text:
Cory Linden Stands With Crowdsourced Libbers

by Pixeleen Mistral on 15/11/06 at 10:39 am

LL to address CopyBot rights management issues sometime next year?

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

the (now missing) GeForce Go removing Copybot vendor from Manitoba sim

“i will NOT be adding anymore products until LL amends SL to entirely negate copybot and similar technology – lip service to the TOS is not enough. second, i will not be the source of any more income to LL due to their sales of L$ that would pass through my store.” said Jacqueline Trudeau in response to Cory Linden’s attempt to reassure metaverse shopkeepers and content creators. Jacqueline Trudeau was one of over 560 citizens responding to the Cory Linden’s blog post in the wake of serious fallout from the CopyBot scandal.

To address the scandal, tuesday night Cory Linden declared that using CopyBot-like programs to duplicate copy-protected objects is a violation of the TOS. Shortly after this announcement, two citizens selling the CopyBot in-world – GeForce Go and Prim Revolution – no longer appeared in the find people tab – apparently having been banned for TOS violations. However, these action have not calmed the content creators of Second Life.

Cory Linden’s announcement had garnered mostly negative responses as of press time – with questions being asked about why LL is involved in the libsecondlife reverse engineering effort. These questions are especially telling because currently the Second Life server does not verify the messages sent from a -possibly hacked- client or proxy – opening the door to a number of exploits. Residents also questioned the feasibility of abuse reporting and DMCA complaints as a mechanism for policing DRM violations – the Lab’s staff has been visibly stretched by the growth of the metaverse and Linden inaction to abuse reports is presumed to be the norm by many residents.

With no immediate technical solutions promised, residents are left to fend largely for themselves without new tools, as Cory Linden said, “I am very sorry that we have not already completed the features needed for you to address these concerns yourself. We are working very hard to complete them and will release them as soon as they are ready. In terms of prioritization and scheduling, additional asset data will be deployed in Q1 2007”

The level of anger was perhaps due to the perception that the Lab is not playing fair. For instance, Jeremy Bender said, “It’s like living in a country where the law enforcement officers and politicians are in cahoots with the business elite and organised crime elements to test the very laws they are entrusted to create, defend and enforce.”

Questions also swirled around how content and business will work in a more open environment, with Property Resistance suggesting, “You need to make a statement how asset and transaction security will be handled in an open source development environment. Will we see clients designed to “click and copy” every asset then? Or will this be efficiently prevented. You as company need planing security, we do so too.”

The common theme to all this is an understandable need on the part of residents to know what the new rules of the game will be and a desire for more transparency from the Lab about its development roadmap and timeline for addressing these issues. How seriously this affects the in-wold economy will be a story that plays out over the next few week as content creators ponder the incentives and costs in the new world order.

Meanwhile, at least some residents ask how the DCMA applies to a company helping create some of the technology to defeat its own copy protection, and CJ Carnot pointed out that using the copybot “may be against the TOS but creating it violated the DMCA. LibSL created it and the Lindens are involved with this project. Should we file a DMCA against LL ?”

8 Responses to “Cory Linden Stands With Crowdsourced Libbers”

  1. Eric Maelstrom

    Nov 15th, 2006

    I’d like to hear CJ Carnot’s reasoning which led to believing that the act of writing the code for Copybot violates the DMCA, because it’s just not true.

    Nov 15th, 2006

    Fashion Dash Postponed (updated)

    The Fashion Dash event scheduled for this evening is canceled.
    We have decided that the substantial protest by the fashion community over Linden Labs handling of CopyBot will interfere with the quality of the event we had planned.
    We will ann…

  3. Lewis Nerd

    Nov 15th, 2006

    So I guess it’s beyond the collective intelligence of all at Linden Lab to have a look at Geforce Go’s transaction history, to get all the names of those who bought the copybot thing, and ban all of those too?

    WoW banned and terminated 75,000 accounts for cheating. Linden Lab need to take similar action against those who bought copybot. After all, the evidence is clearly there, with no need to prove any ‘intent’.

  4. Tao Takashi

    Nov 15th, 2006

    Why should they ban people who bought copybot? They should ban people who use it (on copyrighted material)!

    Buying it is not cheating, using it is not. What if I want to have it a similar device for being able to back up my _own_ objects to my hard drive?

    In Real Life not all people who own a DVD recorder land in jail althought they possible could use it to violate copyright.

  5. Prokofy Neva

    Nov 15th, 2006

    The Lindens have to decide politically, not technically, what they are offering here with their own world-product.

    If they so wish to fete the programming class, even at the expense of certain members of that class who make commodities, that they will avail to them without punishment the ability to copy/intercept not only their own products for back up, but everyone else’s, then they are offering a world with a horribly tiered class of labourers and a terribly exploitative atmosphere.

    Anyone toiling at low micropayment rates making shoes and hair has to consider their work useless and valueless in the fact of the extreme left expropriators of their product who, in the name of the right to back up their own creativity, back up everybody else’s, too, and pwn their efforts and their market.

    Therefore the labouring creative class and the amateurs not yet admitted into the guild class can decide to make themselves minions in entities like Millionsofus and be paid by the Man outside of the exploitative micropayments and quit-rent system.

    So people who are the part-time moms at Wal-mart and the Chinese students and the disabled war veterans have two choices:

    a. risk exploitation and loss on the wild inworld grid making and selling objects before a CopyBotter or Glinterceptor wielded by the powerful programming ruling class notices you
    b. hire up with the Man and get paid outside the wild grid for being part of the whole Travelling Metaversal Road Show

  6. Cocoanut Koala

    Nov 15th, 2006

    So far I have picked:

    c. No store.

    I’m going to give this a few weeks to shake out, and if it doesn’t look better, I’m also going to choose:

    d. Sell 1/2 sim, go basic.

  7. Woodward

    Nov 16th, 2006

    this is rich

    a must read for everyone, especially the lib sl apologists (though i am sure they will find some way to play it off)

  8. Eric Rice

    Nov 16th, 2006

    Amusingly, lots of content creators bought copybot to tear it apart and use it to see for themselves, and also, to find a solution to defeat it.

    So to the showers, everyone!

Leave a Reply


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Matrix Talk:Main

From AlsaProject
Jump to: navigation, search

Grrr. Including category pages doesn't show the list of pages in that category!

Including the pages just gives their fixed text:

Soundcard manufacturers

Pages with information about card specific ALSA kernel modules.

This lists existing module information pages. See also Special:Wantedpages for Module-* pages that have not yet been created.

I took the list of modules from alsa-driver configure --help, and compared with list of modules in this wiki to get these lists. Most of these modules are not mentioned in any Vendor-* page

Output from configure not in matrix

Not in list from configure

Then I took the list from configure --help, and compared with list of kernel modules actually installed on my system.

Modules installed not in configure list:

Core modules

Toplevel modules? not used by others?

Library modules? I.e. used by other top level modules

Modules on config list not installed (probably just my config x86)

Suspicious about loopback and fm801-tea575x, maybe serialmidi

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text:
Follow Christiane on social media:

On Twitter + Facebook + Instagram Amanpour producers on Twitter

What time is Amanpour on CNN?

Check showtimes to see when Amanpour is on CNN where you are. Or watch online.

Check showtimes to see when Amanpour is on CNN where you are. Or watch online.

Angelina Jolie and William Hague: The odd couple

June 12th, 2014
11:15 AM ET

By Henry Hullah

Actress and U.N. Special Envoy Angelina Jolie and British Foreign Secretary told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour they didn’t mind being labelled the “odd couple” of international relations.

"We're making progress!" says Hague.

"Whatever works!" adds Jolie.

The two have joined forces in the fight against sexual violence in conflict. The recent the four day summit in London has brought attention to the topic they are both  passionate about.

"Angelina brings what governments cannot bring" says Hague. "You need a major government of the world to be involved in this. With that diplomatic network, with our development budget with our convening power to bring together something like this summit"

"But you also need to reach people who are not usually interested in what governments have to say and there are people who will take notice of what she [Angelina] says"

"You are moved by the people you meet"

Jolie has previously used her iconic status to anchor global interest to issues such as the plight of Syrian refugees and women's health. Amanpour asked her what marked the beginning of her crusade against sexual violence.

"It was time and again meeting young girls, boys, and women and men who publicly could talk about all of their pains but privately would become very emotional  about rape and what happened to them.  You know they couldn't tell if a child was the child of rape... they simply couldn't function any more. They carried this deep shame and this deep pain".

"It was just too many" said Jolie.

William Hague, her partner in this battle against sexual assault, went on to say how this "historic" summit will add to the landmark case in the Hague 12 years ago, where rape as a war crime was enshrined in law.

"We will have agreed this week on the international protocol on how to investigate and how to document these crimes", stated Hague.

"This is the first time the world will have adopted an agreed format for such investigations, where countries can also share information, but in addition to that there are countries that have been severely affected by this problem here this week presenting their action plans".

