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Posts Tagged ‘media’

China’s Troubled Media

Posted: August 11, 2014 in media
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Over the past few months, those who thought the state of Chinese journalism couldn’t possibly get any worse have sadly been proven wrong. A few weeks ago China’s chief censorship agency told Chinese reporters that they can’t pass information on to their foreign counterparts, nor can they independently publicize stories they find through their work. This is on top of newly required courses in Marxist journalism (AKA journalism that props up the Party). While it’s unlikely these regulations can or will be universally enforced, the intended message to journalists is clear: fall in line and keep your heads down.

This all fits with Xi Jinping’s overall approach since assuming power of squashing every hint of potential challenge. In the Telegraph, a well-known journalism professor recently estimated that “the number of journalists responsible for ‘independent, public-interest, negative or sensitive’ reports has fallen by 66 percent in the last three years.” This fits exactly with what I’ve seen. Among all the Chinese reporters I knew who were doing real investigative journalism two years ago, all but a few have shifted to more vanilla beats or left the field altogether.

Once upon a time, it was good to be an investigative journalist in China. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, we saw arguably the best officially sanctioned media atmosphere in PRC history. Muckraking private outlets like Caijing and Economic Observer sprouted up. Investigative journalist Wang Keqin came to prominence with stories on AIDS villages and securities fraud. And the Southern Media Group did a series of hard-hitting reports that actually prompted changes to long-standing government policies.

However, when Hu Jintao came to power in 2002, a gradual regression began to take shape. New rules against cross-provincial reporting emerged that culled watchdog media; a few editors in the Southern Media Group were slapped with lengthy prison sentences on trumped up charges; Caijing was put under pressure, prompting its star editor-in-chief Hu Shuli to jump ship; and Wang Keqin was unceremoniously pushed out of two separate newspapers.

Xi Jinping’s new government now appears to be accelerating this trend. But politics is only half of the story in the regression of Chinese journalism.

The internet has had the same disruptive effect on traditional media in China that it has in much of the rest of the world. Weibo, WeChat and a host of other social media sites, blogs and pseudo media have sprung up, grabbing market share from the traditional press. This is coupled with independent watchdog papers being watered down. The same provocative stories officials don’t want printed are usually the same ones that make people buy the papers. When repressive politics meet disruptive technology, it means tight budgets for independent papers that don’t get government subsidies. This trickles down to journalists who see their income squeezed and jobs cut.

One implication of this is journalists from respected independent media getting funneled out and ending up at state media (where they can have more money and better resources, but more ideological oversight and censorship). I’ve known of a few journalists that couldn’t bring themselves to leave journalism – either out of passion or because they lacked the skillset to go into another industry – so they reluctantly took jobs at state media after work at independent outlets dried up.

But what looks to be an even more acute implication of the current media atmosphere is good reporters getting pushed out of the industry completely. One of my former Economic Observer bosses, who’s been reporting for the past two decades, recently reflected on trends of the past few years saying that we’re seeing perhaps the biggest media brain drain ever. “People with dignity and passion get driven out of the newspaper business,” he told me.

In 2012, Jian Guanzhou, the reporter who’d broken the Sanlu milk powder scandal four years earlier, drove this point home when he finally decided to call it quits. “I have been at the Oriental Morning Post for 10 years, during which I have poured the most precious years of my youth, my sorrow, my dreams and feelings into the purest of ideals,” he wrote on Weibo. “Now my ideal is dead, so I’ll get going. Take care, brothers!”

Working within China’s tightening media system entails an endless stream of moral dilemmas. If a story could be killed for political reasons, for instance, it might make a reporter think twice about pursuing it in the first place. In most cases, they get paid based on how much they publish. If the story isn’t published, they don’t get paid for it. Even if they’re willing to risk their necks to investigate and print these sensitive stories, the scope of allowable topics is shrinking, leading to moral and financial frustration. Many just can’t do it anymore and quit journalism to go into something more stable or morally straightforward. On the grand scale, as this happens and honest reporters with a moral compass get sifted out, corrupt and sycophantic peers take over.

There are no meaningful statistics, but in talking to several Chinese journalist friends over the past few months, there seems to be a feeling that the entire industry is getting dirtier. Making money through good honest reporting is a lot harder than it once was, meaning the allure of taking bribes and colluding with (or extorting) special interests becomes greater. So there may be some semblance of legitimacy to the government’s ostensible drive to “clean up” the media.

A sullying of the industry may be the downside, but this atmosphere is certainly conducive to keeping the CCP unchallenged. The days when the Party had to seriously worry about shutting down watchdog newspapers and clipping the wings of renegade reporters might be drawing to a close. Instead, it can just watch the papers struggle to stay afloat and the journalists sort themselves into less threatening positions…or out of the industry completely.

There are of course plenty of fantastic Chinese reporters still out there pushing what they can for the pittance they get in return. One friend reporting in the Southern Media Group recently told me that the tightening atmosphere makes him regret not pushing harder in earlier years when things were more open. But this is the new reality, which only looks to hold more heartbreak ahead. “For us reporters, new changes must happen,” he told me. “I just don’t know how they’ll go.”

This week China’s chief media regulator issued a statement  outlining new regulations for media organizations. They basically boil down to the following:

  • News organizations may not cite foreign media without permission.
  • News organizations must file with authorities when setting up an official Weibo account and assign a person to insure that only kosher topics gets tweeted.
  • Journalists should offer proper guidance of public opinion under the principle of focusing on positive propaganda.
  • People without journalist permits are barred from interviewing or reporting under the name of a news organization.
  • Online news sites should not publish any reports from a news source, freelance writer or NGO before the facts are verified.

Nothing too earth-shaking here, and these directives are hardly enforceable. However, they do present a clear message: The Party’s grip on the media will not be loosening one bit. If anything, it will tighten.

For years now there’s been speculation over whether Xi Jinping (and the rest of the new government) will maintain the status quo, be reformist or even head in the opposite direction and roll back reforms. This is an oversimplified debate. These things will happen and are already happening.

These new media directives are one of many recent examples of an overriding principle that’s hardly changed since 1979: Nearly everything is eligible for reform and a Communist Party retreat, except for the “Three Ps” – Propaganda, Personnel and the People’s Liberation Army.

Over the past few months I’ve spoken with a number of experts in fields ranging from gay rights to the environment who are very excited about the new leadership, and with good cause. Everywhere you look in China there seems to be the beginnings of actual reforms, or at least hints that the rigid status quo is going to change for the better.

Measures have been put in place to make leaders less pompous and overindulgent. After 24 years, public discussion has been re-opened on Hu Yaobang. Behemoth state monopolies are being put in check. Homosexuality is moving away from being officially taboo. It appears the model of “GDP growth ahead of all else” is being dismantled. China is improving its environmental transparency. A raft of long-overdue economic reforms are kicking off. The list goes on and on.

It’s still too early to say for sure, but this could very well be a new spring for civil society and long stigmatized groups.

But before we break out the champagne, let’s consider a few other recent signals from our bold new reformers. Last year Xi Jinping ordered more “thought control” in universities. Several times over the past year, Xi has commanded the PLA to remain “absolutely loyal” to the Communist Party above all else. There was the infamous Southern Weekly Incident illustrating an increasingly overbearing propaganda department. In the past year, two foreign correspondents have faced de facto expulsions for the first time since 1998, while new foreign journalists are waiting over a year to get their visas in some cases. And last, but certainly not least, China’s internet censorship apparatus is becoming ever-more sophisticated at weeding out “harmful” content.

So what’s the deal? Are these new leaders reformers or not? Obviously, it’s complicated, but you can make a pretty good prediction on the likelihood of a given reform just by establishing whether it threatens the Party’s absolute control over who educates the public, who holds any kind of political power, and which way the guns would face in the event of an uprising (AKA – Propaganda, Personnel, People’s Liberation Army).

Since the 1990s, China’s communist mandarins have religiously studied the downfall of the Soviet Union. The conclusions they’ve reached are that democratizing, opening the press and losing control over the military opened floodgates that resulted in the regime’s collapse. Xi Jinping gave a private speech to this effect to Party leaders in Guangdong last December on what was supposed to be his nod to Deng Xiaoping’s “Southern Tour.”

Some have contrasted Xi’s private instructions to remember the Soviet Union with his efforts to align himself with Deng Xiaoping’s reformist legacy, but the two are hardly contradictory. Although he was unquestionably a real reformer that forever changed China for the better, Deng was also a firm believer in upholding absolute Party control over the Three Ps.

Xi, like Deng, recognizes that the Three Ps are non-negotiable in order to keep continued Party rule, and by extension (in their minds), a stable environment for other reforms to happen.

In some ways it may seem like the new government is more amenable to opening up the press. Xi has vowed to go after both “the tigers and the flies” (top leaders and low officials who are corrupt) and hinted that this involves more freedom for the press and the online public. But there will always be a cage over the press. If that cage gets bigger (and there’s been no meaningful indication that it actually will), it will be carefully designed to let reporters roam only in areas that serve the Party’s self-preserving interests. These new directives suggest that that the vetting process for those even allowed to roam in that cage is getting stricter.

