text:
taking a trip down memory lane with anti-SM feminism*

*I originally posted this on January 11, 2007. I followed it up with a second post, which I will re-post here next week as a continuation of the theme.

Oh, but before you read it, check out Inverted Eye, a new online boutique that is… well, I almost don’t want to spoil the surprise.  Suffice it to say that it’s a very different trip down memory lane, and one that’s dandy-delicious, deeply kinky and thoroughly original. Okay, so at the end of this post I’ll add Alix’s little intro blurb to the site and the concept, but I encourage you to go and take a look for yourself first. What a treasure trove! (Personally I’m lusting after the antique test tubes… so many possibilities…)

A couple of days ago, on an international BDSM list I’m on, someone posted the link to a 1993 article entitled “Ten Lies About Sadomasochism” by Melissa Farley. It was such a textbook example of reactionary anti-sex feminism that I read the whole thing through and was completely fascinated. It’s a fairly quick read – I totally encourage you to go take a look. I’m going to unpack it here a bit but it’s long enough that I’m going to post only highlights. It is, by the way, focused on lesbian sadomasochism, which makes it particularly meaty in my little world.

It’s funny – when I find these things I consider them to be almost like buried treasure. Clearly I disagree point by point with what Farley and her brand of feminism have (perhaps more like “had”) to say, but it’s such an intriguing glimpse into a sex-related thought process that’s so completely alien to me, I can’t help but enjoy the trip. Much like the book Against Sadomasochism, edited by Robin Linden et al. Classic!

These two texts are some of many, many examples I’ve seen of skewed thinking about S/M on the part of a person who clearly hasn’t actually taken the time to look past the “shocking” images and learn about the nuances of what’s really going on. This kind of thing used to bother me, but now it just kinda bores me – yeah yeah, another person getting all tied up in knots (or not, as the case may be!) about something they don’t really understand. Oh well. They can masturbate with a non-penetrative sex toy while listening to Helen Reddy, while I spell my name in needles on someone’s back and then ass-fuck them to the sound of loud multiple orgasms. To each their kinks. It’s unfortunate that they choose to be reactionary instead of considering the deeper meanings of things, but it certainly doesn’t make them right.

Since Farley makes it really easy by laying things out in a ten-point list of “lies,” I’m going to give a few responses to the points. Do go and read the article, though, if you want to see the meat of her arguments, some of which I’ll include for context, but not all because of length.

For starters, some general criticism: the piece reads like a tabloid article. People addicted to SM! Murders only whispered about but not openly acknowledged! The goal of SM being total annihilation! All SM including verbal abuse, and all sexual power dynamics extending to the relationship outside play! Oy. Hardly the stuff of considered, clear-headed analysis, works cited list notwithstanding. Fun from a pulp-novel point of view, mind you.

1. Pain is pleasure; humiliation is enjoyable; bondage is liberation.

Part of the reason that we are vulnerable to this lie is that many of us were raised with religious notions that punishment is love and that suffering is redemption. We’ve learned to “consent” to subordination, even become culturally enthralled by it.

True; some of us have been deeply damaged by repressive religious notions. Interestingly those are often the same notions that say we’re not supposed to enjoy sex or be queer – but Farley doesn’t seem to be telling us we aren’t really queer, that lesbianism is just a reaction to religious oppression. Also interesting that this supposed cultural enthrallment with our own subordination is so all-powerful that it eclipses our power of choice… and even more so that it only explains the submissive/bottom side of things. It does take two to tango, after all – would the reverse of this argument be that dominants/tops have become culturally enthralled with control and empowerment? Isn’t it interesting that there seem to be two polar-opposite cultures at work here, simultaneously, one of which would seem to predicate an awful lot of power and choice, if you choose to look at SM one-dimensionally in the first place? Of course it isn’t that simple in real life… which is exactly the point.

2. Sadomasochism is love and trust, not domination and annihilation.

Sadomasochism has to do with annihilation. Contrary to the popular legend that sadomasochism expands one’s sexuality, I believe that it restricts and ultimately destroys one’s sexual being. Subordination, humiliation, and torture are all means of deliberately destroying the self.

Hee hee. Annihilation? My goodness. There must be an awful lot of us getting annihilated. Honestly, if I were interested in that, it’d be a lot faster to just take a gun to someone’s head – all this painstaking study of proper bondage technique and blood safety protocol would be pretty much a waste of time. Awww, and I was having so much fun! Not to mention all those awesome orgasms my destroyed sexual being seems to be capable of experiencing and providing. Maybe I’m just making those up.

Farley then goes on to quote an article about infamous Texas cult leader Koresh, about how he “entwined ‘sex, violence, love and fear’” in order to control cult members. A rather hysterical comparison if you ask me – I have yet to encounter a BDSM cult, though I’d be intrigued if ever there was one. (Oooh! Crazy people with great accessories!) Unfortunately for Farley, though, BDSM is usually a lot more banal – it’s generally sought out by its participants and includes no brainwashing or kooky religious beliefs.

She also mentions (disgustedly) a 1990 article by Jan Brown entitled, “Sex, Lies and Penetration, a Butch Finally ‘Fesses Up,” where Brown writes: “Sex that is gentle, passive, egalitarian, does not move us. (…) We want to have the freedom to ignore ‘no’ or have our own ‘no’ ignored.”

Luckily I happen to have the article in its entirety because it’s included in Joan Nestle’s The Persistent Desire: A Femme-Butch Reader. The full article is not available online, unfortunately, so you’ll have to trust me when I say it’s basically a rant on the part of a sex-positive butch dyke former sex worker. She’s pretty much sick of all kinds of PC justifications for liking such things as penetration (it’s all about the nerve endings!), dildos (they’re a plastic tribute to our lesbian herstory!) and rough sex (we frame it with safewords and that’s why it’s hot!), and is trying to explain that really, we just like that shit because it’s deep-down hot all on its own. She is totally not advocating rape or nonconsent – she’s explaining that the desires running through sexual practice are not explainable in PC terms but must be understood for what they are. I love this quoting-out-of-context thing Farley’s doing. Notice Brown talks about the freedom to ignore “no,” not the obligation to. Yeesh.

3. Sadomasochism is not racist and anti Semitic even though we “act” like slave owners and enslaved Africans, Nazis and persecuted Jews.

Farley describes a race-play scene she saw once (Nazi torturer, Jewish captive). Don’t get me wrong – I totally understand how this kind of thing might trigger some people to anger. Much like a rape scene in a movie might trigger a rape victim. But it’s that very charge that makes race play (and rape play for that matter) a major erotic thriller for some folks. The emphasis being on “some” – I’ve probably seen two or three such scenes in my entire life, so they’re hardly emblematic of the entire community. I’ve only even read one article on the topic, and it’s by Midori, who’s a queer Japanese-American switch herself – hardly a spokesperson for the white male patriarchy.

But for those who go there, the whole point is that it’s risky emotional territory – not because the players are unaware of the risk, but because they are highly aware of it. I’d direct my real anger at the ignorant people who perpetuate racism in places outside their consensual fantasy life, not the ones who consensually and consciously explore the erotic power of race-related taboo in very specific and defined contexts.

