Associates Inc., will negotiate with the defendants' attorneys and report you. A settlement may be made at any time prior to the announcement of a jury's decision in the case. Whether to accept a settlement offer is your decision.
Getting your Day in Court
If a settlement is not reached before trial your lawsuit will go to court. A medical malpractice trial includes a completed airing of evidence in the case, with testimony from the plaintiff and the defendant. This will include testimony by expert witness prepared to explain the medical aspects of the case from both sides' point of view. Your and your witness will be prepared for trial. Once each side has presented evidence and arguments, the jury renders a decision.
Receiving the Verdict
The jury's decision will be announced in court. If the jury in your favor, a monetary award will be announced. Unless one side appeals to a higher court, this ends the case. The defendant (or defendants) will transmit payment of the award through your attorneys.
Distribution of the Judgement or Settlement
There will be expenses that must be deducted from a settlement or a jury's award. This includes contingency legal fees (an agreed-to percentage of the settlement or jury award) and any healthcare-related expenses or other liens that may have been imposed while your case was pending. The remaining balance will go to you.
Contact an Experienced Providence, RI Medical Malpractice Lawyer
If you have been seriously injured by a medical mistake or have lost a loved one to medical negligence in Rhode Island, you owe it to yourself to have your case reviewed by an attorney experienced with medical malpractice cases.
The attorneys of Gemma Law Associates, Inc., have won multimillion-dollar settlements on behalf of injured clients in Providence and throughout Rhode Island. We are ready to go to work for you.
Rhode Island places strict time limits on filing medical malpractice claims, so it's important to act immediately. For a free legal consultation, contact us today.
Car Accident: What Happens When a Car is "Totaled"?
Car Accidents in Snow and Ice
Common Questions About Car Accident Cases
Multi-Car Pileups
Six Steps to Avoid Losing Your Car Accident Case
Soft-Tissue Injuries from Car Accidents
Teen Driving Accidents
How To Handle Injuries After A Car Accident
Although there are far fewer major auto accidents per year in Road Island than other states, it's still important to know what to do if you're in an accident and...
What's Your Dog Bite Case Worth?
Dog bites are the most common kind of animal attack. More than four million Americans are bitten by dogs each year; and in addition to any injuries, a dog bite...
What to Do If a Loved One Is Killed in an Accident
If a loved one was recently killed in an accident, our law firm sends their sincere condolences to you and your family. You're undoubtedly grieving, and you likely have questions...
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Not to be confused with Yoo Ha.
Yoo Ha-na (born March 22, 1986) is a South Korean actress. She has starred alongside Jimmy Lin in the Taiwanese TV drama series My Lucky Star, and has also appeared in the music video for "White Windmill" by Taiwanese singer Jay Chou.
Born in Seoul, South Korea, Yoo Ha-na originally got her start in the entertainment business by posing for pictures in various magazines in South Korea. One of Yoo's photos caught the eye of Chen Yu-shan (producer for the Taiwanese drama My Lucky Star) from a magazine she picked up while at a beauty salon. Chen made arrangements afterwards with Yoo's agent to fly Yoo from South Korea to Taiwan to audition for My Lucky Star, which landed Yoo the lead female role in that drama. At the time, Yoo had already appeared in the music video "White Windmill" for Taiwanese singer Jay Chou.
Yoo went on to appear in a few Taiwanese films such as Exit No. 6 before returning to South Korea, where she starred in TV dramas such as My Too Perfect Sons, First Wives' Club, and Paradise Ranch.
On December 17, 2011, Yoo married professional baseball player Lee Yong-kyu. She delivered a 3 kg son on September 2013. Her agency announced that she decided to suspend her acting career for the time being to focus on raising her son and taking care of her family.
^ 유하나 "'조강지처클럽' 만난 것은 행운" :: 네이버 뉴스 (in Korean). News.naver.com. 2008-09-13. Retrieved 2010-01-27.
^ '미친키스', 뮤지컬 배우의 정극 연기 :: 네이버 뉴스 (in Korean). News.naver.com. 2007-07-15. Retrieved 2010-01-27.