So this is what we’ll need to get used to. Virtually everything outside the Three Ps is eligible for reform, and that’s good news. There’s still a lot of room for making China a better place within those confines. But the Three Ps will absolutely remain under complete Party control, barring some massive national movement that presents a crisis even greater than Tiananmen.

So far it seems that opening up and reforming in the allowable areas means locking down the three non-negotiables even more tightly so as to ensure the approved reforms don’t bring any unpredictability. So feel free to get your hopes up in many arenas. Just also recognize what’s not likely to ever happen.

A few days ago I looked at the two options the Party’s PR apparatus had in responding to the Chen Guangcheng situation:

  1. Show restraint. Acknowledge, but downplay the story as best it can until it blows over. Perhaps even allow a few commentaries that aren’t hyper-critical of the event to show that the leadership isn’t so insecure.
  2. Actively retaliate with the full extent of police and media power.

It’s now become pretty apparent that they learned nothing from The Liu Xiaobo Nobel PR debacle and have decided to go all in on option 2.

Many of Chen’s extended family and rescuers are still unaccounted for, have been interrogated, beaten, or been placed under soft detention. And several journalists have been blocked from reporting.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Liu Weimin whipped out the one-size fits all response to international disputes saying, “The US move is an interference in China’s internal affairs.”

The Chinese media is now on the offensive as well, using pretty much every official cliche you can imagine for responding to dissent and foreign involvement in China.  Here’s a few rough translations from recent Chinese media commentaries:

Beijing Daily:

Chen Guangcheng has become a tool and a pawn of the U.S. politicians to discredit China.

Chen doesn’t represent the interests of the majority of people, just the interests of his boss: The Western Anti-China forces.

Chen has been made famous and labeled as a “hero” and a “freedom fighter” by the US and western media – An anti-society, anti-establishment figure.

Paraphrase [kind of an awkward translation]: Chen and the people supporting him are very naïve to think they can use this event to interfere with and blackmail China. It won’t get any response from the 1.3 billion Chinese people, who are mature enough to realize it’s a conspiracy.

Just think if other countries’ embassies became highly interested in the “Occupy Wall Street” movement, giving support to the people to revolt and reinvent the image of America. How would the US respond?

Ambassador Locke, since taking office, has used his duties to strain relations between China and the US instead of being devoted to the development of Sino-US relations. He rode economy class on his plane ride, he carried his bags himself, and used coupons to buy coffee – all as a show. Then he monitored Beijing air quality and published readings at the embassy, creating debate in Beijing city administration. Now he dares to bring Chen – a Chinese citizen – into the US embassy. These things are not in line with Locke’s role as an ambassador, but are meant to stir up contradictions in the whirlpool and it’s very obvious what motive is behind his behavior. [Loosely paraphrased from Chinese parable]: This farce directed by the US embassy gives a lesson to Chinese citizens: The US has ill intentions toward China.

Beijing News:

Diplomats from foreign governments stationed in other countries have the obligation to comply with the laws and respect the culture of the host country. The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations does not give ambassadors the right to intervene in domestic issues and doesn’t give them “extraterritoriality” to flagrantly interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.

Since World War II, marks of colonial rule like “extraterritoriality” and “consular jurisdiction” have been thrown in the trash bin of history.

When exploring the new power between China and the United States, one cannot simply use the Cold War mentality to look at how to deal with the differences between the two countries.

Beijing Youth Daily:

Chen Guangcheng left the US embassy in China on May 2nd, Ambassador Locke sent him to the hospital in person, pushing the wheelchair under the foreign media’s spotlight. He went beyond his duties as an American ambassador. Under normal circumstances it’s understandable that American officials give help to ordinary Chinese citizens, but Locke used American values to judge Chinese society and forced China to accept American values. His actions were a “show” and “performance” to attract attention, which is typical Western politician behavior. It’s impulsive and hypocritical. It’s not only offensive to Chinese, but the American media also criticizes such behavior.

In recent years, human rights has been relegated to a very secondary position in Sino-US relations. The era in which the US finds fault with China’s human rights should belong to the past. We are willing to make concessions to the relationship with sincerity and goodwill to maintain the overall situation of Sino-US relations. Any behavior that damages the overall situation of Sino-US relations has no future.

Beijing Times

The US is already stretched too wide and too thin in other countries, but it still shows too much concern about Chinese domestic issues. Under the flag of humanitarianism it interferes with other countries’ issues showing its intention of being the master of the world. This kind of behavior totally betrays international law and the principle of non-interference. But if other countries interfere with American internal affairs then the US will retaliate. This kind of logic is pure hegemonic logic.

The countries who have such logic always deliberately look for some tools to flaunt their own rights and the mistakes of others. In this case Chen Guangcheng is their new tool. When he was at the US embassy, he couldn’t find justice but only found himself being used by the US, which left him only frustration and disappointment. Any country during the period of transition and reform will face a lot of conflicts and contradictions. But during the past 30 years after Reform & Opening Up, China has not passed on its problems or contradictions to other countries, but rather it solved a lot of problems on its own and achieved great accomplishments and progress. But some individuals and countries with ulterior motives intend to exaggerate Chinese domestic contradictions in an attempt to discredit China. But this one of the contradictions that Chinese can solve on its own as it did in previous years without the need of others to intervene.


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Matthew 25:40 NRSV

MaryLibTerryHow can you tell if you really love God? Is there any way of knowing whether you’re on the road to holiness? Today’s Gospel from Matthew, the story of the Last Judgment, gives us the answers by putting an equal sign between your love for God and your love for your neighbor.

Is your neighbor hungry? Feed him. Is your sibling thirsty? Give her a drink. Do you have relatives who are ill? Visit them. These simple common-sense acts of love toward others equal love of God. Your love for God is measured by the concrete love expressed to your neighbor. Do we take seriously the fact that what we do for one of the least, we do for God? Conversely, do we realize that what you do for God affects ourselves and the rest of the world?

Will someone know God’s compassion today because of me?  The Christian life is one of service; its reward is heaven. Someday we will hear “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink.”  (Mt. 25:35)

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  1. Kathy M on March 11, 2014 at 5:03 am

    There is nothing more rewarding than helping someone no matter how big or small that is for sure. It gives us the warm glow of paying forward.

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Heroes and Villains, Part Three

As we return to the story, we find our team of heroes and villains heading back outside….

Our super friends were greeted with tables perfectly outfitted (and caped) for both the good and the bad to pump up their muscles and enjoy some of that SUPER hero sandwich.

WOW! Even the balloons were perfectly outfitted for the occasion.

Let’s pause our story for a minute and talk about how adorable these Pink Peppermint Paper balloon costumes are. A perfect accompaniment to the theme. And our supermom stashed them everywhere—inside, front door and food tables. AWESOME!

About as awesome as the super weights holding them down. GENIUS!

But that’s not all…

Tune in next time to see what sweet surprises supermom has in store.

Click here if you missed the super food and drink or here to see the invitation. And for pity sake, if you’re reading (and we know you are) be one of the good guys and leave us a little comment. Thanks and have a super day!

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Updated June 23, 2008 Categories: stories + poems.

Thanks very much to Tricia for sending us this beautiful poem for those who have lost a friend

Last Night
I stood by your bed last night; I came to have a peep.
I could see that you were crying you found it hard to sleep.
I whined to you softly as you brushed away a tear,
“It’s me, I haven’t left you, I’m well, I’m fine, I’m here.”
I was close to you at breakfast, I watched you pour the tea,
You were thinking of the many times your hands reached down to me.
I was with you at the shops today; your arms were getting sore.
I longed to take your parcels, I wish I could do more.
I was with you at my grave today; you tend it with such care.
I want to reassure you, that I’m not lying there.
I walked with you towards the house, as you fumbled for your key.
I gently put my paw on you; I smiled and said, “It’s me.”
You looked so very tired, and sank into a chair.
I tried so hard to let you know, that I was standing there.
It’s possible for me to be near you every day.
To say to you with certainty, “I never went away.”
You sat there very quietly, then smiled, I think you knew…
In the stillness of that evening, I was very close to you.
The day is over…I smile and watch you yawning
And say, “Goodnight, God bless, I’ll see you in the morning.”
And when the time is right for you to cross the brief divide,
I’ll rush across to greet you and we’ll stand, side by side.
I have so many things to show you, there is so much for you to see.
Be patient, live your journey out…then come home to be with me.
“Thank you for loving me enough to set me free”


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Thursday, June 28, 2018

Burn/Fire: B.B. King - Lay Another Log on the Fire

purchase [Another Log on the Fire]

Fame is fickle. B.B. King had it, C.L. Blast missed it. He had a knack for music - but no luck to go with it. B.B.King's <Another Log on the Fire> was penned by this man - Clarence Junior Lewis (aka C.L. Blast). And in fact, Blast at least once played with B.B. King, Otis Redding and others.
But he never made it to the "big time" on his own.

Because B.B. King played with him at one time, he may have picked up this song back then. Amazingly, IMHO, Blast's version of "Fire" is at least as good as BB's, so you have to wonder at the fickleness of fate.

