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Researchers Uncover Basis Of Amputee Phantom Sensations
Implications for how we understand amputees and prosthetics
By Samantha Cole
Even several decades later, brains of amputees or those without hand control showed activity in fingersUniversity of Oxford, United Kingdom
Researchers have painted a map of the brain's relationship with appendages.
The medical consensus, until now, was that the brain "overwrites" information when it stops receiving regular sensory input from a body part. If it's gone, why hold space for that part? A new study out of the University of Oxford, United Kingdom, shows that even if fingers or hands have been amputated, they leave their fingerprints on their corresponding parts of the brain.
"We wanted to look at the information underlying brain activity in phantom movements, to see how it varied from the brain activity of people moving actual hands and fingers," team leader Dr. Tamar Makin told University of Oxford news.
By studying brain activity in people who'd lost control of their hands or who were amputees, the researchers were able to see that their phantom sensations matched those of a person with two hands.
"This would remove a barrier to neuroprosthetics — prosthetic limbs controlled directly by the brain — the assumption that a person would lose the brain area that could control the prosthetic," said study lead Sanne Kikkert.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Australian East Coast Road Trip – Byron, Hinterland & Home
By Mike on Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Continued from: Australian East Coast Road Trip -Byron Bay Has to be done – Cape Byron Lighthouse With almost half a million visitors a year, it's fair to say that Cape Byron Lighthouse is Byron's most popular tourist attraction. A visit gets you two attractions for the price of one. Not just the lighthouse, but the second …
Australian East Coast Road Trip – Byron Bay
By Mike on Sunday, July 13, 2014
Continued from: Australian East Coast Road Trip -Coffs Harbour, Yamba Welcome to Byron Bay, one of Australia's favourite tourism destinations. Hippies and "dole bludgers" originally came here in droves in the 70's and 80's as refugees avoiding a mundane 9 – 5 life. Today those hippies have grown up and creating with them a bunch …
Australian East Coast Road Trip -Coffs Harbour, Yamba
By Mike on Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Continued from Australian East Cost Road Trip Days 1 & 2 Coffs Harbour, I'm here! Arriving into Coffs at twilight it's easy to see why this is such a popular holiday destination, and one many choose to break up their Australian East Coast Road Trip. There is a vibe of relaxation and chilled that seems …
Australian East Coast Road Trip – Newcastle, Myall, Coffs Harbour
By Mike on Monday, July 7, 2014
The unscripted road trip is on, and I'm now hitting the bitumen heading north up the New South Wales Coast. This Australian East Coast Road Trip is completely unplanned. In fact you can tell me where to go via commenting below or via Facebook First stop is Newcastle and a town that Irresponsible Life has visited before …
Unscripted Australian East Coast Road Trip
By Mike on Saturday, July 5, 2014
It's been awhile since I've taken a decent holiday in my home country – Australia. Considering so many Europeans, Americans and increasingly South Americans fly great distances and pay hefty costs to visit Australia, I really should check it out myself and find out why so many grab a car and head up or down the …
Wollongong Weekender
By Mike on Friday, June 27, 2014
Ahh Wollongong.. AKA 'The Gong'. If you asked the bulk of people from big brother Sydney up the road, they probably wouldn't give it a glowing recommendation. Traditionally it's an industrial city founded on the furnaces of coal and steel. Not typically where you would go to find great food, coffee, sophisticated nightlife or a bunch of …
Oceania Parties
Armin Only Sydney – This is what intense feels like
By Mike on Saturday, June 14, 2014
What a night it was at Armin Only Sydney. The theatrical six hour DJ set is one of the most intense experiences you can have in dance music. Combining a razor sharp 10m high 4k screen backdrop, live singers, dancers and performers and of course the world's best trance DJ in charge of it all. Armin …
Top 10 moments of Groovin the Moo Maitland.
By Mike on Tuesday, May 20, 2014
With another round of Groovin the Moo's done and dusted for another year. Let's take a a moment to reflect upon the best moments from Groovin the Moo Maitland. 10. Prepaying for the bus ticket. Seriously the crowds at Newcastle station were a joke and 20 minute line up just to buy tickets. Walking …
If you've hung around here for awhile it's no secret that Irresponsible life loves F1 racing and parties. Now we are pleased to let you know of a brand new A-list experience coming to the Monaco Grand Prix for the first time this year. The Infinity Podium Lounge Monaco. In recent years the Podium Lounge …
Asia Irresponsible Instagram
Irresponsible Instagram | Cyberjapan Dancers
Ahh Japanese girls, they are just so damn cute. Even cuter when you put them in bikinis, and that's where these guys come in: The Cyberjapan Dancers. If you live in Asia and go clubbing then you are probably already familiar with these girls. A group of gogo dancers who dance alongside some of the …


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No room for error in short series
13yThe Preview by Andrew McGlashan
This is now a two-match series after the abandonment at Headingley which gives both sides even less room for mistakes. Both teams are looking towards these matches as a chance to build some form and momentum before the ICC World Twenty20
The Preview by Andrew McGlashan
Eoin Morgan could be set for his ODI debut at Bristol • Getty Images
Start time 10.45 (9.45GMT)
This is now a two-match series after the abandonment at Headingley which gives both sides even less room for mistakes. Each team is looking towards these matches as a chance to build some form and momentum before the ICC World Twenty20. West Indies are in desperate need of something to boost their spirits after a miserable few weeks.
The washout on Thursday left officials at Headingley embarrassed and facing a barrage of questions about how wise it was to play the match after the outfield work was delayed over the winter. Bristol, the venue for this game, is another of the six grounds to have used the ECB grant for a new drainage system and have admitted they weren't able to complete the work in time for this season.
"We have still not completed the system," said chief executive Tom Richardson. "Contractors will return at the end of the season to put in sand slits, which will make it more efficient. When everything is bedded in we anticipate that when rain stops the ground will be fit for play within an hour, but we are only halfway towards that situation." The good news, though, is that no rain is forecast for Sunday.
England AWWLL
West Indies ALLWW
Watch out for...
James Anderson has been outstanding form early on this season and claimed nine wickets in the second Test victory at Chester-le-Street. He has been a threat with the white ball for a long time now and with Andrew Flintoff out of the side is England's most experienced quick. He is at the peak of his powers and will be aiming to continue his form over the next few weeks of one-day action.
It was a quiet Test series for Shivnarine Chanderpaul who didn't make a half century and struggled against Graeme Swann. However, England would be foolish to underestimate the man who has been the fulcrum of West Indies' batting line-up for years and can switch gears at the drop of a hat.
England haven't replaced Kevin Pietersen in their squad so are down to 13 players. With an eye on the Twenty20, Eoin Morgan could be given his debut so the selectors can assess his form while Matt Prior will move up to No. 3. The trio of Dimitri Mascarenhas, Tim Bresnan and Ryan Sidebottom are probably fighting for two places.
England (probable) 1 Andrew Strauss (capt), 2 Ravi Bopara, 3 Matt Prior (wk), 4 Owais Shah, 5 Paul Collingwood 6 Eoin Morgan, 7 Dimitri Mascarenhas, 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 Tim Bresnan, 11 James Anderson
West Indies didn't give many clues as to the way their team selection might have gone before the Headingley washout, but allrounders are likely to place a key role in the middle order. Runako Morton, a late replacement to the squad, and pace bowler Ravi Rampaul are also in the shake-up.
West Indies (probable) 1 Chris Gayle (capt), 2 Lendl Simmons, 3 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 4 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 5 Kieron Pollard, 6 Dwayne Bravo, 7 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 8 Darren Sammy, 9 Jerome Taylor, 10 Sulieman Benn, 10 Fidel Edwards
Pitch and conditions
The forecast is set fair with temperatures set to raise so there shouldn't be any concerns on that front. Previous ODIs at Bristol have produced pitches with pace and bounce, as opposed to the slow surfaces that often greet domestic cricket.
Stats and Trivia
There have been 11 previous ODIs on this ground and England have lost their last two matches here, against New Zealand in 2008 and India in 2007.
West Indies have played two ODIs at Bristol, losing to Pakistan by 27 runs during the 1999 World Cup and also being beaten by Zimbabwe in 2000.
"We gained some momentum in one-day cricket in the West Indies. We were a little bit Jekyll and Hyde, up and down, but we came through and won the series."
Andrew Strauss wants England to find some consistency in their one-day game.
Shivnarine ChanderpaulEoin MorganWest IndiesEnglandWest Indies tour of England
Andrew McGlashan is assistant editor of Cricinfo


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This is my first entry to Indiblogger's "The Moral Of The Story Is...." contest in association with Colgate. Check out My Healthy Speak Blog.