^ <도시인의 헛된 열정..연극 '미친키스'> :: 네이버 뉴스 (in Korean). News.naver.com. 2007-08-28. Retrieved 2010-01-27.
^ 12월 7일 단신 :: 네이버 뉴스 (in Korean). News.naver.com. 2007-12-06. Retrieved 2010-01-27.
^ "şÎťęŔĎş¸żĄ żŔ˝Ĺ°ÍŔť ČŻżľÇŐ´Ď´Ů". Busanilbo.com. Retrieved 2010-01-27.
^ "부산일보에 오신것을 환영합니다". Busanilbo.com. Retrieved 2010-01-27.
^ 7명 젊은 배우 역동적 작지만 따뜻한 뮤지컬 :: 네이버 뉴스 (in Korean). News.naver.com. 2005-12-08. Retrieved 2010-01-27.
^ 뮤지컬 "사랑을 노래해~" :: 네이버 뉴스 (in Korean). News.naver.com. 2006-12-27. Retrieved 2010-01-27.
^ 연극 '아워 타운', 뮤지컬 '우리 동네'로 한국 공연 :: 네이버 뉴스 (in Korean). News.naver.com. 2006-04-15. Retrieved 2010-01-27.
^ "1020 관객은 12월이 즐겁다 :: 네이버 뉴스" (in Korean). News.naver.com. 2008-11-21. Retrieved 2010-01-27.
^ "헤럴드경제:: 유하나 "솔직히 톱스타 되고 싶죠" - 고품격 콘텐츠페이퍼, 헤럴드경제". Heraldbiz.com. Retrieved 2010-01-27.
^ "리얼타임 연예속보, 스타의 모든 것 '스타뉴스'". Star.moneytoday.co.kr. 2009-05-15. Retrieved 2010-01-27.
^ "콘서트 뮤지컬 < 웨잇포유 ( Wait for you ) >더블 캐스팅으로 앵콜 공연 | 아츠뉴스". Artsnews.co.kr. Retrieved 2010-01-27.
^ "믿을 수 있는 인터넷 언론 CNBNEWS". News.cnbnews.com. Retrieved 2010-01-27.
^ 더블캐스팅으로 앵콜 공연, 콘서트 뮤지컬 웨잇포유 :: 네이버 뉴스 (in Korean). News.naver.com. 2009-07-02. Retrieved 2010-01-27.
This page was last edited on 2 August 2018, at 06:01 (UTC).


Arata Isozaki may not be a household name in the vein of architects like Zaha Hadid — with whom he previously collaborated — but people around the world are starting to look at his work with fresh eyes and discovering a visionary with just as fascinating a personal story. This month, the 87-year-old Japanese architect, city planner, and theorist became the 46th individual to receive architecture's most prestigious honor: the Pritzker Prize.
Born in Oita, Japan in 1931, Isozaki was a teenager when the United States decimated Hiroshima and Nagasaki with atomic bombs, killing and maiming hundreds of thousands of Japanese citizens. These events had a profound effect upon Isozaki's view of built environments and his interest in building new cities from the ground up.
After graduating from the University of Tokyo, Isozaki worked for the 1987 Pritzer Prize laureate Kenzo Tange, eventually opening his own practice in 1963. As Japan entered a new era of rapid reinvention, he experimented with different styles and approaches, developing the extreme flexibility that would come to define his career. His early work, including civic buildings in his hometown like the Oita Medical Hall and Oita Prefectural Library, is decidedly futuristic and avant garde. Isozaki soon became one of the first Japanese architects to work outside of Japan during a time when Western culture began heavily influencing the East.
His first overseas commission was the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, California, completed in 1986. From there, he would go on to helm more than one hundred total built projects around the world, including the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, the Shenzhen Cultural Center in China, the Central Academy of Fine Arts Art Museum in Beijing, and the Qatar National Convention Center. Despite the fluidity of his style, there are a few connecting threads between all of his projects, including a sense of solidity and the use of simple geometric forms.