Various sources note that Blast's [bad] luck included mis-management.
The story of the Juana label partially lays it out. Juana, a record label out of Atlanta, was poorly managed by Frederick Knight (of Ring My Bell Fame) and Blast was part of the line-up/artists signed up to the label.

From '55 to 80 or so, Blast worked without coming up with a major hit.
He did his military service in the late 50s touring and singing to fellow soldiers. In 1980, Atlantic/Cotillion (thanks, Arif Mardin) put out his first LP.

Blast, however, might take a Guinness record for number of labels a musician has worked with:
Fury, Atlantic, Columbia, Knight's Juana label, and United.

C.L.Blast also penned a few other songs, some of which you may have run across:
Love Don't Feel Like Love
What Can  I Do
If I Had Love You More
I Just Don't Know
And to his further credit, he collaborated on "Ring My Bell" with Frederick Knight.

The 1984 version of the song was recorded at Muscle Shoales studios.

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Greg Moffitt explores the placebo effect and evil science.

Click Here for Greg Moffitt’s website

Click here for Forum Discussion

Alex Tsakiris: [00:00:00] Greg, we just wrapped up our interview and I thought we had an awesome conversation. I wanted to share it with the Skeptiko audience. We did part one and we’re going to do a part two and I’d love to share both parts with them. So as a way of an introduction because we didn’t really plan on completely doing it that way as kind of a swap cast kind of thing. Can you let people know a little bit more about, you know, who is Greg Moffitt, your background and what you do.

Greg Moffitt: [00:00:28] Just to keep it brief, Alex, if people go to legalize dash, you can spell legalize with an S or a Z, they’ll find a bio there and that’s where I host most of my current work. Podcasts I’ve been doing since 2012. Over 300 shows there,Inquiry into Life, The Universe and everything If people are familiar with Skeptico, I think they’ll find a lot to interest in there. There’s also a series of free articles and yeah, so legalize dash with an S if you’re in Europe with a Z if you’re in the US. That’s about it, I think. Hello and welcome Alex and thank you so much for joining us today on legalize freedom com.

Alex Tsakiris: [00:01:09] Great to be here Greg.

Greg Moffitt: [00:01:11] Alex, today we’re going to talk about your new book, it’s going to be out shortly. It’s entitled Why Evil Matters on science and religion, fumbled a big one. Probably dive into that just tell listeners a bit about yourself. You’re are of course host of Skeptico podcast, which many listeners will already be familiar with and just a little bit perhaps about how the book came about?

Alex Tsakiris: [00:01:34] Well, you know, the book came about really as just a product of me doing these interviews on Skeptiko and the Skeptico thing is always, I’ve been doing it for a long time long, long and it was really just a passion project for me, like I always tell people, it was kind of my Trojan horse for getting a chance to talk to really smart people, like you and like other people and I sense that same, you know, vibe in your work too, is that you want to have the conversations and you can frame them up however you want. You want to call it a podcast, you want to call it a book or magazine article, whatever, you know, you want to have the conversation and same with me ,so that’s how it came about and then, in particular, this book is really just an extension, really, of a book that I wrote before. Why science is wrong about almost everything and that’s really a book about consciousness and how if you fall for the scientific materialism you are meaningless, you are nothing kind of mean, then that is not only you know, crippling, philosophically and personally, but it doesn’t make for good science. So this latest book kind of says if you take that into the what I call extended consciousness realm of you know, near death experience, out of body travel DMT however you want to go, aliens, wherever you want to go with that. If you take that into the extended realm then you’re even more lost if you want to stick to this. You know, hold on to this really, really literal, materialist, stupid, stupid falsified idea and then the evil thing is just that, I think evil might be our lens you know, are kind of our entry point into waking us up out of how ridiculous that is and the consequences of the materialistic ,you are meaningless idea.

Greg Moffitt: [00:03:53] Well, as you alluded to a lot of your inquiry and a lot of the material you produce, Podcast in particular you’re looking at, your new guests, you’re looking at that like reality through these overlapping lenses, shall we say, Science, Religion, Philosophy. That many people for a long, long time and still today regard as completely separate and mutually exclusive in many ways. Of course that’s a feeling in itself because they’re, kind of like three prongs of sin fork really, in my mind, but you’ve come up against this, the question of evil multiple times, as I have, call it what you will, you know, evils a name for something. No, because we can’t think in terms of language we have to name things and you say the word evil and people have preconceptions about what they think it is or what they think it is not, whether it exists or not based just on everything that they’ve gathered, in their mind, in the consciousness about evil up to this point, but you said evil could be a lens there a moment ago and I think I understand what you mean. It’s something that’s, when you look into it, is.. It’s almost the other areas of inquiry. In the three disciplines I mentioned, they all have their, limits it seems and, but there’s the question of evil seems to be one of those issues that’s pushing us further to look at some of the, some of the matters, some of these overlaps and look at the whole idea of extended consciousness for example, that you speak so much about, that actually could be, it could be the key to unlock this particular mystery in itself and it’s almost like these issues come along to prompt us, it’s almost like we’re being prodded and pushed I thought this many times, to understand or to keep going with our inquiry and when we’re not looking in the right place that we get almost like a school child getting a rap over the knuckles, you know, with a ruler, by a stern teacher, you know, like our, maybe a torch is being shown in another corner and we’re being enjoined to look over here. So that’s what I thought of when you said evil could be a lens.

Alex Tsakiris: [00:06:11] Yeah and I’d take that even further, because I really like your point in your analogy about overlapping lenses and, you know, there’s a really interesting point that you made there about, we have the Trident of Science, Religion and Philosophy, you know, and you pointed out how, hey, how curious that is that they want to stay separate and boy, I mean, that has been one of, I guess my fundamental realization findings in all this stuff, is that that’s preposterous and it’s hard to believe that, that isn’t somewhat by design. I mean, there where only two questions, Who are we? Why are we here? Oh, the only questions, think about in all three of those realms. Science, who are we? Why are we here? Philosophy, Who are we? Why are we here? Religion, Who are we? Why are we here? Why would you want to separate those? Why would you want to pretend this game, you know, when you get into religion that it’s, is it fundamentally intertwined with those. Science, you know, pulled themselves out and said, Hey, we’re gonna rescue you from that crazy religion and all the rest that. But the interesting thing about consciousness and the reason that you and I are both so interested in even doing a lot of shows on it and like your interview recently with Bernardo Kastrup, is consciousness, as you said is the rap on the knuckles, that pulls us back in it says, blah, blah, blah, wait a minute, now. Everything you’re kind of making here as some assumptions on it and ever since you’ve left that old, double slit experiment, which I always like to tell people because like, this is like such a great little entry point into some of this stuff. Double slit experiment, double slit experiment, we all know it. You can stop calling it a double slit experiment, the framing up of that as some type of photon measurement experiment. It’s not! It’s a consciousness experiment. That’s what it is. It’s an experiment that says, Does consciousness exist? Is there such a thing as an observer effect that we have to worry about? And the answer is, yes. That is the rap on the knuckles of science. But what science had to do, really to pretend there, to defend their turf and also maybe for some other reasons, was they had to do the shut up and calculate thing. They’ll say, Well, no, no, that’s not really what it’s about. Come on, let’s just kind of work out these equations over here and see if we can build some iPhones and stuff like that. So that’s kind of, that’s where I go with your overlapping lenses which I think is a much bigger point then, you know, we could spend an hour talking about that.

Greg Moffitt: [00:09:07] Well, it’s like the Placebo effect. We, I’m reminded of that when you mentioned the double slit experiment. It’s like it’s been given a name and therefore in science quite often does this, even when it doesn’t understand something, It names that like dark matter, dark energy. Oh okay we didn’t know what all that stuff was. It’s dark matter. But that doesn’t mean that you know what it is you just call it something. So the Placebo effect is this amazing thing with incredible implications, basically, mind over body implications, like the double slit experiment which by the way, if listeners are not sure what that is, it’s a famous experiment in quantum physics, which have been repeated again and again and again and tweaked and varied and the implications are vast. But it’s with quantum physics in general, it’s always been, not always but It has increasingly been changing, but often is not, you know, mainstream interpretations have been that well, there are no implications and if there are, it’s purely in the realms of shut up and calculate, as you say and for me, the shut up and calculate thing is like, would be, I don’t know, like, just chopping vegetables in a kitchen and never making any stew. Like, just keep chopping vegetables, we’re never gonna have something to show for this, you know, what, what are we doing this for and, of course, the one of the reasons that a lot of people will if they’re satisfied with that is because of the byproducts of a lot of scientific inquiry and you mentioned the iPhones and just think, since the scientific revolution and then the Industrial revolution, which was able to put a lot of that into practice on a wider scale, just think of all the benefits, you know, material benefits for people’s lives and, you know, health and welfare, material benefits, just our general standard of living has changed so much because of the benefits of science and industrialization. But you mentioned the trade and that was your phrase, which I like, because like any trade and you go back down the prongs and you get to the handle, which is one, it’s the three, you know, it’s all one piece of metal if you know what I mean or whatever it’s made of and I think that the thing that you said about science rescuing us you know, from the sort of religious you know, pole of ignorance. That is, it’s all been like a bit of a pendulum swing I’ve made this analogy before, is that it was a relief to be able to, to have the scientific revolution, the Renaissance, just to free up people’s thinking and their consciousness and their lives, from the sort of the drudgery of living under you know, religious oppression. But then, we have a tendency, I think, as, as a species to ritualistic behavior and routine and ways of seeing the world and going too far. With one thing, the whole idea of the Renaissance man was supposed to be, you know, scientists, philosopher, you know, spiritual dimension as well. But I think that kind of got lost. So now we’ve been living in a scientific age, it’s been all about that and anything to do with spirituality at best is seen as a very private matter. Religions are just seen as like, either just irrelevant or actually a source of ongoing problems and so when you perhaps try to bring together some of these disciplines then people are very resistant because you try and bring a spiritual dimension or some other word, let’s just extended consciousness dimension into science. People are worried about God getting in again by the back door. Oh, hang on a minute, this this sounds a bit too religious for my liking, I don’t like it you know, the universe popping out of nowhere from nothing and no, I don’t like the sound of this at all sounds well, like, I used to hear that in the church when I was a kid. Dinner with philosophy, which is regarded as like a pleasant sort of irrelevance, you know, if somebody says, I’m a philosophy professor, it’s like, Oh, that’s nice you know, why don’t you try earning a living? You know what I mean. I’ve met people with that sort of attitude.