Speaking at events such as this global summit, and at the U.N., can sometimes be easier than bringing the complicated issues of conflict and gender equality home.

"I'm very, very open with my children", said Jolie "Some of my children have come from countries that were in conflict with each other; my son who's Cambodian, my son who's Vietnamese. So we have lots of discussions in the house. My daughter is African and we talk about civil rights, and they look at their sister and think how many years ago how different their relationship to their sister would be".

Amanpour asked Jolie what her perspective is on one of the last great bastions of gender equality in America; is the United States due a female president and is the woman for the job Hillary Clinton?

"Of course it would be wonderful to see her run... I think it should be the best person for the job regardless", Jolie stated.

"I think it's certainly time but that shouldn't be the reason to vote for someone either"

The U.N. Special Envoy seemed more focused on her next step against sexual violence, one that takes her far closer to home and that she has already started a project relating to; the assaults committed against servicewomen in her own nation's military and the impact it has globally.

"When people whose lives it is to protect others, when they violate the law, it's a thousand times worse", said Jolie. "It's not only a crime, it sets a bar across the world that you can do this".

See the second half of the interview here

soundoff (5 Responses)
  1. Andrew Lowe

    True Detective Season 2

    June 12, 2014 at 8:53 pm | Reply
  2. Tes

    Please go find out what's happening to women & girls in Syria.

    June 12, 2014 at 11:01 pm | Reply
    • yuko

      I hope your voice will be taken more seriously.

      June 13, 2014 at 12:14 am | Reply
  3. hopeso

    Anything to get this to the forefront of government mind

    June 13, 2014 at 5:53 am | Reply
  4. Melissa Thompson

    Why is this actress treated like some hero? I don't understand this. She has French-kissed her own brother on the red carpet, committed adultery and has done absolutely nothing for rape in war except make a few speeches that she probably didn't even write herself? I don't understand this world. There are plenty of other Hollywood Actresses who have earned more than this person has in their tasks and achievements for others.

    June 17, 2014 at 2:04 am | Reply

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Gene Clary

Posted: November 27, 2012 - 1:00am
Gene Clary: 1923-2012
Gene Clary: 1923-2012

TULIA — Gene Clary, 89, of Tulia died Sunday, Nov. 25, 2012.

Services will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday in Central Church of Christ with Bob Colson officiating. Burial will follow in Rose Hill Cemetery. Arrangements are by Kornerstone Funeral Directors of Tulia.

Gene was born Jan. 20, 1923, in Petty to J.W. and Millie Clary. He was the last of 13 children. He married Geraldine Gunn on June 7, 1941, in Plainview. They lived in Quitaque and farmed. They moved to Tulia in 1955 and farmed. He worked for the Tule Creek Gin from 1981 to 2003. He was a member of Sixth and Gaines Church of Christ.

Survivors include his wife, Geraldine Clary of Tulia; a daughter, Debbie Kirby of White Deer; three grandchildren, Matthew Kirby of Panhandle, Tara Plexico of Rockwall and Steven Kirby of Pampa; and four great-grandchildren, Maddison Plexico, Kaiden Plexico, Kloey Kirby and Kayleigh Kirby.

The family suggests memorials be to Central Church of Christ, 300 N. Donley St., Tulia, TX 79088; or Tule Creek Emergency Medical Service, 200 N. Austin St., Tulia, TX 79088.

Visitation will be from 7 to 8 p.m. today at the funeral home.

Sign the online guest book at www.kornerstonefunerals.com.

Amarillo Globe-News, Nov. 27, 2012

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Jessica Flores

Posted: Friday, November 16, 2007

Jessica Flores, 24, of Amarillo died Thursday, Nov. 15, 2007.

Services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday in Boxwell Brothers Ivy Chapel. Burial will be in Llano Cemetery. Arrangements are by Boxwell Brothers Funeral Directors, 2800 Paramount Blvd.

Jessica was born May 24, 1983, in Dimmitt. She graduated from Amarillo High School. She had worked the last six years as a manicurist.

Survivors include a daughter, Celeste Flores of the home; a son, Tristan Flores of the home; her mother and stepfather, Rachel and Jerry Mitchell of Amarillo; her father, Dennis Martinez of Hereford; two brothers, Jimmie Mitchell and Thomas Mitchell, both of Amarillo; grandparents, Jose and Lilia Rueda of Hereford, Fabian and Flora Martinez of Hereford and Dorthy Mitchell of Plainview; and a great-grandmother, Imogene Drake of Annona.

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Most writers who publish in the science fiction field stay within the usual parameters of the field, continuing their careers writing what no one would doubt as standard science fiction. Isaac Asimov, Theodore Sturgeon, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert A. Heinlein to name but four, wrote and published their works as science fiction, with the occasional foray into the fantastic–but not outright fantasy. Heinlein did write Glory Road which was science fiction using fantasy tropes that no one would mistake for aspects of a regular fantasy novel. That is to say, Heinlein’s Glory Road isn’t at all like one of Robert Jordan’s epic fantasies nor does it resemble the Arthurian fantasy of Marion Zimmer Bradley’s classic (and truly excellent novel),  The Mists of Avalon.

That said, some writers who might have started off in science fiction soon reveal their true selves when they start publishing what they really want to write about. The writers mentioned below publish their stories as science fiction (or as in one case, science fantasy), but the novels they write are clearly and unmistakably not science fiction but something else. (And nowhere else does the phrase caveat emptor truly apply!)

The first series that comes to mind is Gene Wolfe’s series The Book of the New Sun, the four novels of which were  originally published from 1980-1983. These were published to great acclaim as “science fantasy”, but having just finished a reread of the entire series, I can tell you that these books–masterpieces as everyone seems to think they are–are actually medieval/Arthurian fantasies. In fact, there is virtually no real “science fiction” in these books other than various tropes (ancient, dying sun, some artifacts found in the ground, an old space ship rusting on the horizon, etc.), especially the kind that gives a real sense that the characters’ actions are based on anything lived in a world of a gone moon, an ageing sun, and no volcanoes or mountain-building–all of which in the real world would have spelled doom for surface life long before the novels take place. Severian’s actions are those of a young man on a rite of passage as an apprentice Torturer. (Let’s set aside the morality of investing our interest in a character who tortures people. Remember, the violence in Wolfe is partially influenced by the overt violence in the early 1980s of Orson Scott Card. Card’s touch is everywhere in these books.) Still, Severian’s travels and adventures and storytelling (Book Two has a long fairy tale inserted in the middle of the novel that goes absolutely nowhere and adds nothing to the novel) are straight out of a YA rite-of-passage fantasy. There are ogres, monsters, ghosts, spells of all kinds–and sorcerers who tap into the “magic” of the past which is supposed to be remnants of ancient technologies. Wolfe, though, never fully uses the ancient past in his novel. We’re supposed to accept tacitly the vast antiquity that precedes this novel, but I really wanted to see it. As such, I was never once convinced that I was reading science fiction in these books. These are fantasies. The earth does not wobble on its axis (as it would if the moon were gone) and without vulcanism and tectonic plate induction in the ocean, carbon dioxide would not be removed from the atmosphere and recycled into the mantle where it can stay out of the atmosphere and not smother life. These things don’t matter to the fantasist. They didn’t matter to Wolfe.

Another writer well-praised (from every corner) is Lois McMaster Bujold. Her great work is the Miles Vorkosigan series. These are supposed to be military science fiction stories, but they are really at their core Romance novels. At first, they were military science fiction novels of a higher order than most. But the romance elements creep in very early on. Bujold tips her hand in the eloquence of her language (normally a good thing) and the attention to detail that only women would find attractive: balls, courts, military dress, palace intrigues, gossiping, and whispering in the corridors. All of this is right out of Alexander Dumas. True, these intrigues and flourishes do happen in the real world (or they used to), but Bujold, over time with novels such as Miles in Love and Cordelia’s Honor, you can see that Bujold is a closet romance writer. Not that this is a bad thing, but some of us aren’t that interested in romance. For me, personally, it takes much of the dramatic urgency out of a story if the hero is already married or if during a skirmish comes back to canoodle or wine or dine with his beloved before rushing back to the fray.

Sharon Lee and Steve Miller’s novels in their Liaden Universe® (from Baen Books) are also romance writers. Like the Vorkosigan novels, they begin as space adventures in the military science fiction genre, but their latest installments are romances only barely disguised with science fiction tropes and conceits. Lee’s and Miller’s stories in this series are carefully written, but I’d call them science fiction-lite because there really isn’t much tension in these stories. It’s as if, now that they’ve found their niche and their considerable audience, they want to play it safe. True, science fiction as a whole is indeed part of Romance Literature (if we go all the way back to the 18th century when novels were invented in England, with the Gothic novel leading the way), but some writers, by dint of their nature, turn to romance or the western or whatever. I’ve read several of the books in the Liaden Universe® and to me they are romances in disguise–with the couple coming together with a calm sense of inevitability rather than one preceded by blood, sweat, tears and some sort of significant loss. True, no science fiction or fantasy writer has the courage to end a novel the way Hemingway does in A Farewell to Arms, but then ours is an escapist genre. Which is also why we don’t have a Hemingway or Faulkner in our midst–but that’s another story.