Farley then goes on to say: If a radical feminist were to challenge (a) newspaper on the issue of sadomasochism, we’d be called “censors.” The whole issue of censorship is used to intimidate us and silence critical dialogue about sadomasochism.

Farley is taking a very odd view of censorship here. She seems to think all anti-SM sentiments are being blocked from expression. Um… proof to the contrary being the publication of her article, no? Cry me a river, honey – MacKinnon and Dworkin’s work, which you so dearly admire, was used as the basis for Canada’s customs laws, which Little Sisters queer bookstore in Vancouver has been battling for over a decade. Not to mention, just take a look at Canada’s laws… or the US’s recent FBI-approved clampdowns on SM porn and websites. It’s hardly the anti-SM dialogue that’s being squelched, even 14 years after this article was published!

4. Sadomasochism is consensual; no one gets hurt if they don’t want to get hurt. No one has died from sadomasochistic “scenes.”

Is it ever OK to consent to one’s own humiliation and victimization? I do not think so. Sadists pay lip service to consent, but ignore the power systems which create inequality and make meaningful consent impossible. In this culture we have no experience of equal power relationships.

Actually, it’s very much OK to consent to one’s own humiliation. I think the word “victimization” is not really the right one here because the word itself implies non-consent, but I do think it’s also OK to consent to one’s own torture. That OK-ness is the only thing that makes consent meaningful at all – the fact that we have the choice. If we’ve only got one choice, there’s no power in making it; it’s already being made for us, whether by the patriarchy or by feminism.

We don’t have to like all the choices in front of us, and if we think that some of them are being affected by lack of information or whatever, then we should provide as many alternative viewpoints as possible to make choices as meaningful as they can be. But the old feminist argument that there’s no such thing as empowered sexual choice in a sexist world is pretty defeatist and circular, all things considered – which is probably why it’s a lot less commonly heard these days. It’s no fun to have our ability to make sexual choices denied by the very community that’s supposed to be supporting our empowerment. Results in far fewer orgasms, too. I’m much more interested in feminism that takes a realistic look at the forces of society while also factoring in the realistic choices we each make to fulfil our desires.

Extreme violence sometimes occurs during sadomasochistic “play.” I have been informed of many instances where “safe” words were ignored during a sadomasochistic “scene.” I also know that women have died during sadomasochistic activities and that these deaths are only whispered about – they are not openly acknowledged.

Note the author stops short of naming names, providing case details and openly acknowledging any such deaths herself – hmmm, I wonder why? I’m sure some people ignore safewords, but that makes them abusers, not players. (Check out the differences between SM and abuse here if you’re interested in a really articulate breakdown.) Perhaps a few nutcases have even killed their bottoms, but then they’re criminals and possibly psychopaths, not SM players – no matter how they dress up. Those are the sorts of people who get ostracized by the kinky folks, and hopefully arrested; can’t say I’ve ever met one. But I highly doubt there’s a huge list of unsolved BDSM-related murders out there or the attendance at fetish balls would doubtless plummet.

5. Sadomasochism is only about sex. It doesn’t extend into the rest of the relationship.

Sadomasochism has everything to do with sexism, racism and class in the real world. It is very much related to internalized self-hatred.

That’s why we’re all enjoying ourselves so much…?

The sadistic sexual relationship sets the tone for the rest of the relationship.

Possibly, in instances of consensual D/s. Otherwise it’s abusive, and once again – abuse is not SM. (Key distinction: watch for the bottom’s orgasm, or failing that, their look of sheer bliss.)

Hitting someone is usually a sadistic act.

Wrong. Hitting someone (outside BDSM) is usually an angry act, not a sadistic one. Refer back to the article on SM vs abuse. Abuse is not nearly as much fun.

Assault and rape do occur in lesbian relationships – and they are normalized by the patterns laid down sexually.

Yes, assault does occur between women, and can indeed be supported by sexualized patterns. Once again, though: are they having fun? No? Probably abusive. Yes? Then what are we worried about?

6. Sadomasochistic pornography has no relationship to the sadomasochistic society we live in. “If it feels good, go with it.” “We create our own sexuality.”

We internalize sadomasochistic fantasies because it is the sexuality which has been shoved down our throats from the day we were born. As women we’re raised to be “bottoms:” lesbian “bottoms” tend to outnumber “tops” [sadists] by 10 to 1.

True – not in quite such a high ratio, but Trevor Jacques’ massive 1999 study on BDSM demographics (it’s fucking fascinating!) indicates that women are statistically more likely to be bottoms, lesbian or otherwise. We could speculate on all kinds of reasons for this, and doubtless some of them are society-related. However, the existence of such stats still doesn’t explain lesbian tops, switches, het male bottoms, or gay male bottoms – clearly there are other options than bottoming, and presumably the bottoms are there because they want to be. There’s always a huge number of male bottoms too, to the point where it’s a common in-joke in the SM world that female tops get mobbed by male bottoms as soon as they walk into a dungeon. So, uh, what’s the point?

7. Lesbians “into sadomasochism” are feminists, devoted to women, and a women-only lesbian community. Lesbian pornography is “by women, for women.”

While lesbians who are “into sadomasochism” define themselves as lesbian, their sadomasochistic practices are bisexual. I have no political criticism of bisexuality – what I am criticizing is sadomasochist posturing as devoted lesbian members of the women’s community.

Wow. Now that’s a huge unsupported and unsupportable blanket statement about an entire community’s sexual practice. Last time I checked, there really were SM lesbians out there. SM bi girls too. Some are devoted members of the women’s community, some not.

Sure, it’s unfortunate that some people keep their bisexuality in the closet, but they’re hardly restricted to the SM world – lots of vanilla women define themselves as lesbians and still boink the occasional dude. And if there’s no political criticism of bisexuality implied, why would its existence in the women’s community imply posturing or lack of devotion? Sure sounds like political criticism to me. Not to mention irrelevant to SM.

Pseudolesbian pornography, that is, pictures of women who are imitating lesbians’ sexual behavior, has been a favored element in straight male pornography since it was first published. It sells. Despite the fact that it is often advertised as being owned and distributed by and for women, “lesbian” pornography sells briskly to straight men.

Well, of course pseudolesbian porn would. I highly doubt the real stuff is nearly as interesting. The indie handicam stuff made by (hot) pierced and tattooed plus-size butch dykes in San Francisco has very little in common with the stuff you get on the late-night channel and doesn’t “sell briskly” to anyone; it costs $60 a video, gets stopped at the border more often than not, and is only available at independently run co-ops – which I dearly love and support as often as I can with my hard-earned cash, but really. Real lesbian porn is not exactly a massive moneymaking endeavour. But the main point being: what does all this have to do with SM?

Bottoms are seen as “generic, interchangeable, and replaceable.”  (Califia, 1992)

Now this is a quote out of context if ever I’ve seen one. I can’t seem to find the original article online in full either, but it’s reprinted in the book Leatherfolk: Radical Sex, People, Politics and Practice, edited by Mark Thompson, which I also luckily have on my shelf.