Alex Tsakiris: [00:13:16] Um, well, there’s like 10 points I’d like to jump on. But I got to go back all the way at the beginning because, Greg, your point about placebo effect is so, I think profound. I know for so many people and so many people that listen to my show and I’m sure yours too, they get it on one level. But I really think what you’re saying is much, much more powerful in practice, than we realize. The placebo effect, just take notice for how it’s used. I’m just repeating exactly what you said. It’s like, Oh, well, the results didn’t achieve anything greater than placebo effect, Or, you know, what we’re finding in science now is there’s a degradation towards the level of the placebo effect right? So we’re finding these major medical studies that show some miracle drug to be efficacious. But the more we test it and the more we repeat the test, it becomes closer and closer to a level of the placebo effect. But the brilliant point you make is that the whole game is the placebo effect. But what’s staring us in the face is that we’ve totally misunderstood the relationship between mind and body which is really a relationship between consciousness and body, right mind is consciousness. Because what they will tell you, what is embedded in that even when they say mind is body with the fastball that they’re trying to slip past you, is that, yeah, it’s your mind, but that’s still within the materialistic scientific framework of your brain, but their own, if you unravel, logically, philosophically, let’s just go with logically, the placebo effect. What they’re doing is they’re contradicting the mind equals brain, you are 100% a product of your brain, your biological robot, meaningless universe, it is an implied contradiction of that by using the term placebo effect but you are so right that once you label it, it allows you to dismiss it, step over it, say, don’t you really just want this new iPhone, let’s forget about who you are and why you’re here for a minute, don’t you really just want another Netflix streaming up your bandwidth, will get you more bandwidth, you can go faster. So now I don’t know if you have any more on that, because I think it’s such a powerful point, it does lead to this larger, you know, I don’t want to dance around this, because what I’m saying is that there is an underlying conspiracy and a lot of people don’t like that term and they immediately get turned off, you know, like, Oh my god, here we go, you know, but it’s like, that is the implication of this, is that this isn’t completely organic, this languaging, this messaging, this miss stepping, misinformation, oops, always scientifically bungled it again, that after a while it doesn’t look like an accident and I think part of our, you know, our job, you and I, what we’re doing is to probe that and try and pull that apart because sometimes it is an accident and sometimes, you know, scientists make mistakes. Sometimes philosophers make mistakes but sometimes there’s another agenda behind some of this stuff and we have to make sure that we’re exploring those possibilities because we’ve been taken down those paths so many times.

Greg Moffitt: [00:17:07] Yes, we definitely should explore some of those possibilities. Maybe you can start us off with that in a moment and that’ll take us, if you want to certainly enter some of the material in your book that we mentioned but I did spend quite a long time, started reading about quantum implications back in the 1980s and i spent quite a few decades wondering what the major resistance was, if not acceptance of some of these implications, but at least explore them at least look at it again. I mean, this right across the board from scientists, engage in this work through to lay people reading popular science books and initially, as I mentioned, it was, maybe they’re worried that some kind of religious connotations in all of this, if we go down this route and explore these things, then we’re going to have church people saying, aha, I told you so or whatever it happens to be no consciousness is the mind of God. But then I started to look for other reasons and I think, Oh, well, obviously some scientists are worried about loss of prestige. They built their whole careers around a certain worldview, maybe they did some pioneering research and that made a net, they won a Nobel Prize and they just have to stick to this and that remains with the old adage about the science, progressing one funeral at a time, but increasingly and I think this is what we definitely have in common. I’ve started to think it must be more than that. It can’t be that straightforward. So perhaps you’d like to, the point you made just before I started speaking, maybe you could get started on some of your ideas there.

Alex Tsakiris: [00:18:38] Well, one way to explore that topic is to look at three interviews that you’ve done recently and kind of dive into those a little bit for a little bit more because there’s some great crossover between your work in mind and I think we’ll wind up in the same place. Like First off, I have just a ton of respect for Bernardo Kastrup. I can’t tell you how many times he’s been on my show. He’s a super popular guest. I consider him a friend. I’ve met him personally. He’s a great guy. Go to his website right now and read his open birthday letter to Bill Gates, congratulating Bill Gates on his birthday and saying, you know, the one thing bill, you’ve been a great, great gift to mankind. The one thing I wish you’d look at, nuclear power a little bit because I think we can get some good clean nuclear power and I think it can help our overall environmental situation. Bernardo, where have you been, buddy? Have you kind of looked into Gates, see there in the Corona thing and Moderna and his all sorts of his other shady connections? Have you looked into his connections with Epstein and the brown stoning project and as long time interest in that, that goes, that there’s a lot of smoking gun stuff there. So, Bernardo is super smart, super intelligent. But he’s not a conspiratorial guy, which, on one hand, we want to give somebody a badge for that and say, oh, gosh, you get a shiny badge because you’re not conspiratorial. I look at it the other way. I look at it say, if you’re closing yourself off to that worldview and drive it diving deeply into that worldview, then you’re really going to be missing the picture in a lot of these situations, not in all of them. Barnardos work is still his phenomenally powerful work. But he is going to be blindsided by people who are rigging the game and he doesn’t realize it. Bill Gates is a classic example. But I’ll give you two more and then I’ll kind of let you respond ,you did a show kind of a one off one person show on David Ike and I thought there were so many interesting jumping off points for our dialogue here on that, Greg, because I interviewed David, not too long ago and published it and a lot of people really kind of push back like I jumped the shark there and said, Oh, you know, that’s the crazy lizard guy. Man I lead with that, I lead with that I go, who is David Ike? Who is David Ike to you? And even people who don’t know go Yeah, he’s the lizard guy. That’s right. He’s exactly ,he’s the lizard guy. Now, let me tell you what he wrote on the relationship between consciousness in science. It’s brilliant. It’s the most succinct clear and crisply written attack on how science, as part of a social engineering control, psyop would be against any kind of extended consciousness understanding, right? So you can go read that in the interview we did. It’s brilliant. Go read David Ike, this is like basic shit. But how many times have you sat through mind numbing discussions where people don’t do it? That is David Ike talking about God, The God that, what does he call it? The God program, David Ike calls it. He said look it’s all the same. It’s go to a Christian and he says, Oh, yeah, I’ll tell you about God. I know all about him. Because I have this book, because I go to this guy and he’s dressed in all these robes and he allows me to talk to God. He tells me what God is saying. He’s telling me how to be and then he says and then I go, well, that doesn’t sound right, so I go over to a Muslim guy and you go, what can you tell me about God? He goes, Oh, I can tell you everything. I got a guy, he stands up there in the front, he wears this robe and he tells me just exactly what God is all about. Okay, so then I go over to a Jewish guy and I go to synagogue and he goes, Oh, no, I’ll tell you what it’s all about here. We have these books and then here we have these guys in robes and they go tell us, go tell us what God says and then you can follow what they say. This is again, I mean, I’m not saying it’s like some brilliant insight but how much time do we spend placating people who have these protected religious beliefs that are clearly much more in sync with what we understand to be cultish activities and if we don’t know all the relationships between those, but then anything else and yet we give them their little spot in the square in the public square and we say, okay, you know, go ahead and talk and we won’t ever really raise our voice about how absolutely ridiculous your cosmology is, because we’ll let us we’ll let you talk and if you look at what David Ike is really saying directly, he’s advocating dis-intermediation right? He said, Yeah, there’s got, go there. You don’t need a book. You don’t need an intermediary. You don’t need anything. If there is this extended realm and if there is this God had there, go there. Other things that I point out about David Ike and the reason we’re talking about, I think we’re talking about David Ike, is because this is someone who was banned. He was wiped off of the electronic infrastructure that we live in, banned from YouTube, banned from Facebook, banned from Twitter, banned! Greg, if we were having this conversation five years ago, we would not have even we would have never believed it If one of the other rather said, Oh, yeah and then people will just be banned, unilaterally banned across all these quote unquote independent platforms. So David Ike is banned and you know what David ickes messages is, in this world that we live in with Tifa and Proud Boys and Black Lives Matter and guns in the street and riots. David Ikes message is, no, don’t go for any of that, It’s about love, It’s about seeing that we’re all connected. It’s about not cutting off your thumb to spite your fingers. That’s his message. That’s his message. It’s all about love, acceptance, forgiveness and pursuit of the truth and this is what’s banned. This is what’s banned. So the reason they say he got banned was because David sometimes is not so good with the sciency part and even though he saw the bigger picture of the plan demmick for what it is or pandemic, he kind of got in this little whirlpool of there is no virus kind of thing, which is unfortunate because scientifically, that’s not a very sustainable position. It’s kind of a flat earthy kind of sciency, kind of thing but he was listening to the wrong people and you know, but I look at somebody like David Ike and I say, batting average Hall of Fame, Hall of Fame, batting average ,gets so much more stuff ,so much more right, so much more sooner than anyone else. That we need to give him wiggle room for when he makes mistakes and not forgive him and call them out like I did in the interview. I said, David, I don’t think you really mean that, you know, but at the same time we have to say, No, this is a major, major, important person and if we’re going to ban someone, let’s ban frickin Neil deGrasse Tyson for standing up there and saying consciousness is an illusion. That’s something someone should be banned for you want to ban people? I got a whole list of people we can ban, but I don’t want to ban anybody but that’s, I guess my my take on David Ike and why I think he’s so important and you know the other thing that I’ll just throw in a little shut up about it. Shape shifting lizard people. Oh, okay. So we’re in an after disclosure period here, right folks? mean, we are AD after disclosure, New York Times, every major news outlet, now we’ve seen the videos finally they’re admitting it. So we’re after disclosure. Some people haven’t fully grok that but we are and who’s piloting those craft that are moving at unbelievable speeds at G forces that are impossible for humans to survive. That ET is clearly in play here. So now take like, if you will, the the accounts of you know, I had this woman on, she’s a professor from I think Montana State University. Her name is already six color klark and she has kind of an unusual name because she’s Native American and she went around and collected all these stories from Native American people, not only United States, but in Central America, South America whole thing, collects their stories and she’s an anthropologist right, so she knows how to collect stories and do it, does it in a scientific way. You want to hear about shape shifting all over the place? You want to hear about aliens? All star people all over the place. You want to hear about reptilians all over the place? You want to hear about shape shifting reptilians? They’re right there in her research, so you can dismiss her research. That’s fine. You can say she faked her research. That’s fine, but you better go prove it. She’s a respected academic, a respected anthropologist who seems to have done things correctly. But don’t, just because you’re going along with your buddies. Don’t scoff at this stuff until you’ve looked at it or better yet, go ahead and scoff at it just follow whatever people are trying to jam down your throat and tell you is the way to think. End of rant.