Let me just say finally, that the most disappointing development in recent science fiction is the way in which many steampunk writers are now shifting over to writing about zombies. Because I am as interested in zombies as much as I’m interested in eating beets, I really avoid those steampunk novels with zombies in them. True, steampunk is considered a fantasy genre, but the best of what I’ve read in steampunk oscillates between good, extrapolative science fiction (drawn from what the Victorian age might have had to offer by way of science and invention) phrased in a fantasy story-telling mode. I have no interest in reading about zombies, fancy dress balls, smooching warriors, or star-lit dinners on the terrace overlooking a waiting army about to go to war.

Of course, I’ve offended everyone who’s read this far–simply by having an opinion. But this essay has been about truth-in-advertising. I’m too old to put up with indulgences by books claiming to be one thing, but are really something else. I like my science fiction advertised as such, nothing more.

–Paul Cook

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  1. March 25, 2014, 12:46 pm   /

    […] I know that some guys likes their SF hard and manly. No fantasy elements, no romantic elements, and Asimov forbid you include anything which might appeal to women. One gentleman in particular, Paul Cook, seems particularly annoyed with Lois McMaster Bujold, who dares to write military SF in which she depicts functioning marriages between adult characters. […]

  2. January 15, 2014, 11:32 am   /

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  3. November 30, 2013, 8:01 am   /

    […]  By “again,” I’m referring to Paul Cook’s little gem.  Although this one takes the […]

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    […] been a lot of discussion this week about Paul Cook’s post at Amazing Stories, in which he pontificates on why a lot of science fiction actually isn’t science fiction.  I […]

  7. October 12, 2013, 6:58 am   /

    […] dos artículos controversiales. El primero, When Science Fiction is Not Science Fiction de Paul Cook, cuyas respuestas se volvieron casi ataques personales al autor de la nota. Yo […]

  8. September 29, 2013, 10:04 am   /

    […] World Why I’m Not A Fan Of Tip Jars Why Science Fiction Has a Troubled Relationship With Utopias When Science Fiction is Not Science Fiction Ethical Considerations While Time Travelling Through Fiction WHY FREDERIK POHL THOUGHT I WAS A […]

  9. September 15, 2013, 11:06 pm   /

    […] of weeks ago, over at Amazing Stories (TM), Paul Cook stirred up a great deal of controversy when he took some well known authors to task for writing what he viewed as something other than science fiction.  The well-known included Gene […]

  10. September 8, 2013, 10:59 am   /

    […] to Nicky Magas’ blog, and found her comments on Paul Cook’s article over at Amazing Stories, “When Science Fiction is not Science Fiction.”  Which led me down the rabbit hole into internet […]

  11. September 8, 2013, 10:23 am   /

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  12. September 8, 2013, 4:46 am   /

    […] else happened this week? There was the “not in my science fiction” article by Paul Cook that stirred up the community a bit. In the past I’ve been guilty of tossing out […]

  13. September 7, 2013, 9:41 pm   /

    […] science fiction/fantasy/speculative fiction community, there seems to be a bit of a kerfuffle over this article by Paul Cook which appeared in Amazing Stories.  I must confess I was under the impression that it […]

  14. September 7, 2013, 9:39 pm   /

    […] science fiction/fantasy/speculative fiction community, there seems to be a bit of a kerfuffle over this article by Paul Cook which appeared in Amazing Stories.  I must confess I was under the impression that it […]

  15. September 6, 2013, 8:31 am   /

    […] then leads us to this lovely little gem of an essay: When Science Fiction is Not Science Fiction My favorite part? When it becomes clear in the comments that Paul Cook probably hasn’t […]

  16. September 6, 2013, 2:35 am   /

    […] Amazing Stories, Paul Cook rants about SF which is – at least in Paul Cook’s opinion – not SF. This includes such luminaries of the genre as Gene Wolfe (just Arthurian fantasy), Lois McMaster […]

  17. September 5, 2013, 8:30 pm   /

    […] favourite – an astonishingly incoherent post by one Paul Cook over at Amazing Stories on When Science Fiction Isn’t Science Fiction (which, surprise! turns out to be if it contains romance elements and is therefore written for […]

  18. Profile photo of Steve Davidson
    September 5, 2013, 12:11 pm   /

    I have allowed all but one of the comments from yesterday to post to this article. Comments are still off.

  19. Profile photo of Steve Davidson
    September 5, 2013, 12:10 pm   /

    “The problem here is that “science fiction” has both general and narrow definitions, and readers’ tastes frequently favor a particular subset of the narrow. The general, popular meaning of science fiction is best demonstrated by the regular occurrence, when I worked in a bookstore, of customers asking for the science-fiction section, and then adding, “You know … like Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones.” The narrow definition would be works whose events turn on the presence of non-existent technology–with or without personal relationships. The subset of “the kind of science fiction I like and approve of” is whatever the reader wants to make it; in this case, that appears to be predominately what is referred to as “men’s action,” a subgenre that tends to focus on the militaristic. Close to it is the kind of “hard” SF that is often not much more than a laundry list of gadgetry and pseudophysics. Don’t make the mistake of allowing your own tastes to define a genre, as above; this is an exercise in futility. Not liking books with personal relationships (I gather that you have a distaste for any ties closer than “Brothers in Arms” [ironically, a Bujold Vorkosigan title]) or romantic aspects is your prerogative, but to insist that these be excluded from any field of literature is … strange … and certainly not supported by most contemporary readers or writers (who feel that they, too have valid definitions of SF)–and is perhaps more self-revealing than in any way a useful or rigorous evaluation of what constitutes the genre. Most readers are involved in or have had romantic relationships and families; a book that ignores these aspects of personhood always seems strangely flat and disappointing. It interests me as a writer to hear a reader explain their personal tastes, but it is an exercise in futility when they attempt to use those tastes to set limits for others.”

    From F.J. Bergmann

  20. September 5, 2013, 9:34 am   /

    […] yesterday, I happened across this little nugget of hotly contested opinion. I’m not going to argue Mr. Cook’s points because, (a) it’s an opinion piece and […]

  21. September 5, 2013, 7:00 am   /

    […] over at Amazing Stories, there’s a piece titled When Science Fiction is not Science Fiction. It’s a personal view of some examples of books and series generally viewed as science […]

  22. September 4, 2013, 9:27 pm   /

    […] all in reference to this bit of idiocy, but that’s […]

  23. Profile photo of Luna
    September 4, 2013, 6:57 pm   /

    I actually think I get what Paul is trying to convey, however inelegantly. The problem lies in the fact that, in order to shelve books, the publisher has to give it a genre classification. And now more than ever, it seems that writers are leaving genre parameters in the dust and doing whatever they want, which is a beautiful thing. And people who like “hard SF” are getting confused or something, by this crossover sort of writing. And I guess they get snookered into reading something they didn’t mean to read? Because ew, romance!

    I’m not sure of any of this, of course, but this is how I read the essay. Because the mention of how something should actually be considered a romance seems to come up often.

    Paul, I don’t know if you’ve actually read modern romances, but someone like my grandma (rest her soul) who was a Romance Reader didn’t have the slightest interest in sci-fi-ified stories. Shelving those books in the Romance section would have confused her, because ew, sci-fi!

    Maybe you could start a petition for bookstores to start a whole new section any time stories cross genres. It’ll be ultra confusing to everyone else, but it’ll solve the problem of “romance disguised as science fiction”.

    • Profile photo of Luna
      September 4, 2013, 7:09 pm   /

      Forgot to add (sorry, mods, for the extra posting), that my comments are made with absolute sincerity with a touch of waggishness. No other emotions whatsoever.

  24. Profile photo of Steve Fahnestalk
    September 4, 2013, 6:41 pm   /

    While I disagree with some of what Paul Cook has to say, I support his right to his opinion–and his right to EXPRESS his opinion. All of us who blog for Amazing Stories are expressing our singular opinions, not those of Amazing Stories or of any other blogger.

    What some of you fail to realize is that his opinion is as valid *for him* as yours is *for you*! I see some of this “controversy” as being part of the modern “sense of entitlement.” Where I live (Vancouver, BC, Canada) many of the drivers feel entitled to do whatever they please–and I see a lot of that on the internet as well.

    You are entitled to have a differing opinion from mine, from Paul Cook’s, from anyone else’s–and to express that opinion. But please, don’t think you are entitled to attack someone’s opinion, especially as noted, in ad hominem attacks, because you disagree. Just say you think he’s wrong, and why you think he’s wrong and let it go at that.

    As the President (Jack Nicholson) said, in “Mars Attacks”–“Why can’t we all just get along?”