The article itself is about the ways in which tops and bottoms bitch about each other within the SM community and make life difficult for each other. A classic example of the way Califia directs his acidic criticism at those he loves best – in a book intended for a readership of SMers, not as an educational tool for outsiders. In fact he contextualizes the entire thing in the first few paragraphs by writing:

“The dialogue within our community about how S/M works on a day-to-day level and how we can form healthy identities as radical perverts has to grow beyond the elementary information we offer outsiders who are still having a hard time making a distinction between rape and an erotic spanking.”

(And what sort of outsider do you think he’s talking about here, Ms. Farley?…)

In the paragraphs preceding the quote, Califia criticizes bottoms who objectify tops:

“I have yet to meet a top who didn’t feel they were frequently depersonalized and objectified by the people who cruise them. This is an odd sensation. You know that sombody wants you bad, but you’re not sure they know who the hell you are. (…) Some forms of masochism and fetishism are actually very sophisticated and complex forms of masturbation. Although the fantasy of a partner’s presence may be necessary to make the imagined situation arousing, that dominant has no more independent needs or feelings than a seven-inch high heel or a see-through plastic raincoat. (…) Autoerotic S/M is not inherently bad, immature, or oppressive. But it’s much easier to fulfill these fantasies by jerking off or hiring a professional than it is to persuade someone else to cooperate out of philanthropy.”

Then, and only then, does he turn his criticism against tops:

“It’s not just bottoms who treat their potential partners like things. Bottoms are even more likely to be seen as generic, interchangeable, and replaceable than tops. Dare I say that it would be healthy for tops to learn a little more respect and humility?”

And then he continues with other bitching: how the community doesn’t always make it easy for people who want to switch, for tops to learn how to structure a scene so it’s satisfying for them as tops, and so forth.

So… hardly an example of Califia telling the world that bottoms don’t matter. Crikey.

8. Since lesbians are superior to men, we can “play” with sadomasochism in a liberating way that heterosexuals can not.

I do not think that women are biologically superior to men. In fact, I see that notion as dangerous and reactionary. “Anatomy is destiny” is not exactly a feminist idea.

Thank goodness, there’s a bit of reason in here. At last, Farley and I agree on something!

Occasionally in the SM world there are people known as “female supremacists” who truly believe women are biologically superior to men. They tend to be hetero guys who eroticize this dynamic, and the hetero women that like such men. I have yet to meet a leatherdyke who thinks this way; outside certain specific kinds of hetero kink, this line of thinking is largely the province of essentialist feminist radicals from the ’70s, not of the modern leatherdyke. Just because we mugrunch doesn’t mean we manhate (even my non-bisexual sisters).

We delude ourselves if we think it is possible to “play” the rapist without becoming the rapist.

So there’s no difference between playing a role and becoming a criminal? Gee, all those gun-toting film stars must have crazy long murder rap sheets then…

9. Reenacting abuse heals abuse. Sadomasochism heals emotional wounds from childhood sexual assault.

A greater percentage of women “into sadomasochism” have histories of childhood sexual assault, than those women who do not participate in sadomasochism.

Really? What study shows this? Why is it not in the works cited list?

I just checked out page 22 of Jacque’s survey data (here’s the link again), which covers this very point for this specific demographic. If you average out the first three categories of childhood abuse – physical, sexual and emotional – it would seem that 44% of his female survey respondents reported being abused, and 22% of the male respondents. Specifically, for women: 34.7% physically, 44.4% sexually and 53.6% emotionally. And for men: 16.8% physically, 16.8% sexually and 32% emotionally.

Now, I’m not a statistician and I’m not an abuse researcher, but here’s the data that came up in the first few Google pages when I searched for the words statistics, abuse, women and Canada:

– “1 in 3 females and 1 in 6 males in Canada experience some form of sexual abuse before the age of 18.” (From the Safe Kids BC site, quoting the 1999 McCreary Adolescent Health Survey II)

– “Sexual abuse statistics vary between countries and reports, but are consistently alarming: One country’s research indicates that up to 36% of girls and 29% of boys have suffered child sexual abuse; another study reveals up to 46% of girls and 20% of boys have experienced sexual coercion (The 57th session of the UN Commission on Human Rights).” (From the statistics page of the Child Abuse Effects site.)

Basically, as Trevor himself has said at numerous presentations of this data (most recently, in my attendance at least, at the 9th International Bi Conference in Toronto last summer), this is pretty consistent with his data on BDSMers. At the very least, if there are percentage variations, they’re hardly enormous. In other words – we’re no more or less likely to have been abused as kids. So let’s get over this argument already!

Farley also engages in a twisted piece of psychological speculation about people’s motivations for SM that I’m not even going to try to unpack here because it’s so full of “may” and “might” and “does not seem” it might as well say nothing at all – and is utterly devoid of any real psychological data or even reference to psychological theory, even of the armchair variety.

Suffice it to say that a carefully constructed scene that allows someone to enter risky emotional territory can indeed be healing, but there are no guarantees, and most sane adults only engage in that sort of thing with a great deal of care and awareness of its risks. You’re highly unlikely to see someone at the local dungeon acting out their childhood abuse scenario to achieve psychological healing. I mean just for starters, it can be more than a little freaky for a top to be cast in the role of someone’s former abuser – you have to really trust your bottom if you’re going to enter that kind of scenario and come out the other end feeling good about it!

10. Sadomasochism is political dissent. It is progressive and even “transgressive” in that it breaks the rules of the dominant sexual ideology.

The posturing of sadists and masochists as “transgressive” can be confusing to those not familiar with feminist theory. By definition, the ultimate goal of feminism is to end sadomasochism.

Depends what kind of feminist theory you’re talking about – anyone who does know anything about feminist theory can tell you there are many many flavours of it! Try sex-positive feminism. It’s fun, and one of my personal favourites.

Our system is sadomasochistic to the core, how is celebrating it any kind of true rebellion? (Fritz, 1983). The political values of sadism are blatantly antifeminist, totalitarian and right-wing.

That’s why we have to fight censorship, risk losing custody of our kids and function at the edges of the law – because we’re right in keeping with the dominant system. Huh?

Sadomasochism is not a creative deviation from normal heterosexual behavior. It is the defining quality of the power relationship between women and men. Sadism is the logical extension of behavior that arises out of male power (Wagner, 1982).

Which explains why all those lesbians and fags are doing it together, and why there are female tops? Wow, does this ever show a simplistic view of power relations.

We live in a misogynist world, and women have so little political power, that it’s easier to fantasize about absolute personal power than to politically organize for change (Clarke, 1993).

Funny, the leatherdykes of my acquaintance are generally among the most politically active people I know. Much like a significant number of major feminist activists are lesbians (and historically have been too, perhaps even more so in the past than today). Maybe because when you’re a minority within a minority (or a minority within a minority within a minority in the case of leatherdykes) you understand just how much you’re fighting for?

Anyway – this article was published in 1993, so almost 15 years ago, near the tail end of the “sex wars” where this kind of rhetoric was common. Of course some people still feel this way, but in my experience at least it’s far less common now, thank goodness. Nonetheless… an interesting trip indeed!

As promised, here’s Alix’s blurb:

Dear admirer of the uncommon, enthusiast of the exceptional, appreciator of the unusual and fan of all things fetish.