"What is patently clear is that he has not been following trends but forging his own path," write the Pritzker Prize jurors of Isozaki's repertoire.


No affiliate, ownership, or any other interest to disclose here; we just figure that if you can find the time and money to take this trip, then you should.
Gray Langur's Kingdom of the Clouds Tour is a once-in-a-lifetime, all-inclusive, 14-day exploration of one of the world's most culturally preserved, yet astonishingly forward-thinking countries.
Tourism in Bhutan is strictly controlled, and the Kingdom welcomes fewer visitors annually than England does in a weekend.
Gray Langur's debut tour was designed to be the ultimate bucket list experience — taking guests deep into Bhutan's hidden lands where we will explore both iconic and a remote regions of the mystical kingdom in the clouds, and have the opportunity to participate in Bhutanese ritual and culture that most travelers will never get to experience.
That's one grand splash of a debut there, that is.
If Apple were a country, which country would it be?
On October 19, Gray Langur will embark on our Kingdom of the Clouds Tour, a special two-week adventure into the world's most different-thinking country — one that is, uniquely, as innovative as it is timeless. We'll explore both iconic and remote regions of the mystical kingdom in the clouds, and have the opportunity to participate in Bhutanese ritual and culture that most travelers will never get to experience.
This special tour is a one-time event, and as such, availability is extremely limited. Daring Fireball readers interested in adventuring to the fiercely independent Land of the Thunder Dragon can use the code DARINGFIREBALL for a 20% discount, and join us. Register by September 19th to reserve your spot.
So, y'know, go give Daring Fireball a quick read, or stick around if you like — it's a pretty good source for Apple-related news, should you have the culture and erudition to appreciate that — then hop on over and sign up with their discount, we say.
No, it's not a cheap trip, but really when they say "once-in-a-lifetime" above, that is a lot less hyperbole than just about anywhere else you'll ever hear that phrase — if you want to travel somewhere that really does border on the truly unique, this is it!


We can help you get your Projects Solved! The entire Berglund Center will be completely transformed, for one weekend only, into a Home and Garden Extravaganza. From the front door to the backyard you'll find it all at the Greater Roanoke Home & Garden Show.


Cape Charles House Bed and Breakfast is delightful as a destination or as charming lodging enroute. It is ideally located in the historic town of Cape Charles, approximately 12 miles from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. Norfolk International Airport is not far away (1 hour) and directions and transportation can be arranged.


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Bicycle Shops Can Stay Open During COVID-19 Lockdown, Says U.K. Government
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is seen in a televised address to the Nation announcing new
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is seen in a televised address to the Nation announcing new … [+] restrictions requiring the general public to stay at home for at least 3 weeks. (Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
Prime Minister Boris Johnson unveiled a strict three-week Coronavirus lockdown for the U.K. in a televised address on March 23.
There is now a ban on gatherings of more than two people as he told the British public: "You must stay at home."
He mentioned that cycling, walking, and other forms of exercise could continue, although this should be limited to one daily session per person. Johnson did not specify the length of time for this daily exercise session.
People will also be allowed outside to buy food or medication and to travel to work.
"You should not be meeting friends. If your friends ask you to meet, you should say no," said Johnson from 10 Downing Street.
"You should not be meeting family members who do not live in your home. You should not be going shopping except for essentials like food and medicine – and you should do this as little as you can."
He added: "If you don't follow the rules, the police will have the powers to enforce them, including through fines and dispersing gatherings."
In an explanatory document issued on March 23, the U.K. government listed those retailers which have to close as part of the country's lockdown. Bicycle shops and petrol stations have been excluded from the list. Bicycle shops were listed twice by mistake.
Industry organizations the Bicycle Association and the Association of Cycle Traders had been lobbying the U.K. government for bike shops to remain open, should they wish to do so (some have preferred to close for the safety of their employees).
Bicycle shops listed twice in "Guidance: Further businesses and premises to close" issued on March … [+] 23.
"Bicycle repair shops must remain open as long as possible, to ensure that transport for essential workers and last-mile deliveries is maintained," said a statement from the Bicycle Association, which has a regularly updated COVID-19 page on its website.