It was past midnight. All the everyday noises of domesticity had died down some time back. First the pressure cooker whistles that announced that supper was ready had fallen silent, then the clanging of pots and pans as housewives washed up the dirty vessels of the night had quietened, the soap opera on the neighbours' TV had finally shut up; then the voices of men, women and children discussing the mundane details of their day had ceased as people gradually surrendered themselves to the night. I could hear a street dog howling in the distance and the lone tak, tak of the night watchman's stick as he went on his rounds, as the 10 year old me sat chewing on her pencil – like I had been doing for the past hour.
"If Mala had 25 apples and Raghu gave her 10 more…." The words were starting to swim before my eyes. Arrghh! Why did maths have to so difficult!? Tomorrow was my maths exam and I had hardly finished studying half the syllabus. I still had to work my way through algebra and geometry and graphs and what not! My dad was looking at me, waiting for me to figure out the solution, but after a 10 hour work day, I could tell that his patience was wearing thin.
I was not a bad student but this was a common scenario at home before each of my maths exams. First, my mom would try to teach me. After I had used up all the reserves of her strength, my brother would chip in. After I had irritated him too, my dad would try his best. And after a sleepless night, I would walk into the exam hall dreading every minute of it. Once I had finished the exam I would feel elated – Done. No more maths till school reopens. Yay! And then of course, when the results are announced I would wait with my heart in my throat and eye the top scorers with envy.
My best friend Aruna, who was also my neighbour, was a maths wizard. Maths exams were a piece of cake for her. While I would be breaking my head, she would have finished prepping and would be happily lounging around in front of the idiot box – and the next day she would be all bright eyed and bushy tailed, while I looked like something the cat dragged in.
Maths was the only subject which I tried so hard – and yet didn't do too well. The funny part is my dad, my mom AND my bro are bankers! But no matter how much hard work I put in I could never get my head around maths.
My feelings were exactly the opposite for my English exams. I always looked forward to getting my hands on my English books during my vacations and I would read all the books before school started. I waited eagerly for the English period and was thrilled when the exams came around. I loved writing long essays and was ecstatic when my papers came in with "Very Good!" or "Great Job!" scrawled on it with red ink. When my English teacher praised me in front of the entire class, I had a wide grin plastered on my face the whole day.
I guess those were the earliest warning signs; but as it so often happens in life, I failed to notice them.
Eventually it was time for me to choose my stream of study in the 11th standard. Well, what was there to think about? Everyone knew that the Maths & Science group was the best. There was huge competition for it and Engineers and Doctors obviously had the brightest future. Did I pause to think if this is what I was interested in? Yes I did. And a little warning bell went off in a corner of my mind – Are you sure? It asked. But I pushed it out. Afterall, if all the bright minds were taking up maths and science then it must be the right thing to do, no?
And so life went by. Only, it got much worse. I could hardly pay any attention in class. Maths and Physics and Chemistry did not excite me – they simply bored me out of my mind. I found myself day dreaming with the page of formulas staring at me. I went for tuitions and my mind wandered away. Science group students face so much pressure that the weekly Sports period and - horror of horrors!- English period was almost always taken over by either the Maths or Science teachers. But I had to get high marks. My friends were all doing well and my brother too. They were constant comparisons and statements like "Look at him! Why can't you study like him?" So I tried, somewhat half-heartedly.
But here and there were a few rays of sunshine. My poems got published frequently in our school's magazine. Every time it happened, I pinched myself to make sure that I wasn't dreaming.
Anyway, even if you aren't Sir C.V Raman, hard work pays off to an extent and I managed to get a decent score in my exams. I appeared for various professional courses entrance exams too – but all with a niggling thought in my mind. Do I really want to become an engineer or a doctor? Is that what I really want to do? What about everything that you hear about following your heart? What about chasing your dreams?
BA English Literature beckoned me. I secured admission in a leading Arts college. I was among the top performers in the class and a bunch of us were chosen to attend a specialized course in English. I was thrilled. When many of the other girls bunked classes and sat around the cafeteria chit-chatting I was happy to be in class – listening to my lecturers talk about the classics. I savoured every moment of it.
But nobody could understand it. This is India. When thousands of people are vying for an Engineering seat why would anyone throw it away for an English Lit one? Whoever heard of such nonsense? Only dumb people who couldn't get admission into any other branch took up Literature. It was an absolute waste of time. It won't take you anywhere in life.
Or so my critics said. My instincts warned me "No, they are wrong! Stick to your decision!" But I ignored it – yet again – and spent four mind-numbing years, earning my degree in B.Tech IT. The first year I was also elected as the English Representative of my class but I was so relieved when the last day of college rolled by.
But you know that inner voice that sometimes just refuses to leave you alone no matter how much you threaten to punch it? Well that voice kept popping up now and again – warning me. "This is not what you are meant to be doing," it kept insisting as I tried to design a flowchart. "What are you doing here? Why are you still here?", it kept questioning as I took the late night cab home. "Why are you chasing a mirage when your destiny lies somewhere else?" it repeated when I was stifling a yawn sitting in a client meeting.
And just as that tiny little cavity which you neglected to get filled gets bigger and bigger until the entire tooth is eroded forcing you to fix that long pending appointment with the dentist, one day the voice grew too loud to ignore. I resigned.
Have you ever had a bad tooth that was troubling you for a long time? And finally when the dentist fixes it, you tentatively test it out. You run your tongue over it gingerly and take a careful bite. Voila! No pain! Everything is perfect! A wave of relief washes over you. You sit back and enjoy the ice cream.
So, what is the moral of this looonnggg story? If you know what you want in life and if you know that you can be good at it - then don't ignore those warning signs. Believe in yourself and go for it. I traded in my settlement money and did a Journalism course. Today I work with a women's magazine and I love it! I might not make as much money as in my previous job but this work motivates me and gives me complete job satisfaction. And it urges me to dream new dreams – maybe write a blog post and enter a contest like this one… maybe write a book, someday? Who knows, if only I had not ignored my warning signs maybe I would have written one already!
This is the first time I am entering a blog contest - let's see how it works out! Fingers crossed!


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McLaughlin, a Vermeer® Brand, Achieves 100 Years of Equipment Innovation and Service
Posted on December 21, 2021 by Greg
McLaughlin, a Vermeer® Brand, was founded in 1921 and has proudly marked a century providing workable solutions for the construction, utility and trenchless industries. Today, the brand continues to innovate and expand the capabilities of auger boring equipment for customers worldwide.
"Through much of the McLaughlin company's 100-year history, Vermeer and its network of dealers have been important partners," said Dave Gasmovic, business development manager for Vermeer MV Solutions. "That mutual commitment solidified when Vermeer acquired McLaughlin. Since then, we're proud to say that many of our original product lines have been incorporated into the Vermeer-branded product line-up".
McLaughlin's own roots go all the way back to the early part of the last century. After returning to the U.S. from service in World War I, ex-coal miner Joseph McLaughlin had an idea for a product that would simplify a coal miner's job and make the coal industry itself more productive. In 1921, in a rented space in Rockdale, Illinois, he began production of his innovative improvements to the mining auger, and the company that would become McLaughlin Group, Inc. was born.
By the early 1950s, McLaughlin was a leading supplier of drilling tools to mines across the U.S. and was ready to expand its operations, moving into a new facility in Joliet, Illinois. In the 1960s, the company once again expanded, building a new, state-of-the-art facility in Plainfield, Illinois.
Even though Joseph McLaughlin passed away in 1964, the company continued to follow his innovative spirit and commitment to offering equipment that solves real-world challenges. "Innovation is in McLaughlin's DNA," said Gasmovic. "And, it's always been a guiding principle for the brand. For example, when, two large companies approached McLaughlin with a request to help solve the challenge of how to control the expense of residential underground utility installations, including the cost of surface restoration, McLaughlin was ready to respond.
Company leadership began working on a new type of system that would drill under roads, driveways and sidewalks to allow installation of small diameter services. The resulting product was called the Mighty Mole, and it set the stage for McLaughlin's future success in the development and deployment of trenchless construction technology.
Continuing to grow its brand presence in the utility market, in 1970 McLaughlin bought Western Boring Equipment Company, an auger boring manufacturer. The purchase allowed McLaughlin to expand its business, and it gave them larger-diameter boring machines for an entirely new market.
This led to a decade of significant company growth and expansion. McLaughlin added plants in Greenville, S.C., and Arlington, Texas. The Texas facility began the redesign of their auger boring machines, particularly in regard to increases in thrust and horsepower.