I am thrilled to announce that the Inverted Eye online store launched today, just in time for the holiday season!  And for those not “in the know”, the Inverted Eye is a sophisticated vintage store offering subtly kinky items and discreet fetish antiques.

So if you were wondering what gift you could possibly buy your favorite sweetheart, friend “with benefits”, daddy, girlfriend, mistress, spouse, doctor, burlesque dancer, sailor, barber or equestrian-lover, look no further.

While the online store debuted with over 250 items of carefully hand picked inventory, I will be adding an additional 250 extraordinary pieces over the next few weeks, so be sure to check back frequently.

Also, be sure not to miss the movie on the Home Page that stars fourteen incredibly sexy models who are dressed thematically to correspond to the areas of merchandise offered on the site, which includes Medical, Barber, Equestrian, Domestic, Juvenile, Scholastic, Uniform, Kitsch, Vaudeville & XXX treasures!

Finally, as I am committed to making the experience as compelling and user-friendly as possible, I welcome all feedback.

With gratitude,

Alix Izen
Owner, Inverted Eye

5 thoughts on “taking a trip down memory lane with anti-SM feminism*

  1. I’m with you just in general, but the excerpts from Point #9 are really confusing. If you’re trying to combat the “myth” that bdsm can heal the damage from an abusive childhood (which I’ve rarely if ever heard anyone claim), how is pointing out (incorrectly or not) that a lot of bdsm’ers were abused helpful?

    Myth: Psychotherapy can help heal the wounds caused by childhood traumas

    Fact: Many psychotherapy “clients” had traumatic childhoods

  2. I dunno. Her logic is quite confused in general. I think what she’s trying to say is that a lot of BDSMers try to justify their kink by saying it’s a healing experience (and I agree with you, this is not something I hear actual kinksters claim all that often), and she’s trying to say that in fact BDSM is actually a symptom of trauma rather than a healing of it. But no, she doesn’t do the greatest job of stating a “lie” and then refuting it – she just gets muddled. It’s not the only instance of muddled thought in her article, but you definitely have a good point in drawing attention to this one in particular!

  3. Sadists pay lip service to consent, but ignore the power systems which create inequality and make meaningful consent impossible.

    If this is so, then we cannot consent to vanilla sex either.

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text:
Lobbying Bill: a threat to trade union freedom

September 3, 2013 at 7:41 am (Civil liberties, democracy, expenses, Free Speech, labour party, law, politics, protest, reblogged, unions)

The snappily-named ‘Transparency of Lobbying Bill Non Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill’ gets its second reading in Parliament today. It is ironic that a piece of legislation ostensibly intended to clean up politics, will, in reality undermine basic liberties and – in particular – trade union freedom.

Above: this would be effectively outlawed in the 12 months before an election

KEITH EWING explains the issues:

The TUC has expressed serious concerns about the far – reaching consequences of the government’s Transparency of Lobbying, Non Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill, due for a second reading next week.

Such concern is hardly surprising, for this is a Bill that not only represents a threat to basic liberties generally, but to trade union freedom specifically.   So much for the Illiberal Democrats, who promised that they would be the guardians of freedom when in government.

The Bill presents two major threats to trade unions.   Here the concern is with the consequences for trade union electoral freedom, which is not intended to diminish the other threat which relates to even greater – and yet more intolerable – State supervision of trade union membership lists.

But so far as electoral freedom is concerned, the strategy is clear – previous Tory governments having stripped trade unions of their industrial freedoms, the Coalition is now set on stripping trade unions of their political freedoms as well, continuing in the illiberal vein that has already produced secret courts and the harassment of journalists.

The proposed new restrictions are designed to silence union election campaigning, though as the TUC has pointed out, they have much wider implications.   It is a nasty and cynical attempt at self-preservation, the law being used purely as an instrument of partisan self-interest.

But although the impact on trade union political freedom is likely to be far-reaching and (as the TUC pointed out last week) wide – ranging, such concerns should not divert attention from the Bill’s central purpose, which is clearly and unequivocally to weaken trade union support for the Labour party at the election in 2015.

Trade unions take part in elections in a number of ways.  First, they make substantial donations to the Labour party to help it with its election campaigns.   But secondly, some trade unions – notably UNISON – may run their own national campaigns independently of the Labour party.

Other unions will provide grass – roots support to the Labour party at constituency level, helping with the national campaign and assisting Labour parliamentary candidates.  Some unions will also make contributions to organisations campaigning against racism and the BNP.

Where trade unions engage in their own campaigns nationally or locally they are already subject to tight legal controls.   As ‘third parties’ for the purposes of election law, these controls apply to ‘controlled expenditure’ – a term used to describe national election campaign costs, capped at just under £1 million for each union.

So far the law has not been a serious problem for trade union election activity.   That, however, is about to change, with an extremely densely written and confusing Bill proposing to expand the definition of ‘controlled expenditure’, while also reducing the amount of money unions can lawfully spend.

The extension of the definition of ‘controlled expenditure’ was made clear by the Minister for Constitutional and Political Reform (Chloe Smith, Tory MP for Norwich North), in a letter to the campaign group 38 Degrees which has also expressed anxiety about the Bill.

Making no bones about the government’s plans, Smith wrote on 23rd August that ‘Controlled expenditure by a recognised third party would now include expenditure on a broader range of activities such as market research, rallies, press conferences or transport. This is to ensure all relevant campaigning activity is caught’.

As the TUC pointed out last week, however, the Bill as currently drafted would apply to the ordinary activities as well as to the election related activities of a trade union.  For this reason, it is not only the annual congress of the TUC that is at risk:  so is the annual conference of every trade union.

This means that trade unions will be required to do one of two things.   The first will be to cancel union annual conferences in an election year, a curious consequence of legislation introduced by a government whose forbears were so passionate about trade union democracy.

Otherwise, trade unions could allow conferences to go ahead, and ban any discussion that might have a bearing on the election.  Holding the conference behind closed doors, however, would not be enough to escape liability if it could be construed as having the effect of helping the electoral prospects of the Labour party.

But apart from expanding the definition of controlled expenditure, the Bill also proposes swingeing restrictions on how much trade unions will be able to spend, with the amount of controlled expenditure that may be spent by a union in the year before the election to be halved.

This means that a union will be permitted to spend up to £319,800 in England, £35,400 in Scotland and £24,000 in Wales.   But it gets worse, as the Bill seeks to dilute the impact of this spending still further by regulating how and where the money can be spent.

In what seems like a desperate attempt to protect some government ministers and their marginal seats, the Bill proposes that within the general limit of £319,800 that can be spent in England, no more than £9,750 can be spent in each constituency in the year before the election on 7 May 2015.

But it gets even worse, the Bill proposing a new concept of ‘targeted expenditure’, which is a subset of ‘controlled expenditure’.  So while unions individually can spend £319,800 in England on ‘controlled expenditure’ generally, they can only spend £31,980 on expenditure targeted at a particular political party

This is a measure designed to stop trade union support for the Labour party rather than against the BNP, as some activists appear to believe.   In a clumsily written provision, expenditure will be targeted at a political party only if it can ‘reasonably be regarded’ as being intended to benefit that party or any of its candidates.