Some bike shops have been offering free or discounted cycle repairs and services to National Health Service staff, but others have closed, including independents Dales of Glasgow and Mud Dock of Bristol.
Store group Evans Cycles—owned by billionaire Mike Ashley, founder of Sports Direct—has also closed. Sports Direct CFO Chris Wootton told Forbes: "we will not open our Sports Direct or Evans Stores to the public, even though government policy excludes bicycle shops from closure until we are given the go ahead by the Government."
Bicycle and auto accessories retailer Halfords closed its 400+ stores on March 24 while "we work out the safest way to support our colleagues and communities in providing essential products and services." A day later company CEO Graham Stapleton announced the chain would reopen.
Stapleton also announced that NHS and emergency workers would receive free bicycle check-ups, worth £30.
Evans Cycles shop, London. (Photo by: Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Universal Images Group via Getty Images
THE BICYCLE ASSOCIATION believes bicycle shops are essential to get Britain moving.
"For NHS workers and other essential staff who do not have access to a car but need transport between home and workplace, cycling is a lower-risk, more convenient and more reliable alternative to using public transport," said a statement from the organization.
"As more and more public transport services are reduced or canceled, cycling's role for journeys too long to walk becomes ever more important to maintain the resilience of the transport network."
On social media, there have been calls—including from cyclists—for cycling to be fully curtailed because any injuries that may happen to cyclists would add to an already pressurized NHS. However, motoring—another activity which can lead to injuries—is not subject to similar calls for it to be halted.
Updated on March 24 with information on bike shop closures.
Tags: Bicycle, COVID19, Government, Lockdown, Open, Shops, Stay
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ED SUBA JR./KRT
In a recent survey, a third of Americans blamed doctors for our country's relentless opioid epidemic. I get it. Doctors (myself included) aren't in a position to defend our prescribing practices — not with Massachusetts losing an estimated 1,173 people to overdoses in 2014, and 1,104 through just the first nine months of last year. While Massachusetts is responding to these deaths with a serious multifaceted approach, including last month's breakthrough legislation limiting opioid prescriptions, our medical community needs to work hard to bring our culture up to speed with Governor Charlie Baker's new law.
Overprescribing opioids is something we've gotten used to doing. To be fair, the origins of the epidemic aren't due to the behavior of bad-apple doctors, who are rare. The majority are well-intentioned prescribers caught in a web of entangling interests spun over the past two decades. When the powerful narcotic OxyContin was first made available in the mid-90s, all that doctors heard from sweeping educational campaigns (many driven by pharmaceutical industry marketing) was that they were undertreating pain.
Several reports around the time suggested that opioids could be useful without causing addiction. Then, following new pain-management quality standards implemented in 2001, documenting pain levels (how much does it hurt from 1 to 10?) became a top priority. And in an era of patient satisfaction surveys, hospitals interested in optimizing reimbursement encouraged prescribers to ensure they treated inpatients' pain appropriately. Meanwhile, the US Food and Drug Administration — asleep at the regulatory wheel — failed to leverage existing law to narrow prescriptions for specific indications, leading to their broad use.
As a result, opioid prescriptions have soared since the 1990s, and so have deaths from the drugs. Unfortunately, most patients killed by opioid addiction initially obtained these medicines either from a doctor's prescription or from the medicine cabinets of friends or family.
Scrupulous doctors have unknowingly built and fueled the engine running the opioid epidemic: the tremendous stockpiles of drugs in American homes. Since physicians remain at the front lines of this transaction, we also have the capacity to help turn things around. But we'll need a sea change in our medical culture.
Even today, opioids remain our go-to god for pain relief — and pain is everywhere. It's the symptom I have been most called on to treat when I speak to inpatients on my rounds. Hardly an hour goes by without my turning to morphine or its stronger cousins to treat everything from kidney stones, gallstone attacks, and even such benign ailments as an ankle sprain or a painful rash. I've discharged these patients with dozens of pain pills to take home with them. I did this because untreated pain is unbearable to watch and opioids visibly relieve acute suffering. It's what most of my teachers and colleagues did, too. It's what the culture has asked of us.