When horizontal directional drilling began to take off in the late 1980s, McLaughlin saw the need for tracking and detection systems. The company brought to market the original Spot D Tek I. Development and improvements continued, and in the mid-1990s, the Verifier® G3 utility locator was introduced. "That same legacy lives on today in the form of the Vermeer Verifier G3 utility locator," said Gasmovic.
In 1999, Vacuum Source, Inc. was founded as a subsidiary of McLaughlin serving customers with a new line of vacuum excavation and sewer cleaning systems. In 2001, Vacuum Source was made a division of McLaughlin, and the products took on the McLaughlin brand name. A major milestone was reached for these products in 2006 when McLaughlin began manufacturing them for Vermeer.
In 2012, Vermeer bought a minority interest in McLaughlin, selling McLaughlin's vacuum excavators, utility locators, pneumatic piercing tools, core saws and auger boring equipment to contractors through the Vermeer dealer network. In 2017, after the synergies of the two companies were well-understood, Vermeer acquired the rest of McLaughlin. Then in 2018, Vermeer purchased Vac-Tron Equipment, LLC, and integrated the two companies' product lines as Vermeer MV Solutions.
Vermeer MV Solutions continues to produce the McLaughlin auger boring products and has introduced important innovations, like the Workhorse 225 and Workhorse 175 auger boring machines, to the trenchless industry.
The company continues to offer additional innovations to underscore the brand's commitment to continued progress. One example is the McLaughlin SRS (Steerable Rock System), the auger boring market's first steerable head designed to navigate through solid and severely fractured rock. Another is the On-Target Steering system (OTS), designed to work with any auger boring system ranging from 16 to 60 inches in diameter. It is designed to install on-grade/on-line casings in one pass compared to the multiple passes required with pilot tube guided boring.
"We've done all this while increasing our manufacturing capacity, service and support capabilities," said Gasmovic.
He finished: "Everything that McLaughlin has accomplished in the last 100 years has to provide innovative solutions to our customers' problems. So, although we are proud of our century of service, we are focused on the future — always working toward the next development that will benefit the industry."
For more information about McLaughlin auger boring equipment, visit mclaughlinunderground.com or email mmole@mightymole.com.
For more information about vacuum excavation visit Vermeer.com.
About McLaughlin
McLaughlin, a Vermeer Brand, has been actively involved in the drilling tool industry for 100 years and has a reputation for designing and building dependable trenchless construction equipment.
Vermeer MV Solutions, Inc. reserves the right to make changes in engineering, design and specifications; add improvements, or discontinue manufacturing at any time without notice or obligation. Equipment shown is for illustrative purposes only and may display optional accessories or components specific to their global region. Please contact your local Vermeer dealer for more information on machine specifications.
Vermeer, McLaughlin, the McLaughlin logo and Verifier are trademarks of Vermeer Manufacturing Company in the U.S. and/or other countries.
auger boring machinescore sawsMcLaughlinMcLaughlin Boring Systemspneumatic piercing toolsUtility constructionutility contractorsutility infrastructureutility locatorsvacuum excavatorsVermeerVermeer MV Solutions
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Posted on February 15, 2016 by Tom Odom, Esq.
I was shocked by the sudden death of Justice Scalia this past weekend. I will not say that he was my favorite member of the current Court or that I always agreed with his opinions, but I certainly agreed with him much more often than not. As a law professor, he served as a mentor (albeit from afar for most of us) for a generation of students who challenged the notion that law was dead, doctrine did not matter, and the U.S. Constitution should not restrain the efforts to adopt "modern solutions" and bow to contemporary public opinion. Even more so, he stood in opposition to exercise of the judicial power to invoke some new understanding of the U.S. Constitution that was not supported by its text or structure, the shared understanding of its meaning among its drafters and the people who ratified it, or the manner in which it had been interpreted from its adoption. Those positions with respect to constitutional interpretation were a reflection of a broader endorsement of the "rule of law" — that basic concept that law has a discernable meaning, that it must be applied according to that meaning regardless of the identify of the persons enforcing it (the "rule of man") and the identity of the persons against who it is enforced (the concept that "no man is above the law").
Against that backdrop, the response to the death of Justice Scalia has been extremely disappointing. I did not think it possible that the current political environment could get much worse, but it did. Leaders of both political parties raced to the podium to make announcements that suggested Justice Scalia's successor would simply implement their respective political agendas, acting as a partisan no different than any other political appointee. I cannot imagine any worse tribute to Justice Scalia's legacy than the (sometimes) unacknowledged attack on the very premise of the rule of law.
While for partisan reasons it is understandable that Democrats would prefer to see a successor nominated now at the same time it is understandable that Republicans would rather wait in the hope of winning the Presidency. But neither side should speak for the Court on whether it can or cannot function without nine justices.
The facts of the matter are that (1) President Obama has the constitutional authority to name a successor (even if he lacks the political capital to force the Senate to act), (2) that in recent decades no vacancy on the Court that has arisen in the final year of a President's term has been filled prior to the Presidential election, and (3) that whether someone fills the vacancy immediately or the seat remains vacant until after the election, the Court will continue to function.
The dispute is one over the exercise of partisan political power, not over the legal authority of the President to make a nomination, the legal authority of the Senate to confirm or reject or delay acting upon a nomination, or the ability of the Court to do its job with a vacant seat. Most of the Court's cases are decided unanimously or with a sole dissent. In cases where the Court divides 4-to-4, the ruling establishes no Supreme Court precedent. For cases were the Court is divided and a definitive ruling is necessary, the Court retains the power to delay until after a ninth justice joins them the hearing a case or the scheduling of re-argument. Even when the Court has nine justices, one or more may recuse themselves from a case due to a conflict of interest, yet the Court continues to serve its constitutional function.
One cannot invariably predict the rulings of a justice (or judge) exclusively on the basis of who nominated the individual for a seat on the bench. FDR nominated Felix Frankfurter. Ike nominated William Brennan.
Let's honor Justice Scalia by placing the focus on the qualifications of a nominee as well as the nominee's understanding of the judicial role and the rule of law, and not solely on which President makes the nomination.
Published by Tom Odom, Esq.
Tom was born and raised outside of Philadelphia. He attended Rutgers University as an undergraduate and, later, University of Pennsylvania School of Law where he was an Executive Editor on the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. He served as a clerk to Judge Morton I. Greenberg of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Tom practiced law for ten years in Washington, D.C., handling matters before numerous federal administrative agencies and litigating several significant issues of federal constitutional law. He resigned his partnership for a full-time teaching position and spent the next ten years as a law professor at schools including Penn State/Dickinson School of Law, Rutgers School of Law -- Camden, University of Richmond School of Law, and Oklahoma City University School of Law. While a professor, Tom published three books on federal constitutional law and articles on various topics. Tom joined the Prince Law Firm, P.C., due to his interest in protecting constitutional rights and the firm's reputation in representing individuals in firearms related matters. He assists clients in complying with regulatory requirements and in litigating when their rights have been infringed.	View all posts by Tom Odom, Esq.
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5 thoughts on "A Brief Memorial to Justice Scalia"
futuret says:
HE DEEPLY SHALL BE MISSED, HE WAS THE LAST ONE WE HAVE HAD. PRAYERS ARE WITH HIS FAMILY AND HIS SOUL RESTS WITH THE HEAVENLY FATHER YAHVEH, AWAITING IN THE RESURRECTION, IN THE RETURN OF JESUS CHRIST, WITHIN OUR LIFE TIME.
George Losoncy says:
I predict if there is no action on the Presidents nominee, he will make a an appointment at the end of the year while the Senate is in recess and the Justice will sit on the court for a temporary period until a permanent replacement is voted on.
A COMPLETE INVESTIGATION SHOULD TAKE PLACE FOR THE DEATH OF SCALIA; I PERSONALLY DO NOT BELIEVE THAT HIS DEATH WAS FROM NATURAL CAUSES. HE WAS DISCOVERED DECEASED, WITH A PILLOW OVER HIS HEAD. I DO DECLARE WE HAVE A SATANIC, COMMUNISTIC ADMINISTRATION. EVERY EVIL HAS BEEN CONDUCTED, AND HEAVEN HELP ALL OF US, THERE IS MORE TO COME. SCALIA HAS DEFENDED THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION, AND OBAMA HATES THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION, AMERICA, AMERICANS, AND NOW HE HATES ALL HUMANITY ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH. WATCH OUT HE IS THE ANTI-CHRIST, AND NOW HE WANTS TO BE SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS. I SAY THE POPE IS THE FALSE PROPHET, TRYING TO PROMOTE HIM. YES, AGENDA 21 IS HERE TO BE FURTHER MAGNIFIED. ANYONE OF US ANY DAY, IF WE ARE GOD FEARING AND WANT TO LIVE WITH THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, CAN BECOME JUST LIKE JUSTICE SCALIA. WE WONDER WHO IS NEXT. SORRY, BUT I FIRMLY BELIEVE IN CALLING A SPADE A SPADE, AND WE DO HAVE MANY SATANIC BEINGS IN THE GOVERNMENT.