It seems to me that this is the red meat of the entire Bill, and as such it is a vicious attack on trade union political freedom.   Almost all election expenditure will fall within this definition of ‘targeted expenditure’:   if it does not, there would be no point incurring it in the first place.

The effect is that trade unions will be able to spend next to nothing supporting Labour in the year before the election:   £31,980 in England, £3,540 in Scotland, and £2,400 in Wales.   Note well:  these are limits on national (not local) campaigns, and limits applying for a period of 12 months beginning on 8th May 2014.

The only way a union could increase its targeted expenditure would be with the written consent of the Labour party itself.  Trade union freedom thus depends on a licence being issued by the Labour party, in which case the expenditure will count towards the expenditure of the party (as well as it seems the union concerned).

This naked attempt to stop electioneering by trade unions against the Coalition at the next election is utterly reprehensible, all the more so for the fact that there are no corresponding controls on the corporate press, which continues to have a blanket immunity from the spending restrictions in election law.

So when Parliament assembles for the second reading of this Bill on 3 September, the first question for Chloe Smith should be this:   why is Mr Murdoch free to promote the Tories with impunity, when organisations representing British voters are effectively to be gagged?   What kind of liberalism is this?

This blog first appeared at Left Futures and in printed form in the Morning Star

See also  Hope not Hate, and Owen Jones in the The Independent

Electoral Commission briefing here.

1 Comment

  1. Mike Killingworth said,

    What kind of liberalism is it?

    The kind that says you can play politics with your own money but not other people’s.

    The TUs will already have worked out ways around this Bill (through replacing their existing political funds with on-line holding accounts which members subscribe to regularly and then choose which particular campaigns to fund, rather than having Union bureaucrats choose for them). It will probably hit churches and community groups harder.

    If I were a coalition MP I’d be asking dear little Chloë to make sure the Bill didn’t allow public or voluntary sector workers (or pensioners) to fund political activity – except, naturally, those activities exempted by Ministerial order.

    That kind of liberalism…

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warcinfo:
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-153-172-175.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)/CC WarcExport 1.0
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2016-36
operator: CommonCrawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web for August 2016
publisher: CommonCrawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf


text:
MCEdit Filters >

posted Mar 8, 2013, 3:37 AM by Adrian Brightmoore   [ updated Jun 9, 2013, 5:33 PM ]
This MCEdit filter is for taking Minecraft textures and creating cubes in MCEdit with them. It also creates height maps from PNG files based on the intensity of each pixel.

You can:
  1. create a hollow cube with the same texture all around
  2. flip vertically one pair of sides, for brickwork mostly
  3. render only the top, or only the bottom (for Grass Block, as an example)
Large textured blocks in MCEdit

(1) Mark a selection box in the world in an empty area the size of your texture file. 16x16x16 is default
(2) Open PNG to BLOCKS filter
(3) Leave checkboxes as default
(4) Run filter
(5) Path to wherever your v1.5 texture files are and select one. The Filter will run, building a cube.
(6) CTRL+S to save
(7) copy paste copy paste your new block.

The colour mapping is from Sethbling's Player Statue filter.

MCEdit PNG to CUBE filter tutorial

Importing Google Maps

Enhancements to be Done:
  1. add more colours to the block palette.
  2. add a file open dialogue [DONE]
  3. provide all the blocks as individual schematics [PARTIAL - Some block schematics are available in the file below]

As a bonus feature, in version 4 you can also render a height map from the colour intensity in a PNG image:

Mojang logo in relief

Adrian Brightmoore,
Mar 8, 2013, 11:48 AM
Adrian Brightmoore,
Mar 18, 2013, 2:24 AM
Adrian Brightmoore,
Apr 4, 2013, 2:44 AM
Adrian Brightmoore,
Jun 24, 2013, 1:54 AM
Adrian Brightmoore,
Mar 8, 2013, 4:49 AM


text:
Home > Reports >

Interim Project Report January-June 2010

NDNP Awardee Interim Performance Report

(January 1, 2010--June 30, 2010)

NEH Award Number: PJ-50035-08
NDNP State:                 Hawaii
Submitted By:                Martha Chantiny
Report Date:                  July 31, 2010

  1. Describe any changes that you have made or that you anticipate making in the project work plan or methodology from the award proposal submitted to the competition.

Project Operations manager continued working 20 hours per week until the end of the employment contract period (June 30, 2010).  Graduate student continued to research and prepare title essays, and create and present instructional materials.

In March we requested and were granted an extension of the grant period to December 31, 2010 and for the use of the use of grant funds to attend the PIALA conference in Micronesia. A proposal was accepted for a presentation at the Pacific Islands Association of Libraries, Archives, and Museums PIALA conference in November, entitled: (1) Library of Congress Chronicling America and the Pacific (2) Technicalities of the Library of Congress' National Digital Newspaper Project (see attached).

  1. Please describe any selection or film acquisition/evaluation activities during the performance period.

Microfilm produced from filming print volumes of Hilo Tribune supplied from Library of Congress were checked for density readings.  This was the last title and film processed for the 2008-2010 project period.

  1. Describe any specific award activities that have taken place between collaborating institutions in your state.

  1. Describe specifically your progress in conversion and/or vendor selection (attach documentation as desired).

Reimbursement of NDNP fund and transfer of digital images of Hawaiian language portions of the title Hawaiian Gazette (reel 8 1892-01-23 to 2894-12-08 Hawaiian language, reel 11 1892-01-20 to 1893-06-28 bilingual, reel 12 1891-05-02 to 1894-12-08 bilingual) to a researcher associated with the Kawaihuelani Center for Hawaiian Language at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

  1. Do you have any questions or comments regarding the use of the tools provided by LC (Digital Viewer Validation)?

  1. Provide an update on your planned schedule for delivery of digital assets to the NDNP repository.  Include anticipated number of files to be delivered and planned means of delivery or transfer.

At the start of April 2010, we had 12 titles indexed in Chronicling America

Austin's Hawaiian weekly. 1899-06-17 1900-05-12

The Daily bulletin.  1882-02-01 1894-06-30

The Daily herald. 1886-09-01 1887-07-30

Daily Honolulu press. 1885-09-01 1886-06-03

The Democrat. 1910-10-25 1910-11-08

Evening bulletin. 1895-05-16 1897-08-31

The Hawaiian gazette. 1877-03-07 1913-12-30

The Honolulu republican. 1900-06-14 1902-01-08

The Honolulu times.     1902-10-01 1911-02-01

The Independent. 1895-06-24 1905-10-24

The Independent. 1895-05-01 1895-06-15

Saturday press.  1880-09-04 1885-08-29

and 71,457 pages invoiced by iArchives (including rescans of some out of focus pages).  As of the mid-June update of Chronicling America, there were 60,989 pages from Hawaii newspapers indexed and 10 title essays available.  Two additional title essays for the Daily/Evening Bulletin (one essay for both) and the Honolulu Republican have been submitted and 1 essay for the Hilo Tribune title remains to be written.