  25. Profile photo of Flewellyn
    September 4, 2013, 6:26 pm   /

    Might it be, possibly, that rather than these works being “not science-fiction”, they are simply a different form? That the genre has changed since the days of Azimov, Heinlein, and Clarke, and that indeed, this genre is more than capable of supporting a variety of stories and perspectives?

    Might it not also be the case that writers whose work you dislike for whatever reason, nonetheless are entitled to call their work science-fiction, and need not seek your permission to do so?

    Certainly, you are entitled to think of the works of Priest and Bujold as “not proper sci-fi” if you wish, but I confess to some curiosity why you expect the rest of the reading public to follow suit. I daresay the backlash you have experienced here is not due to you “simply having an opinion”, as you so disingenuously claim, but that you have conveyed in this essay a desire to have that opinion regarded as canonical truth, as the standard by which all science-fiction fans should judge the genre.

    Again, you are welcome to judge and read science-fiction however you wish, but when your published opinion on the matter is the literary critical equivalent of “Damn you kids, get off my lawn!”, it should come as little surprise if you experience some backlash.

  26. Profile photo of William Shunn
    September 4, 2013, 5:20 pm   /

    Mr. Cook, you tip your hand early on, with your risibly shallow reading of Wolfe, that the insights to follow will be, at best, ill-informed. Romance and intrigue have no place in science fiction? I suppose Heinlein never included a bit of romance or military dress in his work, nor Asimov any palace intrigue.

    Science fiction as you paint it, its precious bodily fluids uncontaminated by any less virile genre, would be a dreary, boring place indeed. To truly be a literature of humanity and human potential, SF must address human concerns, and the human experience encompasses far more than just racing through space and blasting BEMs. Tor editor Moshe Feder once passed a useful analogy along to me, that of science fiction as the “universal recipient” of literature, able to take in and incorporate elements from any other genre of fiction. If science fiction is to represent more than one tiny, narrow slice of human experience, it must be able to represent any aspect of the human experience. It must, at the highest level, be able to do anything that can be done in any other genre, whether romance, mystery, or mainstream literary.

    But that’s all pretty much beside the point. You try to cloak your opinion in fancy justifications, but your argument basically boils down to this: “I don’t like girly stuff in my science fiction.” That’s fine, if close-minded, as far as personal preferences go, but when you attempt to justify closing science fiction off (incorrectly) to elements that “only women would find attractive,” you expose yourself as a sexist of the rankest stripe. Science fiction is infinitely bigger and more inclusive that you would allow it to be, and that’s a damn good thing.

    • Profile photo of Paul Cook
      September 4, 2013, 5:33 pm   /

      Where in my article did I say that I did not like relationships in sf? Where in my article did I say that “I don’t like girly stuff in my science fiction.”? You misconstrued my entire article. It was about how some writers (named specifically) were writing other kinds of stories, other than science fiction. It was about how some writers let their true predilections come out eventually. Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, competent as they are, are writing disguised romances. Your conclusion that I don’t like girly stuff in my science fiction is a conclusion you made. I did not make it. (In fact, one of my very favorite sf novels is Pamela Sergeant’s The Shore of Women.) I am very precise in my wording, or I try to be. All the authors you mention are my favorites. Heinlein, Asimov, Sturgeon, Kornbluth, Pohl, Dick–all of them have women in their stories, but they remain science fiction stories. That’s my point, which you missed. Stick to the argument and leave your ad hominem attacks out.

      • Profile photo of HCR
        September 4, 2013, 6:38 pm   /

        Lee & Miller, “competent as they are, are writing disguised romances”?

        What? Disguised? How? Where?

        You seem to think something can only be one thing or another, but if there is anything SF is (& has been for most of it’s history AFAICT), it is *Inclusive*.

        Have you ever read any of the “in Death” by Nora Roberts (writing as “J. D. Robb”)? Those are unabashedly “Romance” (though I understand that, for books identifying that as their primary genre, they may be little light on the explicit sex), but however “soft” & “rubbery” the science, they are also, by most any reasonable definition (IOW, not yours) _also_ “Science Fiction”.

      • Profile photo of HCR
        September 4, 2013, 6:46 pm   /
  27. Profile photo of Steve Davidson
    September 4, 2013, 5:10 pm   /

    The thread of commentary here is in danger of being shut down. Our rule here at Amazing Stories is – address the subject of the post, NOT the author of the post.

    I certainly understand that some (perhaps most) readers will have a response to Paul’s assertions that are diametrically opposed to his contentions. If so, there are three proper ways to respond:

    1. write your own post refuting his arguments. Publish it on your site or send it along to Amazing as a guest post.
    2. ignore it except for discussion within your personal in-group which will serve to reinforce your own viewpoint without challenging it in any way
    3. address the points in a logical, adult fashion in the comments.

    I won’t begrudge Paul the right to respond in kind when he is attacked personally.

    If, instead of discussing Mr. Cook’s clothing, his knowledge of the field, his likely personal motivations of anything other than the subject of the post, YOU are responsible for dragging the discussion down into meaningless, pointless, emotional twaddle, not Paul.

    • Profile photo of Zeroth
      September 4, 2013, 5:16 pm   /

      The author of this piece has not read the novels he is criticizing. This reflects poorly on your organization and website. I have offered several points showing this, and have found contradictions in what he is saying.

      He is required at this point to either concede he has not read the novels, thus making his criticisms shallow and uninformed, or prove he has read them by providing substantive detail from across the series.

      • Profile photo of HCR
        September 4, 2013, 6:33 pm   /

        I’m with Zeroth, Mr Cook has panned Bujold’s Vorkosigan saga, but didn’t even bother to do such basic fact checking as popping onto wikipedia or the ISFDB to ascertain which books were “novels” & which were collections thereof.

        As for attacking Mr Cook, well I tried to attack his argument (at least initially), but since the validity of his article rests upon the validity of his presentation as an “expert” or “authority”, & I find it difficult to separate them, especially since he proceeded to throw himself in front of all the attacks on his “work”.

  28. Profile photo of HCR
    September 4, 2013, 4:59 pm   /

    Sorry, only thought of this after hitting “Post” on my last reply.

    Are you (Paul) really ascribing the fact that we don’t agree with you, or hold your views to bear any relationship to reality, to “The Greater Internet F*ckwad Theory” (ok, you didn’t say that, but it is a useful shorthand for what appears to be your basis for dismissing our criticisms).

  29. Profile photo of Zeroth
    September 4, 2013, 3:27 pm   /

    Clearly, you haven’t actually read the books in question. Having read all of Bujold’s books, multiple times, you’re being very mistaken.

    First of all, you’re getting basic details wrong: “True, these intrigues and flourishes do happen in the real world (or they used to), but Bujold, over time with novels such as Miles in Love and Cordelia’s Honor, you can see that Bujold is a closet romance writer” Cordelia’s Honor is the first novel of the Vorkosigan Saga. So how is it “over time”?

    “Bujold tips her hand in the eloquence of her language (normally a good thing) and the attention to detail that only women would find attractive: balls, courts, military dress, palace intrigues, gossiping, and whispering in the corridors. All of this is right out of Alexander Dumas.” Wait. How is it details only women could like, when ALEXANDER DUMAS did it? A lot? And well? How is it that an author with multiple books on Classical Must-Read lists is somehow… I don’t even know. You’re so self-contradictory, its ridiculous.

    Was Dumas a woman or something? I don’t get this.

    But what am I to expect when someone approaches this topic from the standpoint of bigotry and misogyny you seem to be evincing here. It always results in contradictory and nonsensical statements.

    Go read the books. Read them a second time. Then come back and prove you read them by offering an essay on how Miles Vorkosigan’s disability intersects with his class privilege, and how it affects his outlook, how people respond to him, and his motivations. Discuss how his interpersonal growth affects his perception of his disability, and how he relates to others for bonus points.

    But you couldn’t, could you. That would require you to actually read a woman’s work. *sneer*

    • Profile photo of Paul Cook
      September 4, 2013, 4:46 pm   /

      So, just because I criticize a woman’s writing I’m a misogynist?

      Explain to me how I’ve insulted the personhood of Lois McMaster Bujold? Unless, of course, you think Ms. Bujold _is_ her novels, which I find a fascinating science fiction conceit of her own. Also, what you perceive as an insult, was a merely an informed comment based on a critical assessment of the works of hers that I’ve read. (The same for Orson Scott Card, Gene Wolfe, and any other writers with whom I have quibbles regarding their fiction. I would never, ever insult their selves, their families, their religions, or their gender.)

      I do understand the strategy, though. By accusing me of being a misogynist, you shut down all possibility of an informed analysis of any woman’s work. That’s a refuge I’ve seen critics in literature take for over 30 years, at least since the mid-1980s. It doesn’t work that way. Any work of art can be criticized, regardless of the gender of who wrote them, painted them, composed them, etc.

      Unless you can make a case otherwise.