Greg Moffitt: [00:29:25] I was pretty interested to hear your perspective on Ike there because I think we do agree to a greater extent. Just to backtrack slightly to Bernardo. I’ve never met him personally. But I have found him to be in every other way Exactly as you say , I mean his research is incredible. He’s building and standing on the shoulders of giants I’m sure he didn’t met himself, but I’ve never seen anyone bring it together in this way and what he did for his last, not the last but one book the idea of the World War Two, he published all the chapters separately in peer reviewed journals, you know, by scientists, he was combed over and gone through every storm turned by all sorts of different scientific bodies and publishing organizations all manner of academia, approved for publication and once he had achieved that and all these roles separate publications, he then brought them all together and put them in one book and basically was able to get a scientifically, rigorously scientifically peer reviewed book, in kind of under the radar sort of speak. So it was very clever and I’ve heard somebody say, Oh, that was a bit underhand, you know, because they didn’t know what was going to be broken. What difference does it make? Each chapter has an idea and I mean, you could take all the, get all the different magazine articles, photocopy them and then staple them together and that’s the second thing, you know, that’s all he’s done. So I think that was a brilliant move. When.. and I’d urge people to check out your interviews with him, I’ve done many over the years. If you’re interested in the idea of extended consciousness of being the underlying reality of the universe and basically it makes sense of so much of our experience and our reality and everything that we see around us with our senses and all the tools and measuring devices that we have that reached beyond our five senses or all of the data coming in that we don’t understand and we can’t quite put together, his work brings so many things into a new light. When I read his article about nuclear power and Bill Gates, I like you, I have not had a chance to speak to him about it. I was a little bit mystified at first because I kind of got the thing about nuclear power. I’m not an advocate for it. But I do, I have listened to serious people who have said if we want to keep the lights on in industrial civilization and anything like the forum we currently have going forward , that may be the only alternative, even though..

Alex Tsakiris: [00:32:10] Sure but Greg the point really is Bill Gates, I mean..

Greg Moffitt: [00:32:13] Oh, yeah, exactly. Which is, I was gonna say, the Bill Gates thing you see. I did take exception to what he was saying. I said, you can’t just, you know, take Bill Gates as like one little dimension of his personality or look at Bill Gates bio on his own website and base, say that that is Bill Gates. So I agree you know that was the point of contention. If there was anything in that, that I’d like to take up with Bernardo, it would be that I’d imagine his response would be, I think you’re right, I don’t think he’s a conspiratorial kind of guy. But I’d imagine his response would be something along the lines of, yes, but, you know, everybody’s either attacking Bill Gates or they’re in Bill Gates camp and you don’t hear them say anything other than agree with Bill Gates. So he probably sees himself as some kind of impartial observer and he like, wouldn’t it be good if Bill Gates considered this, This is why you see a lot of people with open letter to the American president, you know, open letter to Vladimir Putin or whatever it happens to be.

Alex Tsakiris: [00:33:15] So did you ask Bernardo about COVID? Because I kind of got into it a little bit with him.

Greg Moffitt: [00:33:21] No, it wasn’t where we were. I did in my last interview with him, which was Freedom from Fear. We touched on a roundabout way about what’s happening in the world but no, we did not talk about the specifics of the pandemic origins, how that’s playing out.

Alex Tsakiris: [00:33:40] Right so he’s playing it, from what I can tell and tell me if I’m wrong, he is taking the COVID-19 thing straight on. He, I mean, he’s taken the direct dose of the mainstream at this point to me, completely legitimized kind of thing. I mean, there is so much that they’ve completely jury rigged the science, this is a global warming, version 7.5 or whatever and Bernardo, from what I see, Bernardo is not showing the ability to kind of climb out of that mess. He is gonna, it seems like he’s gonna stay right down the path of, if you’re writing a letter, with Bill Gates, an open letter to Bill Gates and you’re falling all over him then you’re lining up for the vaccine and saying, stick me and you know, we’ll have this kind of global, you know, medical kind of system that they’re going for because let’s have a little discussion about this. I don’t want to get into the whole COVID thing because it’s a waste of energy cycles. But, the part of it that I think is interesting and is relevant is how we come to understand science and spirituality and philosophy and all the things that we’re talking about and I think in the case of Bill Gates, just like in the case of Bill Gates, we don’t need to read too much into what he’s saying because he’s saying directly, you will all need to be vaccinated multiple times and we will need to be able to, his big thing is we’re going to have to be able to track who is and who isn’t so that we can control that. He wants the One World control of those medical things. This is not some conspiracy. This is just exactly what he says, this is what he says.

Greg Moffitt: [00:35:42] I guess, Bernardos letter was about nuclear power and you’re not wrong to express, you know, your take on it the way.. yeah, but I guess his letter was about nuclear power and there’s, it’s almost impossible at any given time to tell what most people think about anything important. Because most people don’t, when, depending on the context of their, when they’re speaking, expressing themselves, will quite often say something other than what they actually think, this makes it very complicated. For example, we just had a US election, it made it very complicated for pollsters to actually establish what the picture was out amongst the public.

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Construction Laborer

Lowel, Massachusetts
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Lowel, Massachusetts

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PeopleReady Skilled Trades is calling all construction laborers! We are now hiring for projects throughout Northern Middlesex county.

Moving, securing, installing, building, and loading or unloading materials

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Lowel, Massachusetts

Construction Laborer

Lowel, Massachusetts

PeopleReady Skilled Trades is a specialized division of PeopleReady, a TrueBlue company (NYSE: TBI). Since 1987, we have connected tradespeople and work across a wide range of trades, including carpentry, electrical, plumbing, welding, solar installations and more. Whether you need a single tradesperson or require a coordinated effort to dispatch skilled workers across multiple projects, we ensure you have the right people with the right tools, on-site and on time.