Pending final processing of images at Library of Congress and return of duplicate reels from iArchives, we anticipate closing out the page delivery component of the 2008-2010 project in early Fall 2010.  We anticipate that 2 of the final 3 title essays will be included in the next quarterly update of Chronicling America, with the final essay for the Hilo Tribune to follow in the subsequent quarterly update.

  1. State briefly the status of any other digitized newspaper activities in your or collaborating partners’ institutions (non-NDNP-funded).

In early April, we tested batch loading of newspaper PDFs to our eVols digital repository –http://evols.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10524/25 that uses the DSpace platform.  The process created by the library DSpace programmer was:

All metadata except for editor and publication were taken from iArchive folder/files or taken as given (e.g. language, subject). I filled in the collection as appropriate based on title.

I used a 3 step process:

1. A script crawls the folders and files, even going into the xml files, to get relevant metadata (title, issue date, volume, issue, etc) and dumps it into an excel sheet.

2. Another script crawls the folders and combines the PDF files in the issue folders and names it the same thing as the folder.

3. The final import script uses the excel data + the combined PDF to import everything into DSpace.
The batch combination of the page PDFs into issue PDFs is problematic when the same page had more than one microfilm image - the combined PDF contains both page images.  Currently we have students manually combining pages to create the most reader friendly file, but this is very time consuming.  We are researching a way to automate the combination and flag the files that may need human intervention.

  1. Please provide copies of or URLs for any public presentations or publications on topics related to your participation in NDNP (or describe future plans for such).

Presentations were created and handouts distributed in the following venues:

·      History Day 2010 session for DOE teachers, Sept. 2009.

·      Annual Meeting of the Association of Hawaii Archivists (AHA) February 2010

·      Information sessions at University of Hawaii Hilo. April 2010.  LOC bookmarks were distributed at all sessions.

April 27, at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, Hawaii island

Attendance: 60+ students and faculty

April 28, at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, Hawaii island

Attendance: 10 librarians and library staff

·      Volcanoes National Park's "After Dark in the Park" talk "History at Your Fingertips: Digital Hawaiian Resources" July 20, 2010 session

Approximately 30 attendees from the community

·      Kapolei Public Library, Oahu, May 2010. See attached flyer distributed by Kapolei Public Library.

Attendance: 2. This session was conducted in response to interest expressed by Sheryl Lynch at Kapolei public library.

 More training sessions are planned for additional locations on islands of Maui and Kauai and other locations on Oahu.  An example of instructional materials is attached. Other materials may be downloaded from the Events & Happenings section of our project site: http://sites.google.com/a/hawaii.edu/ndnp-hawaii/Home/conferences-and-workshops/

Other publicity/educational material prepared during the quarter:

·      "Newspapers in Hawaii" guide, prepared by Dore Minatodani, online at: http://guides.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/hawaiinewspapers

·      "U.S. Territories in the Pacific: American Samoa," subject guide modeled after the "Topics in Chronicling America" pages, prepared by Monica Labriola.  The American Samoa subject guide was prepared for use at PIALA later this year. It will be put online via the "Newspapers in Hawaii" LibGuide for Chronicling America

We have created and started to add selected images of interest from the newspapers to the library Chronicling America Flickr collection: http://www.flickr.com/photos/48937757@N07/collections/72157623751147050/

  1. Describe any follow-up issues or questions you would like convey to the NDNP program committee as you begin your digital conversion project.

Not applicable.

Sent: Wed 3/10/2010 8:13 AM
Subject: Piala conference is ok for the ndnp project

We received approval for 2 people to attend the piala conference in Nov. So Dore and Martha are available for workshops/presentations. We would appreciate your suggestions, and your facilitating the organization of workshops.

This is what we proposed to NEH:

Session 1 will focus on the Library of Congress Chronicling America site as an important source of information about the American interest in the Pacific. For example, a search on "samoa" leads to 21,382 references in newspapers such as the New York Tribune, San Francisco Call, Salt Lake Herald, Fort Worth Daily Gazette, St. Paul Daily Globe, McCook Tribune (Nebraska), as well as the Hawai'i newspapers. Searching "guam" leads to 11, 423 references, "micronesia" leads to 275 references. These digitized articles provide historical documentation on the extensive relationship of the US to Pacificislands. Within these small political entities on isolated islands throughout the Pacific Ocean, information resources are scarce. Electronic information is thus of crucial importance to students and teachers. When PIALA conference attendees return to their home institutions, they will use the information from this session to introduce Chronicling America as a teaching and learning tool in their countries. The Chronicling America site provides access not only to information about Pacific islands and nations, but also to whatever else that an inquiring mind would want to search.

Session 2 will focus on the technical aspects of working on the Library of Congress' NDNP and the challenges of indexing and presenting digitized information from newspapers. This session will provide a brief overview of the grant application process, a discussion of newspaper title selection, and explain how metadata is used to drive the search and retrieval system in the Chronicling America database. PIALA participants would be very interested in being guided through the technical aspects of this project. The standards and procedures established by LC would be of great interest to participants, particularly to PIALA members contributing to the Pacific Digital Library.

Chronicling America
Historic American Newspapers

Chronicling America is part of the National Digital Newspaper Program. Continuing a longstanding effort by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress to preserve the content of U.S. newspapers, it offers free online digital copies of selected newspapers from around the U.S. Eventually, selected papers from all states, territories and D.C., between 1836-1922 will be available.

As of June: 1,249,747 newspaper pages, from 140 newspapers, from 11 states, covering 1880-1922, are available. New content is added quarterly.

How do my students find articles on their topics?

1)   Use the Search Page:

a.    Select the "VIEW Newspaper Pages" icon.

b.    Go to the "Enter Search" options at the bottom of the page.

c.    Enter your search. Some tips:

                                     i.     Search all newspapers, rather than selecting and browsing newspapers from a particular state. Remind students that newspapers reported on stories from all over, not just their local news.

                                    ii.     Use the "exact phrase" or "within xx words of each other" searches.

d.    Example: HAWAIIAN CABLE within 50 words of each other

2)   Use Topic Guides:

a.    Go to: http://www.loc.gov/rr/news/topics/topics.html

b.    Under each topic, students will find selected articles, plus:

                                     i.     important dates

                                    ii.     useful search terms

c.    Use these dates and search terms in new searches to find more articles. Encourage your students to think of their own search terms, too.

3)   Download images as JP2 or PDF files, for use in presentations.