  30. Profile photo of HCR
    September 4, 2013, 3:22 pm   /

    Unlike “Debra NM” I have not bothered to read any of your other columns, nor will I ever again willingly & knowingly read anything penned by you.

    The reason for this is because your entire article is hooey, not only does it display an overweening arrogance, but severe intellectual dishonesty.

    You have the gall to attack these works & their authors for not being (or writing) “Science Fiction”, & then attempt to show they aren’t SF by identifying their faults as things which *have no bearing* on their status as “Science Fiction”, “Science”, or even “Fiction” (except for a couple of throwaways regarding Wolfe & Heinlein).

    You choose to claim these stories & series aren’t SF because they have plots & themes that, apparently, don’t appeal _to YOUR tastes_.

    You don’t address their merits as SF, or even (really) as stories, you even ignore Clarke’s Law when you claim that fantastical elements (where those are present) disqualify a work from the genre.

    Then, on top of that, you actually have the gall to present “but I’d call them science fiction-lite because there really isn’t much tension in these stories” in your description of the Liaden Universe works by Lee & Miller, which is very strange, because “Tension” isn’t an element that qualifies or disqualifies a story from the SF genre (or any other that I am aware of).

    As for your repeated, unsubtle digs at “Romance”, umm… Actually, yeah, you lost me there, where, if I may ask, did you learn a definition of “Science Fiction” that stated, or even implied, that allowing a story to have influences from other genres precluded it being identified as “Science Fiction”? & while I’m asking, maybe you could point me at commercially published work of SF (even if it’s by you) that doesn’t have any elements but those of “Science Fiction” in it?

    And before you respond “But I didn’t say that”, no, not in so many words, but you implied it sufficiently strongly & unsubtly that I think an attempt to disown it would be disingenious.

    • Profile photo of Paul Cook
      September 4, 2013, 4:26 pm   /

      I understand where you’re coming from. Anyone who posts any opinion on the internet is blatantly and flagrantly wrong. But I’m correct here. The books I mention as romances are romances. They are also very “light” in gravitas and absolutely devoid of metaphor. The Wolfe especially is pure fantasy. (And that it’s a classic baffles me, but what do I know. I only have a Ph.D. and have been teaching literature for over 35 years.) And of course you hate my guts. I expressed an opinion. That’s a capital crime, isn’t it. We mustn’t offend anyone these days. Remember the Japanese aphorism: The nail that sticks up gets pounded down. Thanks for the pounding.

      • Profile photo of Zeroth
        September 4, 2013, 4:35 pm   /

        “light in gravitas”… Really? Barrayar is “light in gravitas”?

        Please, prove you read the books. Give us a basic timeline, and explain why certain events near the end are “light in gravitas”. I sincerely look forward to your explanation.

        • Profile photo of Paul Cook
          September 4, 2013, 4:50 pm   /

          No, you don’t “sincerely” look forward to my explanation. And, no, I don’t have to give you a timeline of the Barrayar books, or when I read them and how they operate critically. They’re light science fiction entertainment. Bujold is very good at what she does, but she’s operating well within a military sf tradition where nothing is lost in the end (except minor throwaway characters) and all is well. This is why we have no Hemingways or a William Faulkner or even a war novel such as All Is Quiet on the Western Front. I think The Forever War put an end to the military sf novel. The rest are just vicarious thrills. But, hey, you’re the expert.

          But, no. I do not have to explain myself to you or anyone.

          • Profile photo of Zeroth
            September 4, 2013, 4:56 pm   /

            “Barrayar” is the name of one of the novels, either the second or third depending on how you count things. Typically, its just part 3 of the “Shards of Honor” Omnibus novel.

            You have not read the novels you are criticizing. This is the point. Your every sentence reveals your lack of knowledge about them.

            You have not read the novels. Its pretty damn clear, so why the hell are you criticizing them as if you had *had*?

      • Profile photo of HCR
        September 4, 2013, 4:55 pm   /

        Wait, you’re claiming that the fact you Piled it Higher and Deeper (presumably in the “Literature” you purport to teach) *enhances* the validity of your opinions???

        Let me guess, you also believe SF peaked with the “New Wave”?

        • Profile photo of Paul Cook
          September 4, 2013, 5:08 pm   /

          Actually, I’m going to treat your question seriously. Forgive me. I’m not too sure when SF peaked. Seriously. I began reading sf deeply and seriously in the late 1960s and noticed then how many of the stories were filled with metaphor and could be taken both realistically and metaphorically. Philip K. Dick’s Clans of the Alphane Moons works great as sf but it’s also about Modern Man’s vast alienation in the modern world. Even stories from the Martian Chronicles reflect Cold War angst even though they take place on Mars. The last great sf story that, to me, resonated with metaphor was Terry Bisson’s “macs” which was about American’s natural desire to kill someone who’s harmed us. My blog entry that’s upset you and everyone else is about this shift that I see in science fiction. But the New Wave had its pluses and minuses as well. It’s good to stretch one’s wings–when publishers allow. This happened between 1903 and about 1930 when Arnold Schoenberg created the Second Viennese School of 12 tone composing or Serialism. He wanted to remove from music the standard expectations of theme, counter-theme, and resolution centered around C major compositions. It was a style that every fiddled with but really didn’t catch on. What did catch on was a sparkling use of atonality that can be found in all the great composers of the 20th and 21st century (including Prokofieff and Shostakovich, my two favorites). Right now, all science fiction is rather dull to me. No one is stretching their wings. I do think our best writing is coming from Kij Johnson, Mercurio D. Rivera, and one or two others. But as you can see, these are just opinions. And for voicing them, I’m to be condemned.

          • Profile photo of Zeroth
            September 4, 2013, 5:10 pm   /

            And how does this actually answer HCR’s question?

            In terms of being on-topic, I give this a 1 out of 5. In terms of content, a 2 out of 5, for failing to make a coherent and tied together point.

  31. Profile photo of Debra NM
    September 4, 2013, 2:23 pm   /

    To be fair, I made myself read about 5 of your articles. I then took an antacid, went outside to clear the stench and then returned. You write like some old man running around with his fly down to get attention because nothing else you go will get any. It is sad, and yet I felt the need to give you at least a head’s up. Look up misogyny. Instead of writing to define science fiction for others and declaring things with relationships of the romantic kind as NOT science fiction, spend time defining both your need to narrow the field into what you think you can write, and how much misogyny impacts said ability.
    With that.. as long as you are prominent on this site, I not only won’t be, but will twitter, facebook (yeah I read your nonsensical drivel blaming lack of manners on Facebook– reality check, talk to professors from 40 yrs ago, the experiences were the same) and I am even going to PIN you in your own special “Not worth reading” folder on Pinterest. Get over yourself.

    • Profile photo of Paul Cook
      September 4, 2013, 4:28 pm   /

      See my comment above. I know I’ve offended you, only because I have had an opinion. Of course I don’t read the same way you do and I believe everything I’ve written and have made a case for everything I’ve written. And, I’m really scared of what you can do to me on the internet. Go for it.

  32. Profile photo of DeAnn Rossetti
    September 4, 2013, 2:13 pm   /

    I disagree, Mr Cook, with your entire assessment. I’ve been reading science fiction and fantasy since 1967 (and reading fantasy 3 years before that) when I was a child. I grew up reading Heinlein (whose work became nauseatingly sexist and misogynistic by my teen years) Arthur C Clark, Azimov, Zelazny, McCaffrey, Sturgeon, Cherryh, Herbert and many others. I was then, and have remained, a voracious reader who took science fiction classes in both high school and college. I have an MA in Writing and 27 years of experience as a journalist, (and I’ve written professional book reviews for 10 years) so I am not unfamiliar with reviewing books and placing them in a specific genre. Sharon Lee and Steve Miller and Lois McMaster Bujold do write science fiction, but the fact that they have secondary storylines with human relations interwoven between the speculative science does NOT disqualify them from the ranks of science fiction authors. Where there are humans, or even aliens like Liadens, there is bound to be some sort of relationships going on, because that is what most species do–they intermingle, they discuss, they learn about one another, and they become involved in the lives of others. That’s inevitable. It’s also in nearly every single science fiction book I’ve ever read, and I’ve read hundreds of them. Heinlein had many relationships in his books, in fact, in some of his books there was more ‘relating’ than there was science (“Friday” for example, or even “Stranger in a Strange Land”). Theodore Sturgeon had serious romance in To Marry Medusa and Venus Plus X and Godbody. If you want to talk “new” science fiction writers, John Scalzi, whom I’ve interviewed and reviewed his works professionally, has romance aplenty in his “Old Man’s War” series, which is about as science fiction as you can get, complete with strange, new worlds, rockets, people’s conscience put into bodies that use photosynthesis to live and have computers implanted in their brains, etc. One of humanities basic drives is to procreate, to make a new generation to populate the planet. That’s the same on pretty much every planet and with every species I’ve encountered in science fiction. Alien races may go about it differently, but they still interact with one another and still do make more of themselves somehow. Sharon Lee and Steve Millers Liadens are certainly science fiction characters, as they fly spaceships, they encounter aliens, they have a tree with unique psychic abilities and they do battle with various bad aliens throughout their series. PLUS, they discuss the intricacies of the mathematics that are required for pilots and they have an origin story with nearly omnipotent alien beings who bring the universe into being. That’s right out of Heinlein’s playbook, if not Clark and Azimov. There are also robots, psychic animals called Norbears and a host of other science fiction creations in their work, including a ship with artificial intelligence. I’ve read ALL of Lee and Millers works, and I can state without hesitation that they are science fiction, as are Lois McMaster Bujold’s ground-breaking works.