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Heliocare Compact Oil Free SPF 50 (Fair)

Specially designed to facilitate daily use in a compact format to provide high coverage. Oil free formula, noncomedogenic, high coverage, with matte finish for mixed and oily or acne-prone skin types.High protection with colour formulated with Fernblock®, sunscreens and antioxidants. Available in 3 shades, it allows coverage of imperfections and unifies tone providing a make-up look and even tone. Tested under dermatological control.

Purchase this product now and earn 215 SkinSpots!

Additional information

Heliocare Advanced.

Key Ingredients

Optimal and stable combination of sunscreens, Fernblock®, Green Tea.

Full Ingredients

Aqua, Titanium Dioxide, Glycerin, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Disiloxane, Diethylhexyl Butamido Triazone, Caprylyl Methicone, PEG-30 Dipolyhydroxystearate, Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane, Polysilicone-15, Ethyhexyl Salicylate, Butylene Glycol Cocoate, Octyldodecanol, Dimethicone, Cetyl PEG/PPG-10/1 Dimethicone, Ethyhexyl Methyoxycrylene, Dipropylene Glycol Dibenzoate, Silica, Ethylhexyl Triazone, Octyldodecyl Xyloside, Magnesium Sulfate, Disteardimonium Hectorite, Polypodium Leucotomos Leaf Extract, Physalis Angulata Extract, 3-O Ethyl Ascorbic Acid, Ethyhexyl Ferulate, Ferulic Acid, Arabidopsis Thaliana Extract, Melanin, Caffeic Acid, Lecithin, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Tocopheryl Acetate, Butylene Glycol, Panthenyl Triactate, Oxothiazoldine, BHT, PPG-15 Stearyl Ether Benzoate, Caprylyl Glycol, Ethyl Linoleate, Phenylpropanol, Tocopherol, Oleyl Alcohol, Propanediol, Sodium Benzoate, Disodium EDTA, Phenoxyethanol, Pafrum, Linalool, Limonene, CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499.

How to Use

Apply evenly using the sponge before sun exposure. Reapply during the day, especially after prolonged bathing or excessive sweating.

Sensitivity/allergy to any of the active ingredients. Open Wounds/active infections.

When to Use

Skin Type

All Skin Types.

Application Area


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Lycogel Tawny Breathable Camouflage

Overcome any skin problem with this buildable coverage that features an elegant matte finish. Our Breathable Camouflage comes in 12 different shades, and can be mixed and layered to suit your coverage needs. Enjoy a long lasting flawless look that you can maintain throughout the day.

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Breathable Camouflage.

Key Ingredients

6.5 % Titanium Dioxide, 8.2 % Zinc Oxide.

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Water, Cyclopentasiloxane, Dimethicone, Peg- 10/15 Crosspolymer, Cyclomethicone, Saccharomyces Lysate Extract, Hydrated Silica, Peg/Ppg-18/18 Dimethicone, Malus Domestica Fruit Cell Culture, Cyperus Rotundus Root Extract, Lonicera Japonica Flower Extract, Xanthium Sibiricum Fruti Extract, Sodium Hyaluronate, Squalane (Olive), Acetyl Tetrapeptide- 15, Phospholipids, Retinyl Palmitate, Tocopherol Acetate, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Beta- Carotene, Santalum Album (Sandalwood) Extract, Phellodendron Amurense Bark Extract, Hordeum Distichon (Barley) Extract, Olea Europaea (Olive) Leaf Extract, Algae Extract, Artemisia Vulgaris Extract, Zinc Pca, Centella Asiatica Extract, Polyglyceryl- 3 Polydimethylsiloxyethyl Dimethicone, Acrylates Ethylhexyl Acrylate, Triethoxysilylethyl Polydimethylsiloxyethyl Hexyl Dimethicone, Xanthan Gum, Glycerin, Lecithin, Mannitol, Sodium Citrate, Aluminum Hydroxide, Stearic Acid, Phenoxyethanol, Isohexadecane, Caprylyl Glycol, Ethylhexyglycerin, Hexylene Glycol, Sodium Benzoate. May Contain: Cl 77491, Cl 77492, Cl 77499 (Iron Oxides), Cl 77891 (Titanium Dioxide).

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Apply one pump of product to clean fingertips and spread evenly on skin. Once the first layer has dried, add more Breathable Camouflage as needed. When you add an additional layer, apply product on face using a patting technique. Allow one to two minutes to set.

Sensitivity/allergy to any of the active ingredients. Open Wounds/active infections.

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Skin Type

Suitable for all skin types.

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The Wild 3

The Wild 3 slot
Slot Details
NextGen Gaming
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250.000 coins
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We had no idea earlier that wild animals ruled everything in the wild west. Alternative reality from the creators of The Wild 3 makes us smile and plunge into a world where funny little animals can hold public office and dispose of large sums of money.

Video The Wild 3™ – NextGen Gaming

The Wild 3 is a classic five-reels slot game with three rows and ten fixed lines. The main illustration of this game is the picturesque landscapes of the Wild West with its sandy streets, under the scorching sun and deep blue sky.

The Wild 3

It is not surprising that the creators filled the entire game play with precisely those symbols which are associated with the era of westerns and a tough fight for place under the sun. Almost all the symbols are the personification of that time: a vulture, a bank, a safe, gold bars, a bag with money, dynamite and three different types of cacti.

There are also three “wild” symbols in this slot - a raccoon, a coyote and a bull, which can replace all the others to help you to form winning combos.

Bonus features The Wild 3

Superbet option

The Wild 3 supplies with NextGen's “Superbet” option, which allows players to spend a little more money on some additional features:

  • Level 0 (default bet) - a wild fighter (El Loko);
  • Level 1 (bet + 50%) - All cacti become “wild”;
  • Level 2 (bet + 100%) – “Wild” vinnings are multiplied by 10x.

Lock 'N' Load Respins

The Wild 3 slot game was created with a special “Lock 'N' Load Respins” feature. This function takes effect provided that the bonus symbol appears on reels 2 and 4. Then the reels 2 and 4 are held together with the reels 3 for re-spin up to 3 times.

Wild animals have the following “Superbet” features, which associated with them:

  • Wild Raccoon (Superbet 0) appears only on three reels, but when he does it, he can add extra reels;
  • Wild Coyote (Superbet 1 or 2) appears only on three reels, but at the same time he can turns into all cacti;
  • Wild Bull (Superbet 2) - appears only on the drum number 3, but multiplies any “wild” winnings up to x10.

We can tell you a small life hack in this game, which we have been prompted by repeated tests. So, as soon as you spin the reels, we recommend you to use the “SuperBet” function, since it will give you access to two more “wild” functions in the base game. Our main editor is particularly impressed with the “Wild Bull” feature, since a multiplier can be applied to your winnings up to 10x.

Free spins

The Wild 3 heroThis is triggered when two bonus symbols appear on the reels 2 and 4 and one wild symbol for all 3 reels. You will get five free spins with “wild” frozen places until the end of the round, aslo any additional “wild” places will freeze (except for raccoons and coyotes) too. One additional margin is awarded for each additional frozen “wild” and “bonus” games.

If you are a beginner in the game world, you are likely to become entangled in all the intricacies and innovations of The Wild 3 slot. Events develop dramatically and unpredictably here, but once you have mastered and learned the meaning of symbols and combinations, the gameplay is much simpler and more pleasant. The creators have made sure that the players have a good mood and numerous funny animal symbols, as well as melodic sound contribute to it.

In conclusion, we would like to say that The Wild 3 is a very interesting and exciting slot from NextGen Gaming. Its main feature is that it offers its players real payouts which are in 20,000 times higher than your initial bets. But be extremely careful, because it does not mean, that you will withdraw real money, when you get big prizes. The game is so much fun that, acting carelessly, you risk losing your bankroll very quickly. Everything happens as in the days of the Wild West.

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Holland's Tulips 8-day Bike & Barge Tour (FLR)

  • 8days
  • Netherlands

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Bike & Barge Tours Europe

Tulips, cheese and Dutch history 8-day Bike & Barge Tour

This wonderful Bike & Barge Tour that starts and ends in Amsterdam, takes you through the provinces of South- and North Holland while spring flowers are in bloom. You will spend time in the historical cities of Haarlem, Leiden, Gouda and Alkmaar and learn about the water management of these lowlands at the North Sea. You will also visit the famous Keukenhof gardens, known by the hundreds of thousands of blooming tulips, hyacinths, daffodils and other bulb flowers. The world-famous Aalsmeer flower auction is on the program where an astonishing volume of beautiful flowers are being traded daily and exported all over the world the World. One night the barge mooring is at the open air museum ‘the Zaanse Schans’ with its windmills, cheese farm and picturesque wooden houses. You will be surprised by the beautiful, varied scenery and the wonderful cycle paths of Holland

The barge can accommodate a maximum of 20 guests in the 10 comfortable cabins on the lower deck, each with private sanitary facilities, central heating and air-conditioning. On the upper deck there is a lounge with large windows, a roomy sitting area and bar, and outside a half-covered sun deck. Wonderful for a cup of coffee or tea, or a glass of wine.