Unfortunately, too much of our current practice of overprescription rests on the traditions of the past few problematic decades. We've been using opioids on autopilot. A growing body of evidence now suggests that even transient bursts of opioids on first exposure can contribute to the development of chronic addiction. A third of patients who receive opioids after spine surgery continue using them a year out, according to one study. And long-term opioid use, which comes with innumerable risks and side effects, arguably has almost zero benefit in treating chronic pain.
I'm ashamed that it took seeing deaths on the news every day in Massachusetts to force me to reconsider how I practice. Now, instead of jumping to opioids, I first try ibuprofen, or its relatives Toradol and intravenous Tylenol. Obviously I'm not alone.
In trials across the country, hospitals are trying new strategies to reduce opioid prescriptions. Peter Smulowitz is the president for the Massachusetts College of Emergency Physicians and associate chief of the emergency department at Beth Israel Deaconess in Plymouth, a town in the hot zone of opioid-related deaths. He's running a study comparing prescription patterns of providers in the emergency department — if he sees doctors prescribing more opioids than average, Smulowitz's team reaches out to them. "Providers are often surprised at their behavior, since it's become their norm," he says.
Over the first few months of Smulowitz's study, total prescriptions of opioids in his emergency room dropped almost 25 percent. His ongoing study — among others — is a good start for how doctors can fight the epidemic. Medical and dental schools around the state, such as those at Boston University and Tufts, are now making the prevention and treatment of opioid addiction integral to their curriculums. Baker's new legislation, alongside new guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, gives doctors a framework to reshape how we prescribe.
Still, we have more work to do. The state's prescription drug monitoring program, a system doctors can use to track patients at risk for opioid addiction, isn't used very often by physicians, many of whom find its interface cumbersome, according to a recent study. And while we shouldn't fear opioids, since they remain appropriate for specific situations, they are too easy to administer broadly in a culture where pain remains unacceptable.
We need to look for new solutions to pain. Massage, meditation, behavioral therapy, placebo studies, and multidisciplinary pain teams need to become a part of routine medical care. Patients can help — by asking their physicians if these options are available. Here's the biggest challenge: As a society, we need to start accepting that a measure of pain is a normal part of the course of illness.
It took doctors 20 years to help create this epidemic — but if we wake up to changing how we treat pain, we can more quickly contain its toll.
ASSIGNING RESPONSIBILITY FOR OPIOID ABUSE
> 37% of survey respondents say drug users are "mainly responsible"
> 34% say doctors
> 10% say pharmaceutical companies
Source: March 2016 national poll by STAT and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Dr. Sushrut Jangi is an internist and instructor in medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Send comments to magazine@globe.com.


The IMT Des Moines Marathon invites Professional & Elite Athletes to apply for inclusion in our events.
The IMT Des Moines Marathon does not pay appearance fees, or reimburse Professional or Elite Athletes for travel expenses. A limited number of one-night hotel stays is available for a Professional Athletes based on qualifying times. Qualifying times are required for Professional or Elite Athlete status, which must be submitted from events run since 2017.
Professional Athletes are welcome to apply for a waived, seeded entry into the Marathon division.
Elite Athletes are welcome to apply for either waived, seeded entry or discounted, seeded entry in the Marathon or Half Marathon division. There are no waived or discounted entries in 5-Mile Run or 5K Road Race divisions.
Male Under 2:20 eligible for waived, seeded race number.
Female Under 2:40 eligible for waived, seeded number.
Male Under 1:09 eligible for waived, seeded elite race number.
Female Under 1:19 eligible for waived, seeded elite race number.
Male 2:20 – 2:39 eligible for seeded, elite race number.
Female 2:40 – 2:59 eligible for seeded, elite race number.
Male 1:09 – 1:20 eligible for seeded, elite race number.
Female 1:19 – 1:30 eligible for seeded, elite race number.