Tom Odom, Esq. says:
Given the U.S. Supreme Court's less-than-two-year-old precedent ruling on the scope of the recess appointment power in NLRB v. Noel Canning, 134 S. Ct. 2550 (2014), it strikes me as unlikely that President Obama could make such an appointment during any mandatory recess when one Congress ends and the next Congress is sworn into office. The Senate itself could control all but a recess of a few short minutes which would be too short to justify an appointment under Noel Canning. Firearms Industry Consulting Group filed a brief as a friend of the Court in the Noel Canning case supporting the narrow scope of the exception that thus preserved the Senate's confirmation power and minimizes the opportunity for Executive Branch unilateral action.
Marlin says:
A well written observation of the current low of politics and complete disregard of the man who followed the constitution. May calmer heads prevail during the remaing months of this administration. Justice Scalia will be missed, but not forgotten.
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Schedule: 9am – 3:30pm daily. Students will have a half hour break for lunch. 2 hours of homework will be assigned nightly.
All boot camps conclude with a full-length practice test and an individualized meeting with the boot camp instructor to map out next steps.


UPDATE (12/4/13): There are new regulations in place that stipulate that if you have a foreign driver's license and wish to get a full Argentina driver's license, you need to get a certificado de legalizacion before going to get your Buenos Aires driver's license. Without this, you will only be given a "beginner's license" which means that you cannot drive on streets that are more than 70 kmph for the first six months. Beginners also need to take a six hour course on "seguridad vial" and present that certificate as well to get a full license.
Unfortunately, the certificado de legalizacion cannot be obtained from the US Embassy. You must get it from the Department of Vehicles for your state and then have an apostille from the Secretary of State as well – an arduous process that not many people will undertake.
The rest of the information below should be the same.
I previously wrote about driving in Buenos Aires, now I'll write about getting your driver's license in Buenos Aires. Now, you may be saying, "Wait, shouldn't the order of these two posts be reversed?" Technically, you would be correct.
That last point (and getting hit by a motorcycle recently), finally pushed me into dealing with Argentine bureaucracy and going to get my license. The process is relatively straight-forward – if a bit time consuming. I'm going to detail the steps involved as some of the info I found on other expat sites has changed.
Note that you must have a DNI to get your driver's license. Also, having a valid foreign issued driver's license with the certificado de legalizacion means you'll get out of taking the road test though you will still have to take the written test. Bring photo copies of both of these with you when you go (although they do have a place that does onsite photo copies too).
The first step is to make an appointment. You can do this online at the Buenos Aires city website or by phone at 147. On the day of your appointment, you're going to have to head out to Dirección General de Licencias, Av. Roca 5252. This is way outside of the city, so plan on over an hour by bus or half an hour by car.
I hope they do not keep everything on paper!
If you have a valid U.S. issued driver's license (and the certificado de legalizacion) and plan to skip the driving test, you next have to walk out the back door and go to the second building on your left – Archivos. In the archive office, you present your U.S. license so that they can enter it into the system which is used up front.
At this station, you wait for your name to be called and are handed a form with the results of all your previous tests. If you passed everything, you then need to take this form to pay the fee and then take the written exam.
The cashier's are just across the way from where you pick up the paperwork. You simply give them your paperwork and $180 pesos and they validate that on the form.
You then head out the back of the main building again and go to the exam building which is straight ahead of you. As I said, with a valid driver's license, you do not have to take the driving test, but you are required to take the written exam. There are some other sites that mention you have to listen to a talk, but that no longer seems to be a requirement if you have a license.
The exam is 30 multiple-choice questions on a computer, and you must score a 75% or higher to pass. All the exam questions are available on their website. The only document that really matters there is "Preguntas para los Exámenes." If you read through those and understand them, you'll sail through the exam.
My worry was that with my still limited Spanish, I would have a hard time with the exam. Luckily, they also have the exam in English! Well ok, they have the exam in English as an option, but of course, it was not working. I sat down, the first question came up in English, but there were no answers to choose from. I had to call the moderator over who put it back into Spanish for me. He then told me, "I speak English, so I can help you if you need it." (I've also heard from other people who asked for help in English and had someone help them with it.) Anyhow, as I started the exam, all the questions were pretty easy based on my reading the document I mentioned above. I sailed through it and scored a 93%.
I'm now able to drive legally in Argentina after being a resident for the past two years! As I said, the process is fairly straight forward though time consuming and a pain to get to. Let me know if you have any other questions.


Liam Heneghan's Beasts at Bedtime: Revealing the Environmental Wisdom in Children's Literature conjures a world of natural magic and wonder. Animals are more than animals, trees are more than trees, the moon and the stars draw close, and they are all mysteriously intertwined.
This marvelous book is an introduction to environmental themes in children's literature as well as a model of literary criticism accessible to a broad audience—because it must be. Such work must be accessible, because environmental issues are so critical and the need for increased environmental literacy so urgent. The genius of the work, however, is Heneghan's ability to speak from a wide variety of experiences and perspectives with one exceptionally lively, congenial, and coherent voice. On the surface we encounter a scientist, teacher, and father; but in the depths we see flashes of a child, animal, and sprite.
RSVP for reception so we can order enough food. However, everyone is welcome to attend the event, whether or not they RSVP.
Jeff VanderMeer's new novella, The Strange Bird, is ingenious, provocative, and deeply moving. At times, it's almost too painful and too beautiful. As a Borne story, it's also revelation. Out of the futuristic world of Borne, VanderMeer conjures a totem for the Anthropocene. A hybrid spirit strange and familiar enough to wake us from our dogmatic stupor, Strange Bird guides us into unexplored regions of literature and the psyche. While we have excluded the secret life of animals from consciousness, on some level we understand their suffering because we suffer together. Nested in Borne, adjacent to VanderMeer's Southern Reach Trilogy, The Strange Bird brings us to the intersection of animals and the Anthropocene. We've been here all along, but now, slowly, we're becoming aware.
Twentieth-century techno science created a false dichotomy of lab animals and animals in the wild. Born and bred to serve the medical and biotech industries, lab animals were primarily studied as surrogates for human bodies. Knowing them was generally synonymous with killing them, and always dependent on removing them from their natural environment and social context. This resulted in a culture that "understood" animals in isolation, and through the mottled lens of human interests narrowly conceived.
Wild animals were occasionally observed in the wild, during the last American century, but more often on television programing about animals in the wild. Mass media creatures were smart, charming, dramatic, and often hilarious. Masterfully edited, as well as narrated and set to music, such representations were a form of domestication or at least spectacle, related to zoos, aquariums and circuses. The most commonplace animals of the Modern era, however, were agricultural animals, not so much on farms, or even stories about farms, but at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. These animals didn't have behaviors. They were invisible.
Enter The Strange Bird. VanderMeer's novella is as much urban odyssey as fantasy. At the beginning of the narrative Strange Bird, a biotech marvel, escapes the confines of a lab. In flight, she navigates an unfamiliar and frightening world, and begins to understand herself in new contexts and from different perspectives. Before long she is captured by a solitary old man who admires her, but who also imprisons her. He is attached and attentive, seems to want to commune with her, but he can't appreciate her suffering. Like other humans in the novella, he rationalizes his cruelty even as he is haunted by it.
Eventually Strange Bird lands squarely into the narrative of Borne, where she is captured by The Magician, a sadistic genius who transforms her into a cloaking device. Somehow Strange Bird survives the radical transformation and enters a kind of bardo, where she communes with other animals, alive and dead.
Throughout the novella Strange Bird appears lost and alone. The cage is no home for her, but neither is the world. She is oriented to the voice of a friend or relative (intimate, stranger, and enemy), very close to her but also far away. Told from the point of view of a hybrid, engineered animal, The Strange Bird is one of VanderMeer's most psychologically complex and heart-rending narratives. How does VanderMeer create and draw us into the inner life of Strange Bird?