Included in the Bike and Barge Tour:

  • 8 days/7 nights
  • Breakfast
  • Packed lunches
  • 6 x 3-course dinner
  • Coffee and tea on board
  • Welcome drink
  • Use of bed linen and towels
  • Daily cleaning of the cabin
  • Climate-controlled cabin
  • Daily briefings
  • Fully guided cycling tours (from 18 guests: 2 tour leaders, 2 groups)
  • Some short walking tours
  • GPS tracks
  • Use of a helmet
  • Use of a waterproof pannier bag
  • Water bottle
  • Fees for ferries
  • Entrance Keukenhof
  • Visit original Dutch cheese farm
  • Entrance North-Holland Dune reserve
  • Entrance flower auction Aalsmeer
  • Wi-Fi

Not included in the tour:

  • 1 dinner
  • Drinks
  • Rental bicycle or E-Bike
  • Parking fees
  • Entrance fees & excursions (not mentioned under included)
  • Transfers to/from the docking place in Amsterdam
  • Personal insurances
  • Gratuities (at your discretion)

  • When there are less than 18 guests aboard, the tours will be accompanied by one knowledgeable and multi-lingual tour leader. During days when two bicycle options are possible, the tour leader will make a choice to guide the longer or the shorter option after consultation of the group.
  • Not all mentioned highlights can be visited during the short cycling option.
  • You can also choose to ride individually with the help of a map (available on board). GPS tracks will be sent to you 4 weeks before the start date of the tour.
  • In case you prefer a rest you can skip the bike tour and relax on board while cruising to the next town.
  • On the arrival day please bring your luggage on board from 11am.
  • Dietary requirements on request/surcharges may be applied-booking is necessary).

  • Parking in Amsterdam (valet parking): prices and pre-booking on request
  • Departure Saturday only

If you would like to rent a bike (95 EUR) or e-bike (210 EUR),  please contact our office when booking: [email protected]

Slow Tours offers a number of other Bike & Barge tour in Europe

Read More

  • Day 1

    Embarkation: Amsterdam

    Amsterdam - Spaarndam | Spaarndam – Haarlem 6km or 14km

    You are welcome to check in between 1pm and 2pm. The crew will welcome you with coffee and tea. At 2.30pm the barge leaves the harbour. While the barge sails to Haarlem, your tour leader will tell you about the tour, the cycling and safety. From Spaarndam you have the option to do a little test ride. After dinner on board, the tour leader will take you on a town walk through the beautiful city centre of Haarlem.

  • Day 2

    Haarlem – Keukenhof – Leiden 38km

    Today’s trip leads you through the oldest tulip fields of Holland, including a visit of the Keukenhof gardens. This is the most beautiful bulb park in the world. Keukenhof is the place where the spring breaks. An overwhelming blaze of colours, seven million flowering tulips in a magnificent 80-acres’ background of traditional and modern gardening architecture. You also can admire the various hyacinths, daffodils and many other colourful flowers. In the afternoon you cycle to the city of Leiden. Dinner on board and after that you can join the walk through town.

  • Day 3

    Leiden – Gouda 32km or 40km

    Breakfast while sailing out of Leiden. Your cycling tour starts just outside Leiden and leads through the ‘green heart’ of Holland. Near Zoeterwoude, you will visit a cheese farm where you will learn about the cheese-making process and you will have the opportunity to taste the results. In the afternoon you reach Gouda, famous for the Gouda cheese. Gouda has an attractive compact centre with her pretty market square and Gothic town hall. The main church of Gouda, devoted to Saint John, is world famous for its stained glass windows. After dinner you can join the walk through town.

  • Day 4

    Gouda – Alphen a/d Rijn | Alphen a/d Rijn – Kudelstaart 20km or 44km

    We stay in Gouda this morning. You have the opportunity to do some shopping and to visit the market square with its cheese weigh house or you can visit the St. Johns church. We leave by barge around noon and have a light lunch on board. From Alphen aan den Rijn you cycle through the ‘green heart’ of South Holland via river Drecht and Amstel-Drecht channel to Kudelstaart.

  • Day 5

    Kudelstaart – Flower auction | Aalsmeer – Amsterdam | Amsterdam – Zaanse Schans 32km or 41km

    At 6.30am you can drink an early cup of coffee. After that you cycle to the flower auction of Aalsmeer, the largest of Europe. Here, huge quantities of flowers are trucked in and sold every day, after which they are distributed all over Europe. After your visit you return on board (around 9am) for a late breakfast while the barge sails to Amsterdam. You will enjoy a nice cruise, right through the city.

    Today’s cycling tour takes you from Amsterdam to Zaanse Schans, a unique hamlet where people live and work, with original houses and windmills from the river Zaan area. The hamlet is dominated by operating windmills, the oldest built in 1673, for grinding mustard, spices, paint and oil and for sawing wood into planks. As you walk through the village you will see a clock museum, an old-fashioned grocery store, a house with period furniture, a clog maker and a cheese farm.

  • Day 6

    Zaanse Schans – Alkmaar 29km or 40km

    This morning you cycle to the Hortus Bulborum, a unique garden museum dedicated to the preservation of rare and historic bulbs. More than 4,000 tulips, daffodils, hyacinths and other flowers are planted here. Your cycling tour continues to Egmond at the North sea. The tour goes through the dunes to Alkmaar. This town is known as a Dutch cheese city. As you wander through the streets you’ll be amazed by the beauty of Alkmaar’s Old Town, with its well-preserved 17th century buildings and narrow, winding canals. Dinner in town at your own account.

  • Day 7

    Alkmaar – Amsterdam 37km or 54km

    After breakfast your cycling tour leads you to the former windmill complex of the Schermer Polder. Here we visit the Schermerhorn Windmill Museum. Your next stop is the beautiful town of De Rijp. Centuries of history are still evident here in De Rijp’s wooden facades, beautiful church, lock and town hall. From here, your ride continues back to Amsterdam. In the late afternoon or evening there is time for a canal tour through the famous canals of the city.

  • Day 8

    End of your tour: Disembarkation after breakfast until 9.30am

  • Read More

Tours marked with are special prices.

Start End Max. No. Guests Accommodation Price p.p.
Apr 24 2021 May 01 2021 20 Single rooms 1,874€
Double rooms 1,249€
May 01 2021 May 08 2021 20 Single rooms 1,874€
Double rooms 1,249€

Car rental in Netherlands

If you would like to drive yourself before or after your tour, ask us for a quote on any brand new Renault, Peugeot or Citroen vehicle for driving in Europe.

Pick up your vehicle from most capital cities in Europe and return it to your drop off destination. Top insurance cover. Email [email protected] for a competitive quote

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Gotcha! – A Photostory

I watched the mixer spin around and around. I was making madeleines, a delicious french treat, perfect for the Patisserie. The ingredients were swirling around smoothly and soon I would have the perfect madeleine dough. After a few minutes of being hypnotized, I realized that someone was at the counter. Well, actually, they made me come to my senses when they cleared their throat, a little loudly, at that. “I’m coming, I’m coming!” I exclaimed. I rushed to the counter, {Read More}

Decorating the Tree – A Photostory

“You guys got a tree?” Jessica squealed, feeling the rough branches of the new Christmas tree that was in the living room. “I thought Mom said we couldn’t have a tree since we were moving!” “Well, Sarah told us it wasn’t time to move yet, and so with Mom’s approval, we got a Christmas tree!” Isabelle said. Darica smiled. “We were just about to decorate it. We already put the lights on the tree.” “Did someone say tree?” Kanani asked, overhearing. {Read More}


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SMPSA information

The South Mississippi Practical Shooting Association (SMPSA) is sanctioned by USPSA as club MS10. This club shoots in Poplarville, Ms. Directions to the range can be found here. The shooting schedule can be found here.

The range is not open to the public. It is a private club, and range access is only available to club members who are actively participating in club matches. There are no exceptions. Membership is $40.00 per year and members are required to attend occasional range work days.

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UniLoop - BLVK Unicorn - 60mL

UniLoop - BLVK Unicorn - 60mL
UniLoop - BLVK Unicorn - 60mL
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UniLoop by BLVK Unicorn is a phenomenal cereal profile, presenting a flaky cereal base with added dried fruit for a pleasurable vaping experience.

BLVK Unicorn - UniLoop Features:

60mL Chubby Gorilla Bottle
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Available nicotine: 0mg, 3mg, 6mg

CALIFORNIA PROPOSITION 65 - Warning: This product contains nicotine, a chemical known to the state of California to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm.

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Express shipping

300+ varieties of Snus

Competetive prices

The 24th of October we celebrate the World Snus Day or 'Snusets dag'. This is something we want to pay attention to here at SnusMe, not only because of the increasing popular tradition of snus but also because of the lives it saves from smoking.

Since the beginning of the 19th century, when snus became popular, it has been a Swedish symbol and tradition. There are also clear advantages of snus compared to cigarettes. In connection with #WorldSnusDay, which is celebrated on October 24, SnusMe wants to draw attention to these benefits.