    • Profile photo of Paul Cook
      September 4, 2013, 4:33 pm   /

      DeAnn, please, please explain to me what “ground” Lois Bujold has broken with her writing. She’s writing in the 1940s Astounding tradition of space adventures tinted with romance. That’s it. If you want ground breaking, read John Brunner’s Stand on Zanzibar or his The Long Result or his Shockwave Rider. Don’t bore me with telling me these mediocre writers are ground-breaking. They’re just writing pulp fiction–pure entertainment. Lift away all the standard tropes and conceits from Bujold’s writing and you have stories where we know the hero gets his heroine and all will be well. Our writers have lost the courage to tell a story such as Thomas Disch’s Genocides or any one of Philip K. Dick’s novels. But, then, publishers publish what they think sells. Thus, romance, thus zombies. But that’s my opinion. And the fact that I have a divergent opinion makes me the most hated person on the internet.

  33. Profile photo of Otto66
    September 4, 2013, 11:44 am   /

    Thank you, Mr. Cook, for calling ’em as ya see ’em. As far as any offended parties, I hope some will post. Be interesting to see who disagrees with what you’ve written and how they defend the any of the series you’ve mentioned.
    Looking forward to another go round of this sort.

Comments are now closed on this post.


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Egyptian interest rates forecast to be put on hold
21/04/2014 9:26 am EDT

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Analysts have said the Egyptian central bank is expected to keep interest rates on hold next Thursday, as it balances the need to fight inflation while supporting the currency and stimulating an economy battered by more than three years of upheaval, Reuters has reported. Annual urban consumer inflation remains high despite slowing for three consecutive months before holding steady at 9.8% in March, but it may still be too early for the central bank to cut rates to spur on economic activity. Moustafa Bassiouny, an economist at Signet Institute, said the central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee was likely to wait until next month before cutting rates. “I expect the MPC to keep rates on hold until the following meeting because of the continuing inflationary pressures and the sluggish economic performance so far this year,” he said.

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Friday, April 20, 2012

Check Out Our New DIY Guide to Framing FunDaMentals!

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DIY Framing FunDaMentals illustrates how people can not only frame art, they can influence it.  Custom framing isn’t just about the right size frame. It’s also about interacting with the image.  Cropping the image with the use of a mat, or influencing the viewer’s impression by choosing bold or neutral framing treatments are just two of the opportunities of custom framing.   Everything is up for grabs, and for art lovers who thrive on individuality, that’s definitely good news.

Monday, April 2, 2012

Featured Artist Kristen Margiotta

Fine artist and book illustrator Kristen Margiotta pursues a unique style and her own original characters, which makes her work immediately distinctive and personal.  Working largely in black and white oil paints with dark accent colors such as red, Margiotta created the recurring character of Cherry based on herself and evocative of the cartoonist’s aesthetic, with large eyes and simplified features, as an art student in 2005.

Based in Delaware, Margiotta has illustrated a children's book, Better Haunted Homes and Gardens, and is currently illustrating a series of chapter books for Grosett & Dunlap / Penguin Young Readers, who sought her out after seeing her unique style.  “ My style stays the same in my fine art pieces and books that I illustrate. My style will not change on each project.  It’s the reason publishers contact me.”

This December Margiotta will be showing her work at New York City’s AFA Gallery (formerly known as Animazing Gallery) in Soho.  This premier gallery for cartoonists, fine art illustration, American illustration and animation has featured the work of Maurice Sendak (Where the Wild Things Are), Dr. Seuess, Tim Burton and Peanuts illustrator Charles M. Schultz.

In addition to her original paintings, Margiotta produces designer merchandise, such as buttons, purses and postcards.  Many customers also take her work home in the form of digital and archival prints, such as those customers can order through American Frame.

Margiotta likes to frame her work big and bold, with ornate mouldings.  Sometimes she finds a wonderful frame first and paints a work to fit.  “I started by buying frames at craft stores, but then found American Frame, where I can get far better quality and selection, customized for whatever size the original happens to be.”

The featured piece, “Cherry and the Conjoined Twins” is classic Margiotta—character, color and mood synthesized into her unique style.  The original was done when Margiotta was invited to show at Gallery 309 in Philadelphia, her first gallery exhibit in the city.  She conceived the piece as homage to another Philadelphia treasure, The Mütter Museum, a collection of scientific and medical history exhibits run by The College of Physicians of Philadelphia.  One of its most famous exhibits is that of conjoined twins, on which Margiotta’s painting is modeled.  Another well-known exhibit in Mütter features cross-section slides of Albert Einstein’s brain.

We’ve framed “Cherry and the Conjoined Twins” in a simple frame that still manages to be bold thanks to the mats, a necessity when framing something as strongly colored and proportioned as Margiotta’s work.  The frame is from our EcoCare collection, an environmentally friendly collection of solid-wood frames made from sustainably harvested wood and finished with water-based products and gesso to ensure it is 100% recyclable.  The bottom mat is a grayish-white that works well with the color of the conjoined skeleton.  The middle mat plays off the red curtains, a shock of color that keeps the image and its treatment from becoming too dark.  The top mat is a deep gray, introducing the unexpected “third color” that lends vibrancy.

 Cherry and the Conjoined Twins (20” x 20 1/8”) - $20.00
 Frame from EcoCare collection in Black 95504 (27 ¾” x 28 5/8”) - $43.42
 Bottom Mat in Concrete CS9594 (27 ¾” x 28 5/8”) - $15.55
 Middle Mat in Code Red CS9610 (27 ¾” x 28 5/8”) - $15.55
 Top Mat in Before Dark CS9598 (27 ¾” x 28 5/8”) -  $15.55
 Paper-Premium Gloss 250 DPPG250 (20” x 20 1/8”) - $24.80
 UV Acrylic AAUV (27 ¾” x 28 5/8”) - $50.58
 Mounting Board-Artcare Restore MTBAR (27 ¾” x 28 5/8”) - $14.98
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TOTAL $208. 63
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Support American RadioWorks with your purchases
  • News/Talk
  • Music
  • Entertainment
Song Catcher: Life Story
The Sioux and the Ojibwe

A summary of Densmore's field work.

Agency Office

An essay by Densmore on Indian music, 1915.

Densmore and Indian Beadwork SI

DENSMORE DID HER BEST WORK - in both depth of research and interpretation--working among the Sioux in the Dakotas and the Ojibwe in Minnesota. The BAE supplied money and encouragement. As she approached the age of 50, Densmore undertook her most rigorousfield expeditions.

Densmore spent most of her summers in the field . In the early days, travel to remote reservations was often complicated. She traveled by train, automobile, wagon and canoe. Densmore's bulky equipment consisted of a phonograph, typewriter, camera gear and necessary supplies. On many reservations, Densmore lodged at the home of the local Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) agent-a white man. Sometimes she stayed with the head of the local Indian boarding school. Occasionally, she stayed with Christianized Indian friends. In rare circumstances she camped in a tent. But, unlike her mentor Alice Fletcher, Densmore cared little for the rustic charms of "roughing it."

Ever the Victorian scientist, Densmore sought out singers with solid reputations among the local whites and Indians. She flatly rejected the growing trend among American anthropologists to mingle widely with their subjects.

I do not [obtain material] by pretending to be one of them and eating out of the same dishes. I have seen people who use this technique and did not find out very much. There is no use trying to be a social climber among Indians. If you begin at the bottom you will probably stay there. I start out at the top and make friends with the professional men-the chiefs, doctors and tribal leaders. I stay at the Indian agency and have some sort of office to which the Indians come.11

Densmore usually paid her performers 25 cents per song. Her interpreter was typically a local tribe member of good reputation and education. In addition to the recorded cylinders, Densmore made photographic portraits and collected tribal clothing, musical instruments and other artifacts.

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10
Song Catcher


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Plan B Side Effect on Younger and Younger Girls

This riveting TV advertisement (see it also at Vimeo), produced and directed by ARTL's founding vice president Steve Curtis, demonstrates one of the great dangers of Plan B in that it even further destroys the boundary of protection that naturally surrounds women and young girls. Of course the greatest danger of the "Morning After Pill" is that it is designed to kill a child, whether son or daughter.


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arizona Legislative Alerts

Stop the EPA’s attack on affordable energy!