International Status Professional Athletes from countries whose citizens are required to have a visa to enter the United States are encouraged to apply for a visa for entry to the United States as soon as possible. Depending upon citizenship, the approval time may be several months. If an invitation letter is required, one will be issued upon request. For an invitation letter to be issued, the athlete must provide complete name, address, nationality and passport number.
An athlete can be awarded prize money in only one event category. Athletes must be officially registered for the race division they competed in, in order to qualify for any awards or cash prizes.
The IMT Des Moines Marathon does not duplicate, or double-dip, overall awards and age division awards. Prize money winners cannot also qualify for age division awards, which are offered for the top 3 men and women in each age category starting at 14 & under, and up to 80 & over.
Cash awards and gift card awards are based on gun time, not chip time.
To avoid an automatic 30% IRS tax on prize money, U.S. citizens must possess a Social Security number and provide a completed W-9 form. Foreign citizens must provide a completed W-8 BEN form. Otherwise, any athlete claiming prize money is subject to having 30% of their prize money withheld for federal income tax filing purposes.
* Prize money and gift cards are not offered for the MercyOne 5-Mile Run or Principal 5K Road Race.
Male and Female – cash awards.
1st place $2,500, 2nd place $1,000, 3rd place $500.
$1,000 cash bonus for male & female winner if finish time is under 2:20 and 2:40, respectively.
$2,500 additional cash bonus for male & female winner setting new event record (see event records below).
Masters Male and Female – cash awards.
1st place $350, 2nd place $200.
Top Iowan Male and Female – Scheels gift card awards.
1st place $100 gift card.
Male and Female – Scheels & Altra gift card awards.
1st place $750, 2nd place $500, 3rd place $250.
Masters Male and Female – Scheels & Altra gift card awards.
1st place $200, 2nd place $100.
Top Iowan Male and Female – Scheels & Altra gift card awards.
Event records are based on the fastest event time, since the inception of the Des Moines Marathon in 2002, and continuing when IMT Insurance became title sponsor of the event in 2006, regardless of course changes.
Marathon Male: 2:12:19, Phillip Lagat, Kenya – 2014.
Marathon Female: 2:32:38, Abnet Simegn, Ethiopia – 2014.
Masters Marathon Male: 2:37:14, Dave Johnson, USA – 2005.
Masters Marathon Female: 2:49:32, Tatyana Byelovol, Ukraine – 2011.
Marathon Male Iowa: 2:24:42, Marty Dalton, Earlham – 2008.
Marathon Female Iowa: 2:41:32, Robyn Friedman, Newton – 2009.
Half Marathon Male: 1:03:20, Samuel Ndereba, Kenya – 2012.
Half Marathon Female: 1:14:19, Jane Murage, Kenya – 2013.
Masters Half Marathon Male: 1:10:55, Keith Mulhollan, USA – 2011.
Masters Half Marathon Female: 1:22:48, Lisa Marshall, USA – 2010.


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Q: Why the air is more compressed near to the ground I'm studying the adiabatic effect of the air on the atmosphere but i can't understand why the compression near to the ground is higher, is something relate to the higher pressure caused by the earth irradiation ?

A: If you have a glass of water, every molecule of water is under the influence of the gravitational potential field. Each molecule pushes down on the molecules below. The molecules of water near the bottom of the glass experience the downward force from all molecules above them (each molecule transfers the force downward). If you made a hole near the bottom of the glass, water flows out due to this pressure (Force / unit area).
Similarly, gas molecules in the atmosphere exert a downward force on the molecules below them. The molecules near the surface of the earth must bear the maximum downward force. The gas molecules also tend to flow out (like in the example of making a hole near the bottom of the glass), but here it's as if the walls of the  glass have been extended so far around the Earth that they merge on the opposite side of the Earth, making a "wall-less" container. Also, it's interesting to mention that acceleration due to gravity decreases as you go higher up. So, the downward force exerted by molecules in the upper atmosphere is less as well.


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Read the latest news from the nanomedicine world.
Participate to a new E.C. stakeholder survey into the use health data in the light of the GDPR.