Hawaii newspapers available as of today (9/12/2009):

·       The Independent (1895-1905)

·       The Daily Herald

Expected online soon:

·       The Independent (1895)

·       Hawaiian Gazette

In process:

  • The Honolulu Times
  • Austin’s Hawaiian Weekly
  • The Democrat
  • The Daily Honolulu Press
  • The Honolulu Republican
  • The Saturday Press
  • Daily Bulletin
  • Evening Bulletin
  • Hawaiian Star

Contacts at University of Hawaii Manoa Library's Hawaiian Collection:

·       Joan Hori, project director, jhori@hawaii.edu

·       Dore Minatodani, dorem@hawaii.edu

iArchives invoices through April 2010

Batch Flying
487 Daily_Bulletin/DAB_18820201-18820630
978 Daily_Bulletin/DAB_18830101-18830630
833 Daily_Bulletin/DAB_18830701-18831231
654 Daily_Bulletin/DAB_18840101-18840630
757 Daily_Bulletin/DAB_18840701-18841231
765 Daily_Bulletin/DAB_18850101-18850630
798 Daily_Bulletin/DAB_18850701-18851231
861 Daily_Bulletin/DAB_18860101-18860630
643 Daily_Bulletin/DAB_18860701-18861231
783 Daily_Bulletin/DAB_18870201-18870630
940 Daily_Bulletin/DAB_18880101-18880630
626 Daily_Bulletin/DAB_18890101-18890630
887 Daily_Bulletin/DAB_18900101-18900630
Batch Gold
964 Daily_Bulletin/DAB_18820701-18821231
737 Daily_Bulletin/DAB_18880701-18881231
635 Daily_Bulletin/DAB_18920101-18920630
662 Daily_Bulletin/DAB_18920701-18921231
811 Daily_Bulletin/DAB_18930101-18930630
933 Daily_Bulletin/DAB_18930701-18931231
639 Daily_Bulletin/DAB_18940101-18940630
740 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0001
822 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0002
890 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0003
844 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0004
871 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0005
820 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0006
820 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0007
Batch Hawk
820 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0008
830 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0009
832 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0010
904 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0023
952 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0024
850 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0025
852 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0026
977 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0027
862 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0028
903 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0029
885 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0030
938 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0031
933 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0032
1,002 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0038
Batch Ice
634 Daily_Bulletin/DAB_18890701-18891231
973 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0039
1,247 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0040
1,142 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0041
1,019 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0042
911 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0043
958 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0044
1,132 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0045
1,097 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0046
1,004 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0047
Batch Jack
1,038 Daily_Bulletin/DAB_18940701-18941231
879 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0011
1,049 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0012
961 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0013
884 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0014
920 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0015
901 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0016
939 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0017
976 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0018
837 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0019
902 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0020
Batch King
1,005 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0021
1,171 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0048
1,495 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0049
1,041 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0052
1,131 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0053
1,198 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0054
1,152 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0055
1,294 Hawaiian_Gazette/HAG_18980701-18991219_rescan
Batch Lion
692 Daily_Bulletin/DAB_18900701-18901231
1,053 Daily_Bulletin/DAB_18950101-18950531
959 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0022
950 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0033
993 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0034
993 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0035
995 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0036
1,192 Evening_Bulletin/EB_0051


text:
Blueberry cupcakes

1 large gold potato peeled and cut into small  chunks (yeah)

3/4 whole wheat pastry flour

3/4 cup cake flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of salt

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup canola oil

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup of plain yogurt or buttermilk

1 cup blueberries frozen blueberries

and others to garnish.

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3 tablespoon of water

2 egg whites or 4 teaspoon dried egg whites)

1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar

pinch of salt

2-3 tablespoon of blueberry jam

Preheat oven at 180°c Line 12 muffins cups with papers liners.

Place potato in a saucepan  and cook with water until is tender , about 8 to 10 minutes.

Drain and mash untilvery smooth. Measure out 3/4 cup and let cool slightly.

Whisk whole wheat flour, cake flour ,baking powder, salt and baking soda.

Beat granulated sugar and oil in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until combined.Beat in egg, the mashed potatoes and vanilla extract.

With the mixer in low speed alternately mix in the dry ingredients and add the plain yogurt, starting and ending with dry ingredients and scraping the sides of the bowl, until just combined.

Add a cup of blueberries.

Divide the batter among the prepared cups (they will be full)

Cake the cupcakes until a toohpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Bake by 20 to 24 minutes.

Let cool completely.

Place in a sauce pan water to a simmer in the bottom of a double boiler.

Combine 3/4 sugar and 3 tablespoon of water in the top of double boiler.

Heat and stirring until the sugar is melted.About 2 to 3 minutes.

In other bowl beat the whites with a pinch of salt with an electric mixer

on high  speed, add cream of tartar.Add the melted sugar.

Continue beating until the mixture is glossy, thick frosting 5 to 7 minutes.

Add 2 or 3 tablespoon of blueberry jam.and beat on low until is combined.

Spread or pípe the frosting on the cooled cupcakes and decorate with bluberries on top.


text:
God's Child Project

Address: 12300 Marion Lane W. #2205,
Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55305, United States
Contact Person:
Email: Info@GodsChild.org
Phone: 952-544-1670
Website: http://www.godschild.org
Mission: The GOD’S CHILD Project is a worldwide family of non-denominational,
non-profit charities. Among all programs, we care for and educate 5,000
orphaned and abandoned children, and 8,700 widowed and single mothers
and their dependents.


text:
"I am honored to have such overwhelming support from leaders all across the state and 24th State Senate District.  I'm proud to call Illinois my home and I look forward to working with voters across our great state to 'make Illinois work again'."
- State Senator Kirk Dillard
Republican, 24th District

The list of leaders, organizations, and voters across the district who are endorsing State Senator Kirk Dillard is growing.  JOIN US NOW!


text:
SlackBuilds Repository

14.0 > Games > jfsw (20051009)

jfsw (source port of Shadow Warrior first-person shooter game)

The aim of this port is to present Shadow Warrior as closely as possible
to the original game while adding optional features to expand the
possibilities of the game.

To play the game, you will need the sw.grp data file from either the
full or shareware DOS version of Shadow Warrior. If you want to play the
shareware version, you can install jfsw_demo_data from
For the full version, copy sw.grp from the game directory to
/usr/share/games/jfsw/sw.grp (the filename must be lowercase).

If you have sw.grp from the full version of the game, you may also want
to install jfsw_hires_pack for some graphic enhancements (don't bother
trying, if all you have is the shareware sw.grp: it segfaults on startup).

Note #1: There's no way to enable the mouse from the in-game menus. To
enable the mouse, you must run the game at least once to create its
config file (~/.jfsw/sw.cfg), then edit the config file and change
ControllerType to 1. You probably also want to change MouseAimingOn to 1,
for a more modern "mouselook" style of play.

Note #2: The Ambience setting in the Sound Setup menu is permanently
disabled, because the ambience code causes the game to crash.

Note #3: Multiplayer does work (at least for LAN play). See
/usr/doc/jsfw-$VERSION/releasenotes.html for multiplayer usage.

Note #4 (for Slackware 64-bit users): The source includes x86 assembly
code, so can't be built for any non-x86 architecture. If you're using
x86_64, you might (or might not) be able to build jfsw on a 32-bit
Slackware system and install it on x86_64 along with alienBOB's compat32
packages and get it to run.

This requires: eawpats

Maintained by: B. Watson
Keywords: shadow warrior,fps,3drealms

Source Downloads (32bit): (6b175daed0e459aac375e63de90097f0) (44a943c0050bfd46ce1e6af24c951898)

Download SlackBuild:
jfsw.tar.gz.asc (FAQ)

(the SlackBuild does not include the source)

Individual Files:

See our HOWTO for instructions on how to use the contents of this repository.