Part of the answer must lie in his equally well-wrought and unapologetic anthropomorphism. As VanderMeer has explained in interviews and essays, the intellectual prohibition against anthropomorphism has prevented us from speculating about animal experience.[ii] But this stance betrays Modern prejudices. At a time when the popular media assertively preach the virtues of compassion (identification with the feelings of other human beings), we are reluctant to consider the thoughts and feelings of animals because we have already concluded they are categorically different. Even imagining what animals could be feeling is considered naïve, as if early twentieth-century phenomenology and Psych 101 behaviorism were articles of faith. Anticipating such objections, VanderMeer engineers human consciousness into his main character, though he also flirts with cross-species communication throughout.
Defending the speculative/creative impulse, I stubbornly note that human beings in all cultures still strive to understand one another every day. We dream of sympathy. We recognize ourselves in others. Sometimes, it seems, others understand us better than we understand ourselves. This counterargument has become a critical cliché, but it is also our way of life—our culture. Even if our sense of understanding and being understood are fabulations, why should we be dissuaded from striving to understand animals in this fashion? And why have we forgotten that this prohibition is a cultural and historical anomaly?
The long-standing, cross-cultural tendency to anthropomorphize is arguably a product of various and obvious similarities between human beings and animals. This is not only true from a biological perspective but also an ecological one. We share the same home. We are nurtured by the same planet.
I'd like to suggest that the leitmotif of habitat or home is a primary reason that VanderMeer's novella is so moving. In The Strange Bird we can identify with the circumstances of the animal. If the storyteller is in a type of relation to the animal, he or she can help us imagine the creature's circumstances, but perhaps that bond begins and ends with sharing a home.
Like so many of VanderMeer's characters, Strange Bird is traumatized. There are known and unknown causes of her trauma. Her inner life is familiar, strange, and mysterious, but readers can generally understand the experience of being imprisoned, for example. Though we may not be traumatized by such experiences, we have all had our freedom restricted, and we have all suffered as a consequence. Even if we ascent to such restrictions, through written, spoken, and unspoken contracts, we feel the tension between our competing desires for connection and autonomy.
Being conflicted, torn, fractured, and broken, are other common, potentially traumatic experiences. Particularly disturbing and provoking are VanderMeer's first-person accounts of dismemberment. As Strange Bird is confined, tormented, and exploited by the Magician, we could and should reflect on basic bodily and psychological autonomy. How do we recognize and fail to recognize bodies in different circumstances? All sorts of relationships, perhaps even the imperatives of survival, tear us apart physically and psychologically. All animals are effectively dismembered when their bodies and brains are exploited. Even love tears us apart. To what extent, and why do we ascent to or resist various transgressions?
Most conspicuous about the main character and the story, is the fact that Strange Bird is always alone. We notice this first when she encounters other birds in social configurations. Later she begins to communicate with "the little foxes." This is a kind of solace for her, but also serves to foreground her physical isolation. When Strange Bird enters the narrative of Borne, she enters a second storyscape of alienation. She continues to commune with various creatures, in more or less out-of-body experiences, but Rachel and Wick are the only humans who show her kindness, who care for her.
We know from the example of the Passenger Pigeon that life and survival are intimately related to community.[iii] We also know that many animals need wide ranges in order to thrive even as individuals. All animals need space as well as society. Perhaps more significantly, each animal defines space in its own fashion. In this sense, human beings may not easily understand non-human behavior, though this may be a result of limited interaction rather than essential incapacity.
As a Borne story, The Strange Bird is a creative but earnest speculation about animal behavior in the Anthropocene. As such it's also a story about animal trauma. It seems reasonable to speculate that animal trauma, in general, is connected to environmental degradation, survival pressures, displacement, and violence. We understand, and often repeat, the poorest populations are most affected by climate change, but we don't generally include animals in this equation.
What does all this mean for The Strange Bird as a new literary work by a prominent contemporary writer? I'm reminded of Amitav Ghosh's imperative that literature in the Anthropocene should not be fantastic, because it masks real climate-change related horrors.[vii] This may be a legitimate critique of popular dystopian fantasy, but the criticism makes less sense in the context of surrealism (qua surrealism), VanderMeer's chief mode. Remembering that surrealism, historically, was an attempt to capture a more complete reality (a form of psychological realism), we can appreciate contemporary surrealistic literature as an attempt to include psychological strata that have been systematically excluded from realistic representations.[viii] Enter the unconscious.
Unconscious communication has been the purview of writers for well over a century. But all the arts engage the unconscious—consciously and unconsciously. Aesthetics might even be described as a paradigmatic unconscious value system. And while art, like language, is generally considered a uniquely human enterprise, we also know that many animals, birds in particular, sing and dance to attract mates. How is this essentially different than the conscious and unconscious behavior of human "peacocks"?
In the context of Borne, The Strange Bird traces the terrible beauty of animal trauma in the Anthropocene, not as a surrogate for human trauma, but as a creaturely condition that directs our attention to the ubiquitous effects of climate change. If trauma can be communicated through non-verbal behavior, it may be an appeal to all animals. Artists like VanderMeer seem to hear that call, but are they uniquely aware of animal suffering, or uniquely responsive? I imagine that many of us are more aware of our collective suffering than we know. VanderMeer may not speak for non-human animals, but he surely gives voice to the unconscious.
[ii] See "Moving Past the Illusion of Control," above, as well as this Gulf Coast magazine interview on Borne.
[iii] The species became extinct because individuals can only mate in large flocks. See this Smithsonian Encyclopedia entry.
[v] See Rob Nixon's Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor and VanderMeer's comments on war and ecological degradation in his Environmental Critique article on Johannes Heldén's Astroecology published here.
[vi] Read VanderMeer's Finch, as well as his other Ambergris books, City of Saints and Madmen and Shriek: And Afterword.
[vii] See "Amitav Gosh: where is the fiction about climate change?" in The Guardian.
[viii] See this Met summary of surrealism.
[ix] The revival of the unconscious by the neurosciences and the influence of affect on cognition have become common knowledge in academic discourse. An interesting recent book on these topics is Richard Nisbett's Mindware: Tools for Smart Thinking. In a recent conversation, VanderMeer noted that we anthropomorphize animals in various sorts of propaganda, and I wonder if this is a marker of (social) media aesthetics as an unconscious economy.
[x] See this short Cambridge article on unconscious language learning, and this Princeton piece on body language and intense emotions.
Jeff Vandermeer is sometimes credited with creating a new genre of ecological fiction with his Southern Reach trilogy, and the startling "Area X" which functions as the scene, action, and main character of the novels. VanderMeer doesn't like the moniker "cli-fi," however, and his academic readers, at the very least, can appreciate why "climate change" doesn't account for his work. Certainly ecological change is one of the main topics of the trilogy: Area X is generally interpreted as a territory in which ecological degradation is mysteriously reversed, with terrifying consequences for humanity. But VanderMeer's vision is broader than climate change, and this breadth of vision might begin to account for the brilliant "weirdness" of his novels.
In a published conversation with critical theorist and philosopher Timothy Morton, published in Paradoxa (volume 28), VanderMeer commented that contemporary realistic fiction which somehow manages or contains climate change within given, classical forms isn't very realistic. Mere climate fiction, conversely, may focus on the environment while forgetting the complexities of context writ large. The ecological context is most obvious in VanderMeer's work, but sustained critical attention to environmental issues may have distracted readers from socio-cultural themes, as well as the vulnerable bodies and fragile psyches of his characters.
VanderMeer's work began to be associated with Tim Morton, Hyperobjects, and the Anthropocene, with the publication of the Southern Reach trilogy, in 2014, and more recently with Morton's new book, Dark Ecology. Morton is also known as a proponent of Object-Oriented Ontology (OOO), a popular philosophical mode of inquiry associated with Speculative Realism. OOO is also very interested in the uncanny and the weird. Graham Harman's Weird Realism: Lovecraft and Philosophy meticulously illustrates the relationship between object-oriented ontology and the weird, for example, and VanderMeer could easily substitute for Lovecraft in that work, and probably should. But this association with Speculative Realism may be limited and limiting.
Though I believe it to be theoretically broad-minded, agile, and pragmatic, Speculative Realism has come to be associated, in the public sphere, with merely philosophy speculation. And though the relationship between VanderMeer and the Anthropocene, within the context of Morton's work, has been and will, no doubt, continue to be very productive, critical commentary focusing on ecological issues, as we currently understand them, in VanderMeer's corpus, may have the same limitations as literature which tries to contain climate change within classical literary forms. Of course the Southern Reach is about the environment, but also, more accurately, about relationships among the environment, institutions, bodies, and minds.