Snus leads to reduced smoking
The World Health Organization estimates that about 7 million people die annually from smoking-related diseases. In Sweden, about 12,000 people die annually and around 100,000 fall ill with diseases linked to tobacco smoking. Tobacco use in Sweden is on a par with the EU average, but since snus accounts for just over half of Swedes' tobacco use, smoking-related damage is lower.

By raising and reminding about the benefits of snus in addition to smoking, SnusMe hopes that more people around the world will stop smoking with the help of snus. The snus company also advocates tobacco-free alternatives for those who prefer it because it is much better than smoking.
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Moose Huth MI

Moose is doing wonderful! He is so good with the boys. He must have been a lady’s dog because ever since we brought him home he is very partial to me, even though he was suppose to be my husband’s dog. He follows me around the house from room to room when I put the boys to bed and he will usually lie in the hallway between the boys’ rooms.  He loves to play ball with my husband, but will not go to bed unless I’m going.

We recently had our fourth boy, who is now four months old. Moose even checks on him and licks his head when I’m rocking him to sleep or when I get him up in the morning and always does rounds on the kids before bed. He is very protective. I think he enjoys the fast pace of the kids, who are now six, four, two, and four months.

I am sorry I haven’t sent pictures I meant to so many times. So here are a few. We tried to give him a traditional Airedale haircut, but with the snow balls that accumulate around his paws in the winter, the burrs hes runs through in the summer, and two feet dirt holes he digs for his balls, we chose a different clip. To keep my sanity and house somewhat clean we keep his hair somewhat short. Even the beard that I’d love him to have gets so slobbery and muddy when he plays outdoors with the boys we have clipped. He’s either in the kiddy pool, getting sprayed with the hose, or digging in the dirt which makes a big muddy mess. In the end everybody washes and everybody sleeps well at night and has had a great time during the day.

Thank you so much for Moose. He’s just what our family needed.

The Huth family


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Recently worked on I added traveling NPCs back into the game, this time following paths instead of making a beeline for their target. I would say its a minor change compared to what else has been going on, overall I'm very impressed by the the speed of development.

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Coastal governance and management

As was emphasised in previous SoE reports (e.g. SoE 2011), coastal management in Australia is carried out using a range of approaches by multiple levels of government. Most management is done by local councils and state and territory governments, and for most issues, levels of government are not coordinated (see Integrated coastal management frameworks). Ideally, the scale of management should match the scales at which pressures and processes operate. Many of the pressures affecting the coast are national in scale, and national management frameworks are therefore desirable.

The EPBC Act provides national protection for coastal biodiversity. Coastal environments receive national protection under the EPBC Act if classified as Ramsar wetlands1 (Australia has 28 coastal wetlands), or if they contain nationally threatened species (see Threatened species), ecological communities or migratory species. Of the 23 Conservation Management Zones outlined by the Australian Government, 18 include a coastal component.

An overview of protected areas across Australia is provided by the Collaborative Australian Protected Area Database, which compiles information on protected areas, including those in the coastal zone (Figure COA16). Levels of protection range from 1 to 6, corresponding to the 6 IUCN protected area categories. The highest level of protection is 1, and 6 the lowest. In addition to these are Indigenous Protected Areas, which are identified land and sea Country dedicated for protection by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Coastal communities often hold mixed values and opinions about how to manage the land, the sea and natural resources. Coastal planners have the difficult task of considering different points of view, solving conflicts and creating a management plan that is widely acknowledged (Domínguez-Tejo et al 2016). To achieve this, coastal planners follow planning frameworks. Frameworks are like building blueprints that help planners and the community work together on what they want to achieve. They provide guidelines, or step-by-step instructions, to lead the planning process.

Marine spatial planning (MSP) is one of the frameworks used worldwide. Through MSP, multiple stakeholders collaborate in a public process, analysing human activities in their planning area. They assess the known and potential impacts of the activities on the environment and, ultimately, a plan is drafted supporting a balanced set of ecological, economic and social objectives. MSP has been undertaken in places such as the Great Barrier Reef (see Box COA10) and the New South Wales coast. Similarly, the ecosystem-based approach (EBA) to marine planning tries to find a balance between development needs and protecting the environment, and is the backbone of the United Nation’s Convention on Biological Diversity. When these frameworks are coupled together, the MSP–EBA paradigm has shown great potential to help us understand social values attached to the marine environment.

Coastal management is also promoted by nongovernment organisations, such as the Australian Coastal Councils Association. Known as the National Sea Change Taskforce until July 2015, the association is a national body representing the interests of coastal councils and their communities. It commissions research on a range of coastal issues and advocates for the interests of coastal councils to various levels of government.

The Marine nation 2025: marine science to support Australia’s blue economy (2013) position paper outlined Australia’s ‘blue economy’ prospects. This document was preceded by the National Marine Science Plan (NMSP; 2015), which identified the creation of sustainable urban coastal development as a key challenge in supporting Australia’s blue economy attempts to deliver ‘economical, cultural and social benefits that are efficient, equitable and sustainable’.

The NMSP made the following recommendations for better management of urban coastal areas, some of which are also applicable to unmodified areas of coast:

  • Provide targeted projections of sea level rise, including changes in extreme flood events.
  • Better characterise catchment contaminant pathways, coastal morphologies and environmental processes, and define envelopes of natural variability and thresholds of concern.
  • Understand pressure interactions and resource use, including the cumulative impacts of sea level rise; loss and continual degradation of coastal and estuarine habitats; and loss of productivity, ecosystem services and population connectivity.
  • Develop innovative sensing technologies, including those based on new molecular tools, to provide cost-effective monitoring in the coastal zone.
  • Improve data coordination and discoverability of coastal data from multiple sources.
  • Develop, test and apply methods to mitigate the impact of coastal hazards, including eco-engineering and restoration approaches.

The National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility is developing its CoastAdapt tool, which will address some of these recommendations. Australia’s ‘blue economy’ plans are discussed in further detail in the Marine environment report.

The Plan for a cleaner environment (DoE 2016) outlines Australia’s efforts towards achieving clean air, clean land, clean water and heritage protection.

Box COA10 Management of the Great Barrier Reef

A topical area of coastal management is the Great Barrier Reef. The Reef is in poor and declining condition as a result of catchment activities in combination with pressures associated with climate change (see the Marine environment report). Future governance is facing the difficult prospect of balancing economic growth with environmental sustainability, while simultaneously managing the effects of a changing climate. Focus is placed on improving water quality and restoring critical ecosystems, but there is often disagreement among interested parties (e.g. agriculture versus tourism industries) regarding the effectiveness of current and proposed management frameworks.

Several recent reports outline management practices for the Great Barrier Reef, including the Great Barrier Reef outlook report 2014, the Great Barrier Reef Water Science Taskforce final report 2016, the Reef 2050 Long-Term Sustainability Plan (2015) and the Reef 2050 Plan—Implementation Strategy.

A measure of the effectiveness of land management is the status of conservation of major vegetation groups. Figure COA17 shows the extent of each remaining vegetation group relative to the percentage protected under IUCN protected levels 1 to 4 (see Figure COA11 for information about their change in coverage). It shows the current state in 2014 and the change since 2010 in the percentage reserved. Coastal vegetation groups that are both low in extent and poorly protected (and therefore vulnerable) are Acacia Open Woodlands, and Acacia Forests and Woodlands (Figure COA17). Reduced protection has occurred for Chenopod Shrublands, and Samphire Shrublands and Forblands, which have had their protected areas reduced by more than 15 per cent since 2010.

Three current issues in coastal management are frameworks for integrated management, cumulative impact management and risk-based methods for prioritising management. These are discussed in the following sections, followed by a discussion of recent developments in approach and methods for coastal management.

Clark GF, Johnston EL (2016). Coasts: Coastal governance and management. In: Australia state of the environment 2016, Australian Government Department of the Environment and Energy, Canberra,, DOI 10.4226/94/58b659bdc758b


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European Commission looking into South Stream Bulgarian tender

Written by on January 15, 2014 in Business - No comments

The European Commission was looking into the public procurement tender to pick a contractor for the Bulgarian stretch of the South Stream gas pipeline, but no formal investigation has been opened at this point, the spokesperson for internal market commissioner Michel Barnier, Chantal Hughes, has said.

“We have been recently made aware that there are some concerns around the public procurement aspects of the Bulgarian part of the South Stream project. Our experts are looking into the issue. It is far too early at this stage to say exactly what rules apply and whether any of these have or not been breached,” Hughes said during the daily Commission briefing on January 14.

Bulgaria announced the tender on December 21 2013, with a deadline of January 10 2014 for potential bidders to submit letters of interest, drawing criticism from some quarters that the period was too short and the bulk of it was covered by the winter festive season.

Bulgarian Energy Holding, which hold equal stakes with Russia’s Gazprom in the project company that will build the Bulgarian stretch of the pipeline, said that 11 companies submitted letters of interest before the deadline expired.

“My understanding is that, in most cases, the minimum [period to express interest] is around 10 days, but it can be more depending on what the context is. The first thing to do in this case is to determine whether or not European public procurement rules apply and that is not necessarily completely straightforward because we’re talking about issues to do with exclusivity of rights, we’re talking about an international government agreement,” Hughes said.

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