August 31, 2015

AZ events to protest EPA-imposed electrical rate hikes (Fill out THIS FORM if you believe WE should control our energy bills, not unelected federal bureaucrats!) To all Arizona electrical consumers: Under President Obama, the EPA has launched an unprecedented effort to hike our utility bills and control how we power our homes and businesses. EPA’s […]

Phoenix Prop 104 — THANKS to our volunteers!

August 28, 2015

Dear Phoenix Taxpayers– On behalf of all of the staff at the Arizona chapter of Americans for Prosperity, I want to thank all of the volunteers who worked hard to defend Phoenix taxpayers and to try to defeat Prop 104, and all of the Phoenix taxpayers who voted No on Prop 104. It is very […]

View more Legislative Alerts

arizona Newsroom

AUG 14 — Flagstaff Field Office Grand Opening

August 11, 2015

Come join our team for the grand opening of AFP-Arizona’s Flagstaff Field Office.  Great food, great people, and great views of the San Francisco Peaks out our back window.  We’re right off of Heritage Square downtown.  Parking off of San Francisco Street, just north of Aspen, underneath our building.  We’ll validate. Date:  August 14th, 2015 […]

August 05, 2015

President Obama announced his Clean Power Plan rules; Americans for Prosperity Arizona is Urging State Officials to Not Submit an Implementation Plan PHOENIX, Ariz. — This week the Obama administration released its “Clean Power Plan” regulations after a two-year delay and Americans for Prosperity Arizona is calling on state officials to not respond with an […]

July 31, 2015 — Milton Friedman Day Events in Tucson and Phoenix

July 13, 2015

Dear Arizona Taxpayer– On Friday, July 31, the Arizona chapter of Americans for Prosperity Foundation will celebrate the birthday of the late Nobel laureate economist and free-market advocate Dr. Milton Friedman with two free* speaker events in Tucson and Phoenix.  (*Milton would have called them “unpriced” events, since there’s no such thing as a free lunch…)  Scroll […]

AZ Free Enterprise Club: ACA not so “affordable” after all

July 09, 2015

Here is the July 9 E-Alert from our friends at AZ Free Enterprise Club: ————————- Watching Greece teeter on the verge on economic collapse may feel like they are staring into the future.  After all, the debt crisis was precipitated by the left wing Greek government promising its citizens outlandish benefits without cost or consequences.  […]

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The Wichita AFP Chapter Meets Tonight!

January 20, 2014

You are invited to join the Wichita area chapter of Americans for Prosperity for our monthly meeting tonight. Join us at 7 p.m. at Spangles Restaurant (612 S. Broadway) for a continuation of our discussion of the book “We Still Hold These Truths,” by Matthew Spalding of The Heritage Foundation.

Michael Pochek will be presenting a continuation of “Rediscovering Our Principles, Reclaiming Our Future.”

Suggested reading prior to the meeting is Chapter 9 of the book. Click here for book details. A study guide for this chapter is also available online.

The presentation will be followed by a group discussion.The only cost to attend the meeting is the price of your food and beverage.

Like this post? Chip in $5 to AFP


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Fall Courses

About Us

The Department of American Studies at The George Washington University is one of the nation's most rigorous and intellectually innovative departments devoted to the interdisciplinary study of American culture and society. Internationally recognized for its research, our faculty is also committed to fostering a dynamic learning environment where undergraduate and graduate students work together with faculty to better understand the culture, politics and history of the United States and its role in the world.

Read More

Honoring the Work of Dr. Jim Miller

James A. Miller

On September 11th, the American studies department, along with the English department and the program in Africana studies, will honor the work of James A. Miller with readings, a panel discussion about his work, and a jazz reception.

Read the full schedule

The life of Dr. Miller will be celebrated on August 29th in Washington, DC.

Read more about Dr. Miller's memorial service

Share your memories of Jim

Megan Black accepts a postdoctoral fellowship in Global American Studies at Harvard University

We would like to congratulate Megan Black, one of the American Studies PhD students, on her acceptance to a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in Global American Studies at Harvard University.

Craig Allen

One of our TAs here in the American Studies Department, Craig Allen, recently won the Philip Amsterdam Graduate Teaching Assistant Award.

Jacqueline Drayer

We would like to congratulate our BA/MA student, Jacqueline Drayer, on being awarded the Fulbright Study Research Grant!

Ashley Brown

Ashley Brown, a doctoral candidate here at the American Studies Department, recently won the Graduate Student Essay Award from the North American Society for Sport History.

New Alumni Publications

Forever Vietnam

David Kieran, Forever Vietnam: How a Divisive War Changed American Public Memory

Chronic Youth

Julie Elman, Chronic Youth: Disability, Sexuality, and U.S. Media Cultures of Rehabilitation


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The Talent

May 27, 2008 4:40 PM

Defending Mel Weiss

Posted by Ben Hallman

Mother Teresa, move aside. Melvyn Weiss, a plaintiffs lawyer who made millions of dollars by suing corporate America--and who recently pleaded guilty to a racketeering conspiracy for paying kickbacks to clients in many of those cases--deserves recognition as "one of the greatest humanitarians of our time," according to a sentencing memo his lawyer filed Friday.

The table of contents sets the tone for the memo, which is effusive in its praise of Weiss. "The scope of the charity and generosity of Melvyn Weiss is breathtaking," reads the header to one section. Weiss has a "compulsion" to make the world a better place, reads another. He is also "spontaneously kind," the memo says.

On March 17, Weiss signed a plea deal calling for a sentence of 18-33 months, admitting that he "engaged in a pattern of racketeering activity" for at least 26 years. In a subsequent memo to the court, prosecutors asked California district court judge John Walter to sentence Weiss to the full 33 months. The Weiss memo, filed by attorney Benjamin Brafman, pleads for leniency. "The shame Mr. Weiss has suffered and will continue to suffer is overwhelming," it says. "To be candid, it is difficult to imagine a greater punishment than the punishment that has already been imposed by the public he now deals with the prospect of incarceration and the indignity of disbarment."

Attached to the memo are letters from 240 legal luminaries, family members, and even a parking attendant attesting to Weiss's good works.

David Boies, name partner at Boies, Schiller & Flexner, asks for a period of home confinement or community service rather than jail time to be included as part of any sentence. Despite his crimes, Boies writes, Weiss is "the real deal," a man of "extraordinary warmth, integrity, and accomplishment."

Retired Kirkland & Ellis partner Donald Kempf says he was not recruited to write a letter on behalf of Weiss, but that he volunteered. He describes Weiss as a "tireless and effective advocate for his clients," and relates a personal anecdote about Weiss's goodwill. "I was walking down the street in New York City one Saturday afternoon, and ran into Mel and his wife," Kempf writes. "When I explained I was looking for a certain watch, Mel said he knew a dealer in that particular watch and could help me find it--perhaps at a discount. And he did. It was a small thing, but it reflects his genuine interest in others."

Daniel Benoit, manager of the One Penn Plaza parking garage where Weiss parked his car for eight years, recalls complementing Weiss on a suit he was wearing, and then receiving one as a gift from Weiss soon after.

Eric Zagrans, an attorney at the Zagrans law firm in Elyria, Ohio, met Weiss 20 years ago when he was a professor at Case Western Reserve University Law School. Zagrans describes Weiss as a "pillar of the community and a giant of the class action bar," and enlists Shakespeare and "The Merchant of Venice"
on behalf of his old friend.

The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.

While an eloquent defense of mercy, Weiss's detractors might point to another line in the play as most appropriate to the situation: "All that glitters is not gold."

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I have known Mel Weiss for more than 30 years. He is truly a generrous and caring human being. Like all humans he has flaws. This is truly a tragedy and none should take any pleasure or joy in learning that he, like all of us, has some frailties. To the extent that one can be said to have "earned" a measure of mercy, he would be near the top of that list.

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[amsat-bb] Industry Covets Amateur Radio THz Allocations

Trevor m5aka at yahoo.co.uk
Mon Oct 29 00:29:25 PST 2007

An EE Times article reports that industry interests are casting covetous eyes
on the Amateur Radio Terra Hertz (THz) allocations.

The article "Ultrawideband under the gun" in EE Times says on page 2:
A presentation from AT&T Labs called on the group to raise its voice against
spectrum allocation plans in Europe that could shut Wi-Fi out of the 275 GHz to
1 THz bands.

"The best terahertz spectrum is being carved up among science, satellite and
amateur radio interests. The give-away of this precious spectrum is unexpected,
capricious and irreconcilable with the evolution of future broadband wireless
networks," David Britz of AT&T said in his presentation.