The Company itself seems to have come from elsewhere; perhaps it is (as the novel suggests at one point) a mechanism of "the future exploiting the past, or the past exploiting the future," or "another version of Earth" enriching itself at the expense of this one. (The issue is not resolved, but I find it suggestive: it's a far better version of Nick Land's fantasy of capital as an alien parasite from the future). (The idea of the future exploiting its own past — which is our present — is one that I find especially compelling; something like this is also the premise of Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers).
Shaviro's concept of "the future exploiting the past or the past exploiting the future" is particularly apt, at this moment, as the American fossil fuel oligarchy guarantees its "right" to extract as much wealth as possible from long-buried resources, at the obvious expense of current and future generations. But the concept is also generally true, and no one can escape the hyperobject of capital.
While accelerationists are often criticized as dystopian, anarchic, and even malicious, the "outside" stance of some environmental ideologues subtly undermines their own convictions of interconnectedness. VanderMeer's work, including his soon to be released Borne, describes a much more intimate and complicit relationship to capital. There's no "outside" to the meta-ecology of nature and capital in Borne, and none in the "real" world. Most of us occupy a liminal space, vulnerable to the influence and seductions of capital, even as we may deny our responsibility, and this self-deception may, in fact, be structurally necessary.
The novel has been described as the genre of the Modern human subject, which appeared, with capitalism, on the cultural scene in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. Twentieth-century literature often described human subjects in existential crises, for obvious reasons, as did the "weird" Kafka, for example, and postmodern/posthuman fiction is characterized by the dissolution of the human subject as we know it. Alison Sperling's article in Paradoxa (28), which features the conversation between VanderMeer and Morton, draws attention to the porous body in the Southern Reach trilogy, and the body as a major theme in VanderMeer's work.
Sperling reminds us that human bodies are neither inside nor outside of the space of ecological degradation. The weirdness and threat of Area X in the Southern Reach constitutes a direct biological threat to human beings, even though the strangeness is atmospheric. When the biologist is infected with an alien spore, the contamination significantly occurs without direct contact. The atmosphere is the medium. This moment illustrates that Anthropocene bodies are vulnerable because they are non-separate from their environment. Sperling also makes the extremely astute argument that environmental threats may be complex and unmanageable, because the environment too is sick from multiple causes, related to complex human intervention. Thus the "weird" conceit, throughout VanderMeer's work, that bodies are invaded but also became part of other organisms and/or organic systems, may "realistically" reflect current ecological conditions.
But these incursions and transformations are not limited to bodies. VanderMeer's charcters are not merely bodily hybrids, but also psychological hybrids. As each character is contaminated they change psychologically. The introduction to Paradoxa (28) reminds us of the origins of the uncanny in Freudian psychology, and the requisite condition of uncertainty. (Freud notes that fairytales are not uncanny, for example, because they have almost no connection to reality.) Uncertainty is only remarkable within a generally predictable, certain, context. And we find uncertainty on various levels of the Southern Reach trilogy, within various levels of "reality." As Area X is a mysterious space within a realistic setting, the characters' psychological "symptoms" manifest within functioning psyches and more or less conventional institutional cultures. Among the most memorable psychological moments in the Southern Reach trilogy are the initial contamination of the biologist which she seems to interfere with her perceptions; Control's darkly humorous resistance to hypnosis by screaming obscenities at his superior over the phone; and the rapturous madness of Whitby. But most intriguing is the problem of origins. Does the madness of Area X originate with an alien invasion, institutional attempts to control the invasion, human frailty, or some combination of the above? Is it a form of original sin? Is it a weapon of the invasion, collateral damage, or something else entirely?
In "Character Degree Zero: Space and the Posthuman Subject," the first chapter of Science Fiction Beyond Borders (2016), Elana Gomel argues that the posthuman characters of contemporary science fiction are affectively "flat" because their psyches are somehow extended into the environment, rather than contained within their bodies.[i] In lieu of the pathetic fallacy of traditional fiction, in which the natural environment metaphorically reflects the internal psychological states of the characters (but remains essentially separate), contemporary science fiction is often marked by "character eversion," a novel state in which a character's psyche escapes the body. Eversion is also an inversion of space and character. Rather than focusing on round characters in flat worlds, posthuman science fiction presents flat characters in round worlds (6).
The affective flatness of Southern Reach characters could also be interpreted as a symptom of trauma or disassociation. Like ecology and culture, trauma may be our habitat. VanderMeer has speculated that the Gulf Oil Spill entered his psyche and became the tunnel/tower at the heart of Area X. This makes sense in the context of Gomel's thesis. Though trauma may originate outside of the psyche and breach its barriers, it must also be externalized, because it's categorically too big to be contained.
The fusion between place and character in SF can also be seen politically, as an expression of the emerging eco-consciousness. Character eversion generates subjects who give up the temporal coherence of the liberal-humanist self in favour of a more capacious and inclusive sense of belonging. They lose themselves but gain the world.
This discourse is no longer adequate either narratively or politically. The "everted" characters, fading into the alien landscape, offer a revolutionary, if unsettling, view of the possibilities of interaction between humans and other living creatures: surely an important subject in the Anthropocene age.
The sum of these critical reflections points to a broader, forward-looking ecology in VanderMeer's work, a whole far greater than the sum of nature, consumer-capitalism, body politics, and even posthuman notions of the psyche. This bigger, emergent "thing" is not quite organic, artificial, animal, or machine, but something novel and challenging, demanding novel, challenging responses . . . which brings be back to VanderMeer's ideas on realism and form.
Realism to date has been unapologetically anthropocentric. What would a non-anthropocentric realism look like? Visionary, uncertain, dream-like? Hard-edged, crushing, hyperreal? As the boundaries between human beings and their environment begin to dissolve, epistemologically, realism may become impossible, or at least very quaint. A kind of nostalgic, historical mode . . . leaving us with pure experience.
[i] Gomel vacillates between flat as one dimensional and flat affect. In this piece I'm referring to the latter sense of the word.
Borne has been described as one of the most anticipated novels of 2017, following the success of VanderMeer's New York Times best-selling and critically acclaimed Southern Reach trilogy. The first novel of the trilogy, Annihilation, also attracted the attention of Paramount and Alex Garland, writer and director of the superb 2014 film, Ex Machina. Annihilation, the film, currently in post-production, is scheduled to be released before the end of the year. But neither of these feats seem as remarkable, to me, as VanderMeer's ability to captivate and hold the attention of an academic audience, particular those in the Humanities who collectively hold writers to a standard set by well over 300 years of literary fiction in the modern languages. On its surface Borne seems like a relatively simple tale, certainly compared to the multi-faceted, deep-mapped narratives of the Southern Reach and, even more so, VanderMeer's astonishing, and astonishingly underappreciated Ambergris series. But once you begin to examine Borne more closely, once you begin to unfold its surface layers, you may discover, in addition to a moving story, a series of meditations on age-old topics of being and becoming . . . the relationship of parts and wholes, biological growth, the development of a psyche, and the relationship of creatures to their natural environment, to name a few.
Borne is patently about parts and wholes. The population scavanges, salvages, tinkers, and trades in a chaotic array of very strange biotech. DIY meets dystopian science fiction/fantasy, but this is no dark green fantasy camp. "Human" actors are not just tinkerers; they are also tinkered with. Everyone is technically improved—more or less. This state of affairs generates unusual tension in relationships; considerable anxiety about wholeness, completeness, and authenticity; and almost compulsive soul searching. I am not what I seem . . . something's missing . . . how did I get here . . . what is wrong with you . . . this doesn't add up . . . did you see where I left my soul?
In the broken city, a diverse population of hybrids survives on biotechnical scrap. The more human creatures find distraction in the usual dystopian pursuits of drugs and violence. And while the main characters, understandably misanthropic, retreat into a dark cave, they also remain complicit in the Company's boundless abuse, and categorically ashamed.
Though literary fiction should neither serve nor accommodate philosophy, Borne's sustained focus on the problem of parts and wholes, at various scales, reminds us of classical and contemporary problems of mereology (the study of parts and wholes). VanderMeer's appeal to Speculative Realism, and virtual dialogue with Timothy Morton and some of the major topics of Object-Oriented Ontology, furthermore, remind us of the very long relationship between mereology and ontology (the study of being). We create monsters out of parts, for example, but recognize them as such, perhaps, because of our intractably provincial sense of integrity.
Borne, the creature, might be described as an example of technologically accelerated evolution folding in on itself. He moves from sea anemone to plant to animal to person to leviathan, and then somehow evolves into a giant, single-celled creature, before returning to his original state. Because Borne is continually changing shape and because the direction of his development is so unpredictable, he ultimately seems to occupy all points at once. Is he born or programmed to be everything at once? Is he some kind of super-complex, living hypercube? Or is he a really big mistake?