Dear ETPN Members, dear colleagues,
The European Commission has initiated a study that aims to examine in which manners the processing of personal health data is governed across the European Union (EU) and how this might affect the cross-border exchange of health data in the EU in light of the GDPR. The study is executed by the EUHealthSupport consortium.
The ETPN and its members are invited to participate in this online survey, in order to collect the views of experts and organisations representing the wide range of stakeholders, including patients, care providers, industry, public bodies and researchers. The results of the study will be used to identify possible future actions to be developed at EU level, such as new legislation or codes of conduct for health data sharing for research or policy purposes, also in light of the current COVID-19 pandemic.
It will be possible to respond till Sunday 5th July 2020 as the result will be used for EU level decision making later that month. You can find the survey via the following link: https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/Health_Data_Survey_EUHealthSupport
If you also want to contribute to the common ETPN answer that we will prepare for this consultation, please answer this local version of the same survey before June 29th by clicking here.
Your input will be treated confidentially and answers in the final report will be formulated in such a way that they cannot be traced back to individual organisations or persons.
About EUHealthSupport: The EUHealthSupport Consortium is composed of Nivel (Netherlands institute for health services research, leader); RIVM (National Institute for Public Health and the Environment of the Netherlands); infeurope S.A.; Association of Medical Schools in Europe e.V (AMSE); Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), and Leginda GmbH under the Single Framework Contract 'Chafea/2018/Health/03 – for the provision of support services for managing expert groups in the field of (public) health'. More information is available at www.euhealthsupport.eu
About the study: The study consists of the following elements:
A mapping and legal analysis at national level – providing an overview of legislation and governance models regarding processing of health data
In-depth case studies of national governance models
Workshops held with (predominantly) the participation of representatives of the national ministries of health, dealing with personal data use
Literature review for the development of a background paper
Survey among experts and stakeholders to the priorities, position and needs of the actors in the field
The outcomes of the study will be used to consider which further action is needed at EU level. The first results will be used as input for a meeting of Ministries of Health in the EU (EPSCO) in July 2020, addressing the future governance for primary and secondary use of health data, to take place under the German EU Presidency.
We thank you very much in advance for your participation.
Questions? Contact?
For any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the EUHealthSUpport consortium by email contact@euhealthsupport.eu.
The ETPN Secretariat
OPEN! EuroNanoMed Joint Transnational Call for Proposals (2021) for "European Innovative Research & Technological Development Projects in Nanomedicine"
Answer the two surveys of NanoFabNet Hub about sustainable nanofabrication.
Answer the IPRP survey on Regulatory Requirements and Research Needs for Liposome Products
Participate to the REFINE survey on regulatory needs for nanomedicine.
"Delivering the power of nanomedicine to patients today'. Read the latest position paper of the ETPN in the Journal of Controlled Release!
SAVE THE DATE! #NME21 Nanomed Europe 2021 / June 29th - July 1st / St. Gallen - Switzerland
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From the community (25)


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Vaccumizing the Dalit Identity: Upper-caste Writers and the Bubble of Representation in Indian Novel
Uday Khanna
The novels by upper-caste writers under the garb of genuine and heartfelt representation of the oppressed classes has often led to the negation of the Dalit identity with a discourse of pity, sympathy and sacrifice under the lieu of furthering the Dalit cause. Self-sacrifice and death become large symbols around which these writers build their stories as they continue to portray them giving up their lives, denying any chances of dynamism in their characters. This paper aims to analyse Choma's Drums by Shivaram Karanth and Untouchable by Mulk Raj, with references to other works, through the lens of close reading, in order to gauge the authenticity of their portraiture and the sincerity of the depiction of the Dalit lives and experience which has grounded the discourse around Dalit representation in elements of pity, giving off the impression of appropriation and what Sambashiva Rao called "a tactical trick," where Brahmins would put themselves in a position to represent a Dalit character without critiquing the system, and portraying themselves as allies, and confining the discourse to "compassion" and "sorrow." The paper endeavours to critique and problematize such representations which take the discourse back by years instead of advancing it.
KEYWORDS: Vaccumization, dynamism, identity, appropriation, unidimensional, caste politics