David Britz Powerpoint slides which make numerous references to Amateur Radio's
use of Terahertz frequencies can be downloaded from

Report with further links at

73 Trevor M5AKA
Daily Amateur Radio RSS News: http://www.southgatearc.org/
Email your news items to: editor at southgatearc.org

News On Your Website: http://www.southgatearc.org/rss/index.htm
News On Your PC: http://www.southgatearc.org/rss/newsreader.htm
Upload Your News: http://www.southgatearc.org/news/your_news.htm

Want ideas for reducing your carbon footprint? Visit Yahoo! For Good  http://uk.promotions.yahoo.com/forgood/environment.html

More information about the AMSAT-BB mailing list


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» Class of 2017 Freshman Spotlights

Tian Tian Metzgar
Tian Tian Metzgar
Undecided, but exploring business, law and environmental policy
Lake Forest Park, Washington
Tian Tian wants to make a difference in the world, and with Chapman's internship opportunities, academic reputation, and study abroad opportunities, she felt that it would be an excellent place to further her education.

Jamie  Moseley
Jamie Moseley
Issaquah, Washington
As a future orthopedic surgeon, location and academic rigor bring Jamie to Chapman to share her lifelong love of soccer, skiing and cars.

Lauren Nowicki
Lauren Nowicki
TV & Broadcast Journalism
La Mirada, California
Lauren chose Chapman because it seemed like a very friendly and involved school and she knew that Dodge College is the right place for her to pursue her goal of becoming a news reporter for ABC7.

Carolyn Oliver
Carolyn Oliver
Dance with a double major in physics/computational science
Broomfield, Colorado
Carolyn loves the fact that Chapman has the feel of a classic big school without the complete anonymity of just being a number in a classroom.

Lilly  Pandis
Lilly Pandis
Health Sciences
Tamarindo, Costa Rica
Born in Germany and raised in Costa Rica, Lilly speaks three languages. Lilly's advice to prospective students is to take the opportunities that life throws at you and face them with a positive attitude.

Laura Roosevelt
Laura Roosevelt
Englewood, Colorado
Laura is a friendly leader who looks forward to college giving her the ability to growing into a confident young woman who can take on any job with ease.


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The Real Reason Our Faces Age

  1. Post The Real Reason Our Faces Age

    The Real Reason Our Faces Age

    Why do we get wrinkles, jowls and that droopy appearance as we age? You can blame it on one surprising factor: Your bones.

    It's more than gravity. According to research by Dr. David Kahn, a plastic surgeon in Palo Alto, Calif., we get droopy as we age because our facial bones shrink. The bones in the face actually lose volume and recede a little bit as we get older, all of which plays a surprisingly important role in the appearance of wrinkles and jowls, report Reuters and HealthDay News.

    "When we think of aging of the face, we typically just think that the soft tissue--the skin and the fat--deteriorates and becomes looser or bigger, and we typically just lift everything back up and take out some skin to tighten it back up," Kahn explained to Reuters. "We don't usually think of the shrinking of the bones or manage this in terms of aging. I think we need to look at a way to combine a traditional facelift with something that adds volume to the face, like with fat injections."

    The study: To look for age-related changes in the bony elements of the face, three-dimensional CAT scans were taken of the faces of 30 men and 30 women in this study. They were equally divided into three age groups: 25 to 44 years old; 45 to 64 years old; and older than 65 years. All were white and none had broken bones or other medical problems that could affect the results.

    The results: By comparing the CAT scans of the younger and older participants, Kahn determined there were statistically significant changes in the angles of the bones of the facial skeleton, especially in the mid-face area and the lower part of the orbits around the nose.

    The facial bones dissolve, shrink and leave empty spaces as we age, creating a loss of volume. Meanwhile, our skin loses elasticity, and it can't tighten around those empty spaces. What's left? Drooping and wrinkles. Women lose facial bone volume at a younger age than men do, causing them to see the signs of aging earlier.

    The takeaway: "As we age, not only do we lose fat in our faces, but also our bones actually change in contour, often making us look older than we feel," Kahn told HealthDay News. It's more than gravity that creates wrinkles and older looking skin. In addition, loss of volume in the face and very real changes in the facial bone structure cause us to look older. Kahn speculates that future facial rejuvenation techniques will include fillers to add back volume caused by shrinking bone, as well as the traditional lifting of the skin.

    The findings were presented at a conference of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons in Chicago.

  2. DAMN we gotta get some of that good old fashioned GH that was made from cadavers so it can make our skulls grow. Hey do you think maybe that is what **** Clark takes

    Sleep Supplement 3Z BCAA: Red Raspberry and Lemon flavors
    HGH/sleep enhancer: HGHpro
    Test Booster: TestoPRO and STOKED!
    Preworkout: MANIAC Fruit Punch and Pink Lemonade

  3. Good thing my bones are laced with titanium.

  4. Quote Originally Posted by CROWLER
    DAMN we gotta get some of that good old fashioned GH that was made from cadavers so it can make our skulls grow. Hey do you think maybe that is what **** Clark takes

    Or maybe spend some time in those centrifuge machines astronauts use?

  5. It makes me wonder how we will be doing considering I plan to do as little tissue wasting as possible throughout my life. Any facial excercises I can do while on??HEHE
    My The 1 LOG:

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PH stack suggestions

  1. PH stack suggestions

    Hey all-

    Current Stats:
    10-12% BF
    22 years old

    I've come a long way in the past year... I had always lifted in the past, but I slowly slipped into a fat lazy state while in college lol. I came home from school last Summer overweight at 215lbs. Since then I have gone to the gym 5 days a week, lifting heavy weights at low reps (max ot style training), while installing cardio at least 3 days a week with a solid, clean, diet. Since I've started my dedicated gymrat lifestyle I've cut down to a lean 164lbs, then bulked up to 188lbs, over the Winter, and now this Summer have cut back down to 178lbs (leaner than before). While bulking I successfully completed a 4 week cycle of Epistane (20/30/40/40) with correct support supps and PCT. I had great results (gained 12 lbs).

    Now that I have that valuable first cycle experience under my belt I'm looking to start another cycle or two between now and Winter. I'm interested in stepping it up a small notch and try stacking 2 PHs. I've seen a couple suggestions such as epi/havoc with bold, or hdrol and epi. I'm just looking for something to take it to the next level. Any shared experiences or suggestions would be great. I'm not opposed to wet gaining cycles, but in the end I'd like to stay relatively dry and lean (I know it's a give and take marathon process lol). I'm continuing my research everyday, so anything you give me I'll be sure to read up on. Sorry for the book. But I like to be thorough and do things the correct/safe way. Thanks again!

  2. I've heard that a stack of Cyclo Bolan by Infinite Labs with Propadrol can be quite good. The Propadrol is metabolised rapidly so gives quick gains while the Cyclo Bolan gives a more sustained release. Both are relatively dry as far as I'm aware, but I'm still researching.

    Haven't stacked these yet myself, currently on Cyclo Bolan, only 1 week in but seems good so far.

    I'm sure this probably isn't the best stack but maybe one to try for a 1st time? I've set up a thread myself asking what the best PH is so I'll keep an eye on this thread with interest.

  3. I would say wait till after u have a few more cycles to stack. Plus this way u can find out which compounds work best for U.

  4. tattoopierced1
    tattoopierced1's Avatar

    checkout some AMS products:

    various stacks are laid out here:

  5. I'd run hdrol solo, then stack them later. You'll get good gains from solo runs as well.

  6. i'd probably run hdrol by itself during my cut before next summer since it's great for that.. if i run something solo it'd probably be a 5-6 week cycle of havoc, just to see my personal differences between that and epi, or SD. i'm still interested in some basic stacks. i understand why i should know what each compound does to my body first before stacking, but i'd like some possibilities for the future. thanks guys.

  7. Because u could react great to a stack and not know if it was compound A or B. Then there is worst case scenario something bad happens which deters u from using either compound again and it was only 1 of them.

  8. Quote Originally Posted by jbebsportz2 View Post
    i understand why i should know what each compound does to my body first before stacking
    I know, that's why i said this lol

  9. Quote Originally Posted by jbebsportz2 View Post
    I know, that's why i said this lol
    Lol I know I just felt like beating a dead horse.

  10. like stated above. if you start using ph's individualy you can find out what works well for you and than later on you can stack those products that worked for you individually and get some wicked results off of them. my first ph ever was phera. and i gained 13 lbs off of it. its about a year later and im about to run it again and i know i respond very well to it due to running it solo in the past. im now going to be stacking it and im stoked cause i know it works for me!

  11. fair enough! i want to give havoc, hdrol, and SD all a try. ill expect about the same results i got with the epi while on havoc. but who knows. i'd love a pleasant surprise. travis, did you have any sides while on phera, like cramping? i know everyone is different, just curious. i only ever experienced some back pumps while on epi.

  12. If you want something a little harder run a 3 or 4 weeker of SD solo. should kick you harder then Epi (both in the ass and in the nuts). This is what I plan on doing once I have a little more experience.

  13. i respond very well to phera and had absolutly no sides besides some acne and oily skin. besides that it was all gains. it did make me bloat a very little bit but i dont consider that a side. thats just what some products do. phera is a very very solid ph imo.

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