But biotech is more correctly about animals and machines.[iv] And indeed, animals are folded into machines and machines into animals on every level of the work. Most of the hybrids in the novel seem more animal-like—enhanced animals rather than enhanced machines—but perhaps we just don't see the machine (so much) because we are vitalists (as well as speciests), conditioned to privilege familiar forms over unseen functions. A recent revival of academic interest in vitalism, from Henri Bergson to Brian Massumi, seems to point to the wisdom and virtue of "real life," in response to, or possibly in reaction to, various AI turns. AI is generally a frustrating discourse, for outsiders, but the playful yet philosophically earnest, and extremely insightful, speculations of Ian Bogost's Alien Phenomenology, or What It's Like to be a Thing remind us that operating systems can be endlessly fascinating, and even charismatic, once you get to know them.
The overarching soft-tech, wet-ware bias of the novel seems consistent with VanderMeer's Ambergris sensibilities, but thinking about cultural distinctions between nature and technology is inherent in all of his recent works. At what point, precisely, do simple tools become machines? What was forged in the iron age? What snaked in and out of the age of information? And why are we turning away from both at this point in time, going back to "nature" and "life," so much so we don't even question the value of the turn, even as we are more, and more intimately, bound up with and bound by technology?
In some ways Borne, the character, doesn't evolve very much at all, and this might be an indication of his limitations as a hybrid. What machine, part or whole, could match the fathomless history of life? While many readers will undoubtedly become attached to Borne as a child-like figure, sacrificial lamb, and/or distant relation of Southern Reach's Crawler, Borne remains, for the most part, an empty, inverted vessel. He can take on any form and contain multitudes because, in his absurd versatility, he remains formless and empty. He's not really up to the task of a relationship with anyone, though there is a moment . . . of heartbreak. For some reason (it was sudden and surprising for me), we feel Rachel's love for Borne most keenly when she is forced to abandon him. She can't bear to leave him, but he can't evolve beyond his monstrous impulses, though he clearly wishes he could. Grow up. Stop acting like a two-year-old. But two-year-olds don't have regrets, and neither do machines. In the end, Borne, becomes a misfit among misfits, but also a hero, and a sacrifice. And in this sense human.
Mord is a colossal menace form the start, and seems much less complicated, but he's also a sleeper. Once you get past the frenzy of trying to make sense of him . . . once you overcome the compulsion to put him back into the author's psyche to understand how he was conceived and nurtured, you might discover you actually like him. Compared to Borne, Mord has too much substance, but there's something charismatic about his matted mass. He's solid, genuine, unapologetic . . . even sincere. You always know where you stand with him. You know he could and would stomp you, given the chance, and you know that he should. No ethical prevarication.
At the same time Mord also presents a conceptual riddle. He's a bear—grumpy, willful, wild, and out of control. He eats and sleeps a lot, has really bad breath, and mostly bad hair days. Like Borne, biology seems to be his dominant trait. However, he doesn't seem to have emotions (except for an undifferentiated rage, hardly recognizable as feeling). And his mode of flight, makes no sense whatsoever in an animal world.
As a flying bear, Mord is categorically mechanical, and yet barely "real." Without the Company, it seems, he would have no reason to exist. Without their avarice, manic sense of proportion, epic resource grab, and complete lack of accountability, he would not have left the drawing board. Truly, Wick's discarded fish, even a giant walking fish—sitting on the porch drinking lemonade—beats a flying bear, every time. I remain anxious about VanderMeer's freedom, but admit there's ultimately something compelling about the combination of the mammoth animal and enormous machine in Mord. Biotech at this scale becomes a difference in kind. A different kind of biotech. A different kind of novel. A different world.
The jump in scale from minnows to Mord, in Borne, invites us to first notice, then see, and subsequently reflect on the still larger, ecological scales of biotech in the novel. Not only Borne but Borne's world is a biotechnological monstrosity. Biotechnical creatures, great and small, cannot be contained in a lab, inside a built environment, or outside of an ecological space. And biotech weapons certainly can't be contained. Anything created in a lab is already part of the environment. There's no inside and no outside. And before you know it, you have a toxic biological and cultural soup that can only evolve toxic creatures.
So there's a lot more than biotech, as we know it, being folded in this dystopian laundry. There are ecological folds—water, chemicals, soil, and vegetation in unsustainable proportions. Geological folds in the salient caverns and crevices. Institutional folds within the Company. Folds in time and space, in worlds within the novel, intertertextual folds. And ecology is folded into geology, and into the ruins of culture. Time and space are folded into characters, worlds, and texts. Vandermeer's brain, folded back on itself, unfolds freely in the text, and we too are brought into the fold. We open each drawer of this ornate cabinet, curious, reckless, guilty, but also compelled. Unfold a letter addressed to someone else, and watch incredulously, as the cyphers themselves begin to unfold.
I am not what I seem, but I made you whole. You are not what you seem. Do not forget. We can outrun them.
Borne's different scales of biotech, and stretches of the imagination may challenge fans of VanderMeer's weird realist, Southern Reach Trilogy. One might worry that VanderMeer has wandered from his post as a virtuoso world-maker and painstaking literary craftsman. One might worry . . . if one had become too attached to the diamond-tough characters, dazzling descriptive passages, and old-world pacing of his Southern Reach and Ambergris novels. While very different from these previous works in some ways, Borne "sticks" because it emerges from and points to various directions at once. And this is both exhilarating and frightening. The compass needle spins wildly as we enter a new territory. Do I wake or dream? Am I hypnotized, or mad? Can I trust our leader? A distant shriek, barely animal. Saints preserve us.
Reading and writing fold minds over time. Communication suggests—perhaps guarantees—another type of fold. Bare existence. And conversely, bare existence might guarantee communication. We gravitate toward dialogue, even internal dialogue, with a sense of purpose, while understanding (surely) that it never ends. We can close a chapter and a book, but we can't outrun ghosts. And even those pages we will never read, leave a trace in cultural memory. Borne is a striking moment in the ongoing conversation about our futures. An unframed original, a sacrifice, and a gift.
[i] Acclerationism is a popular socio-political concept expressing the hope and expectation that capitalism will accelerate beyond its capacity and suddenly collapse, bringing about radical change.
[ii] Though the distinctions are not at all clear in any context, the term "transhuman" usually represents an anthropocentric, futuristic ideal of overcoming human limitations, while the "posthuman" denotes a more critical or value-neutral worldview, which calls the concept of humanity into question.
[iii] I've borrowed this conceit from Deleuze's The Fold: Leibniz and the Baroque. However, folding and unfolding as approach and withdrawal might also be considered in the context of Graham Harman's 2011 The Quadruple Object.
[iv] What kind of speciest would get so excited about animals being folded into humans in the first place?
THE SEEDS OF THIS CONVERSATION were planted when I saw an online announcement for Timothy Morton's new book, Dark Ecology. Immediately I felt the cover design resonated with the amazing covers of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy. When I mentioned this to Tim at an academic conference, he said it was a sort of lovely and weird coincidence because he and Jeff had recently started communicating with each other — appreciating each other's work, ideas, and aesthetics.
Soon after, Gerry Canavan and I started collaborating on "Global Weirding," a special issue of the academic journal Paradoxa, and we agreed that Jeff and Tim would make an engaging and provocative pair to feature in conversation with each other. In many ways, they both have a magical ability to produce extremely edgy and sophisticated work capable of reaching wide audiences well beyond academic and/or genre fiction coteries. Fortunately, they agreed to meet via Skype one morning in the summer of 2016. I opened the conversation by asking them to start with a statement on what they found engaging and illuminating in the other's work and how they envision their work intersecting, and then I quietly recorded and observed as their friendly, loopy conversation veered around through Beatrix Potter, Surrealism, childhood experiences with tidal pools, fur-shedding cats, and uncanny orange juice.
TIM MORTON: There's a very, very strong overall feeling about the work that you do, Jeff. There's a very dreamlike quality to it, and I like this quality very much. If I was going to use a word to describe it, I'd probably use Freud's word "displacement." There's something around the corner all the time. You can't quite put your finger on it, and maybe you'll never be able to put your finger on it. It's sort of disturbing, tantalizing, dreamlike, and there's this overall feeling of losing a sense of obvious reference point, whereby the way that you're dreaming and what you're dreaming about are sort of weirdly melded together so you can't tell which is which a little bit.
JEFF VANDERMEER: The interesting thing is I'm very much a writer who is both organic and mechanical. I believe in getting down a draft, which is very influenced by the subconscious, and then peering through it. After I wrote Annihilation, I started seeing reviews that mentioned your work in connection with it; that's why I picked up Hyperobjects, and the thing that was fascinating to me is that it appealed to both the organic and the mechanical sides. The mechanical side made me understand what I had written better because the very term "hyperobject" kind of encapsulated what was going on organically in Annihilation.
Then, partly because I'm not a philosopher, but also because I'm interested in this subject, the book sent me on another delightful "down the rabbit hole" moment. In part because there were sections where I had to bulwark basic knowledge before I could go forward. And then there are other things that I know are received by my conscious mind, but my subconscious is working on breaking them down and reinventing them for future fiction. I always go through this process in which I have to trust my subconscious first, and I then have to understand what it was that I did, and then my fiction is informed by all of that; your book really helped me with that, which is really important in this context where I'm fairly sure there isn't going to be a novel I write going forward that doesn't deal with ecological themes in some way.


As its name suggests, at the core of Vault Data Standard is standardisation including file names and directory structures. With some simple configuration VDS can apply complex directory structure and naming standards that are specific to your business needs. The basics of this are covered in the help documentation, in this post we will cover a practical example of achieving this. Whilst I will use AutoCAD for this post, the same can be achieved with Inventor.
Before we get started configuring, here are the standards that we want to implement.
Each project is allocated a project name based on a short description.
Each document contains a title that describes the files contents.
By default, VDS doesn't attempt to apply any property based standards for file names or locations (it does allow the user to choose a folder from list of subfolders from the project explorer root – but this is not meant for real use). This makes sense as every organisation will differ in their requirements here and it is best to start from a fairly blank slate. What VDS does give us is a framework to operate in that makes it relatively easy to setup whatever standards are required. When Data Standard CAD addins for AutoCAD or Inventor are installed, the user is prompted with a dialog box when they first save the document. This "New File" form allows the user to enter information about the file – and some of this information can be used to drive our file naming and folder structure conventions. Again this form is just a starting point, it is expected that we'll need to change it to suit our specific needs. Fortunately we can do so via configuration – no code compilation required!
Below shows the out of box "New File" window that acts as a starting point for implementing standards.
Before we can set the file name to be based on project name and title as defined in our standard, we need a way to enter the project name. For this we need 2 things, firstly we need to define the property, then we need to add a text box on the form for the user to enter value.
This gives the value that will be entered into the form somewhere to live, and also allows us to synchronise this property with title block attributes.
The form definition is stored in a xaml file in location below… if you are not familiar with XAML or WPF there are plenty of online resources to get you up to speed.
Note: The "gotcha" to keep in mind here is that when rows are added to the layout grid, all the row/column indexes will be thrown out if you just use a text editor and not a smart editor like Visual Studio.
Note the "Binding" property needs to match the name of the property created in the AutoCAD.cfg file from previous step.
Finally we need to make the form a little taller to make room for our extra field. Change the MaxHeight and MinHeight properties of prop:DSWindow node to 550.
Now filling the form out and saving should result in the file name following our intended convention.
You may have noticed that the File Name field still says Drawing2.dwg even though our actual file name has changed. Let's fix that up before declaring victory.
What this does is bind the text of the File Name textbox to use the underlying file name VDS property, rather than referring to the drawing property that was being defaulted to the initial file name (Drawing2.dwg in this case). Now the File Name textbox should update as soon as you have entered values into project name and title fields.
Well, sort of... that only covers file name conventions. I'll cover folder structures in Part 2.


text:
Research & business ⇨
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Adrian Browne
ORCID profile
Classificatory violence: difference, discipline, and (de)gradation in Uganda's northern Albertine Rift, c.1860 to c.1991 in the Department of History
(email at a.j.browne@durham.ac.uk)
Adrian Browne specialises in African history with a particular focus on Uganda since the nineteenth century. His ESRC-funded doctoral research explored the relationship between classification, hierarchy, and violent punishment in what is now Buliisa District on the contested lacustrine periphery of the historical kingdom of Bunyoro.
Adrian's research broadly concerns practices and institutions by which people have sought to shape the political subjectivities of others. His earlier research examined late colonial efforts to manufacture citizens in Uganda's national parks, and he is currently developing a new project on the place of 'political education' – by political parties and affiliated institutions – in the relationship between Britain and Africa during the era of the Cold War and decolonisation.
Adrian holds an MA in Social and Economic History (Research Methods) from Durham University, an MSc in African Studies from Oxford University, and a BA in English Language and Literature from the University of Leeds.
Before undertaking postgraduate study at Durham, he worked as a journalist and researcher focusing on energy and infrastructure in Africa, and has continued to publish on these topics.
Edited Journal
Leonardi, Cherry & Browne, Adrian J. (2018). Valuing Land in Eastern Africa. Critical African Studies, 10 (1).
Leonardi, Cherry & Browne, Adrian J. (2018). Introduction: valuing land in Eastern Africa. Critical African Studies 10(1): 1-13.
Browne, Adrian J. (2018). The Alur-ization of Aidan Southall – Contested Ethnonymic Traditions in North-Western Uganda. History in Africa 45: 221-244.
Anderson, David M. & Browne, Adrian J. (2011). The politics of oil in eastern Africa. Journal of Eastern African Studies 5(2): 369-410.
Browne, Adrian J. (2015). LAPSSET: The history and politics of an eastern African megaproject. Rift Valley Institute.
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List of Departments
Durham Research Online


text:
The Property: In 2002, Marge Johnsson bought this red brick manor house—which had been designed nearly 100 years earlier by the architect Howard Van Doren Shaw—as the freshman rehab project for Magnolia Restorations, the company she was then launching. "I wanted to do it the way Shaw would...
On the Market—To the Manor Reborn-Winnetka
The Property: In 2002, Marge Johnsson bought this red brick manor house—which had been designed nearly 100 years earlier by the architect Howard Van Doren Shaw—as the freshman rehab project for Magnolia Restorations, the company she was then launching. "I wanted to do it the way Shaw would…
By Dennis Rodkin
See more photos in the gallery at end of page
The Property: In 2002, Marge Johnsson bought this red brick manor house—which had been designed nearly 100 years earlier by the architect Howard Van Doren Shaw—as the freshman rehab project for Magnolia Restorations, the company she was then launching. "I wanted to do it the way Shaw would have done it if he'd been here," Johnsson says today.
For a first project, the results are impressive. Johnsson seems to have successfully channeled Shaw, as is particularly evident in the assortment of fanciful arts and crafts light fixtures she installed throughout the house. Her meticulous care further reveals itself in her decision to install some woodwork over the living room mantel and to add a loggia at the rear of the house.
Johnsson deduced the placement of the living room woodwork based on some grime shadows that indicated where the originals had been. In the case of the loggia, she copied what Shaw had done on other houses. Johnsson believes Shaw might have planned a loggia for this house as well, but construction came to a halt here when the first wife of the original owner, the Chicago attorney John Montgomery, died in 1909. Though the house originally served as a country escape from the big city, Johnsson says that Montgomery made the place his full-time residence some time after his first wife died.
Though mechanically all new, the 14-room house feels the way it must have in Montgomery's day. The arched ceiling and rich butternut paneling of the entry hall leads to the main rooms, all trimmed with handsome millwork that would be prohibitively expensive today. There is a library with quarter-sawn oak cabinetry fronted by leaded-glass doors, a dining room trimmed in beech (and with a servant's buzzer still mounted in the floor), and a living room whose ceiling beams are reproductions of some that Shaw had on his drawings for the house but may never have installed.
Johnsson put in an entirely new kitchen, but with its delft tiles and brick fireplace, it feels as if it could have been original—if affluent homeowners had spent any time in their own kitchens in 1908. There are four second-floor bedrooms and two more upstairs. The master suite has a fireplace, a sunroom, and a deck that overlooks the back yard. The family room is on the third floor, in what would originally have been the servants' quarters. Out back, Johnsson installed a new swimming pool and a fountain salvaged from a historic home in Oak Park. Beyond that sits the 1929 coach house, which has a sunny little apartment or office suite on the second floor.
Price Points: Johnsson completed the renovations in 2004 and moved her family in while completing another project elsewhere in Winnetka. She listed this house at $4,775,000 about a year ago, but after moving into her later project last fall, she cut the asking price here to $3,997,000. According to data from the Multiple Listing Service of Northern Illinois, a dozen homes in Winnetka have sold for more than $3 million in the past year; two of them were sold this month. With its size, vintage craftwork, and secluded setting, this home compares well to those.
Listing Agent: Dinny Dwyer, Jean Wright Real Estate, (847) 446-9166