Access to the repository is available via:
ftp git cgit http rsync

© 2006-2016 Project. All rights reserved.
Slackware® is a registered trademark of Patrick Volkerding
Linux® is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds
Web Design by WebSight Designs |  Managed Hosting by OnyxLight Communications


text:
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Compare cell phone plans using Wirefly's innovative plan comparison tool ×

Submission + - Gecko-Inspired Robot Rolls Up Walls (

RedEaredSlider writes: "We all love climbing robots. A group of researchers in Canada has decided to combine the mechanism geckos use to stick to walls with the simplicity of a tank tread. The result is a 'bot that can roll up smooth (and some not so smooth) surfaces. Such robots are easier to control than those that try to simulate walking directly."
This discussion was created for logged-in users only, but now has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Gecko-Inspired Robot Rolls Up Walls

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The computer can't tell you the emotional story. It can give you the exact mathematical design, but what's missing is the eyebrows. - Frank Zappa


text:
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Submission + - Copyright reform and FOSS licenses

An anonymous reader writes: With all the constant talk of copyright reform, people often think of music, books, and videos. Free software licenses rely on their copyright to enforce their license. What happens if the copyright term is limited to 14 years, and anything GPLed will become public domain after 14 years? Windows NT could be public domain. Unix could finally be free. What affect will copyright reform have on FOSS software?
This discussion was created for logged-in users only, but now has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Copyright reform and FOSS licenses

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The computer can't tell you the emotional story. It can give you the exact mathematical design, but what's missing is the eyebrows. - Frank Zappa


text:
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Comment Re:How important is this person to you? (Score 1) 255

But you should be aware that Windows 7's Task Scheduler comes by default (at least mine did) with a background defragmentation task set to run once a week, and only while the computer is idle. That should probably be enough for most users. One should be aware of this if one desires to use another defragmentation utility, because having two defragmenters fight about where a file should go (either actively fight, or just a file is moved between two locations every time the other is run) is not good.

Comment Re:Use the Coax as a wirepull for the cat5 (Score 1) 608

I'm no expert, but isn't cat5 4x twisted pair? So eight conductors, not four? Glancing at a cable I have handy, it appears to have eight contacts. I assume this means a differencing technique at the receiving end? Or is there actually a common?

Only two pairs are used in standard duplex Ethernet. The other four conductors are occasionally used for Power over Ethernet. See the pinout.

Comment Re:Generator (Score 1) 260

Match that generator with double conversion (online) UPSs and your set --- We have online UPSs with about 1 - 2 minutes of uptime and a gas generator and it works great ... But I will say that if you have a generator I recommend online UPSs especially if you have your AC units also on that same generator... We found that we get some dirty power on generator, especially when the AC compressors cycle, online UPSs keep all of that away from our servers.

Comment Re:I'm with stupid (Score 1) 197

Yeah that's how it is. And yes, you can actually get toucher sentences if you appeal.

However, I was mostly replying to the parents saying about "you can always appeal, so first ruling doesn't matter". For example in civil cases, you cannot if you never answered for the initial court (it will be ruled as one-sided win for the suer). Another case where your appeal is likely refused is if it is quite stupid and a minor case. For example getting a speeding ticket from police, and trying to appeal it even when theres good proof you did actually speed (people do this time to time just for funs)

However on cases like these and when it's about a little bit more than useless things like that, it works pretty much how you described.

Comment Re:I can't say I understand distributism... (Score 1) 8

Distributism has been called a third way, in between capitalism and socialism; GK Chesterton put it best when he said "Capitalism suffers from too few capitalists, not too many".

The division of labor comes into play when you can trade your skills for other items you need in barter and friendship, or at worst, by using a local currency you obtained by owning your own means of production, while maintaining your ownership of basic production of food and shelter.

Once you exceed the bounds of *direct* barter and friendship, you run the risk of having imperfect information (of people lying to you in capitalism, or of people stealing from you in socialism).

Subsidiarity and Solidarity should be the goal, not mere profit.

"To me, the best economic system is essentially to take Adam Smith and mix in Pope Leo's adminitions (in so many words) to not screw each other. Is that consistent with distributism? And if not, why not?"

Add in 7 more papal documents by later popes about not screwing each other, and yes, that's completely consistent with distributism.

The only thing I'd add, comes *directly* from current economic situations in the global marketplace and in the United States- Big is Bad. Too big to fail is too big to succeed. As a rule, money is power, and absolute power corrupts absolutely; ANYBODY, even the most pious saint, will be corrupted by a love of money. And the more money you pile up under a single individual or corporation, the more power that individual or corporation has, the more corrupt that individual or corporation will become.

Far better to be a farmer, than to gain the whole world through your skills and lose your soul.

Comment Re:Communications perk? (Score 1) 365

The speed of light "hinders" you in two ways.

1. You need a "receiver" to teleport to. You have to get the receiver in place by classical means.

2. To stimulate the channel, you have to hit it with a laser beam which still has to travel through classical space between the beam emitter and the teleportation transmitter.

There will always be a non-zero "delay" in the creation-transmission-absorption of information between two points separated by the smallest value. Hence, no violation nor causality paradox. The process is just extremely efficient.

Comment Powerlines? (Score 1) 365

Energy teleportation could mean no more need for any kind of fuel.
Heck... even if the send/receive station is to huge to be portable it would still eliminate any other form of powerplant.

Just chuck some solar sails on huge platforms up into space and point them towards the sun.
For the extra credit, get them there by pumping energy collected on Earth into their receiving station and use ion engines to set them up at the most desired position.
Then, do what they do on Star Trek all the time - reverse the polarity.
Pump the energy they collect back to Earth using the very same station that got them there.

Comment File system (Score 1, Insightful) 194

There was a paper some years ago about building the file system in such a manner that smaller files were placed on an SSD ( 1 MB) and large files were placed on a harddisk. At that time, SSDs were a lot smaller than today though.

Generally, it can make sense to discriminate your files because they don't all have the same space and access characteristics. Maybe 100 files is taking up 90% of the space compared to the other 9900 files. Maybe it's similar for the access pattern.

Still, for the idea to fly, you need to a robust algorithm and it needs to be clever about the strengths of the hardware. For instance, SSDs aren't so hot at random writes, sadly. Less than 0.1 msec write time would be neat for an ACID database.

Comment Re:I can't wait... (Score 1) 471

...until the criminals get hold of this. And they will. It would be too useful not to.

I wonder if it works on helicopters also?

Since a lot of police helicopters are (Vietnam era) Army surplus, there isn't much in the way of electronics to kill. You'd undoubtedly be able to knock out their fancy doo-dads, but the actual helo itself is mostly mechanical and hydralic systems.

Comment Re:Milk? (Score 1) 254

Yes, one is a scientist and the other is a cardiologist. And they may well be right. (In fact, it's probably more likely that they're right than that they're wrong.) But that doesn't mean that there's any motivation to believe their blogs. If their information is worth anything, they're either getting it from (or much less likely, publishing it in) actual research journals, which is what you ought to reference. (Or, at the least, reference people who refer to the research itself.)

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Open Source

Confidence Shaken In Open Source Security Idealism 265

iONiUM writes: According to a few news articles, the general public has taken notice of all the recent security breaches in open source software. From the article: "Hackers have shaken the free-software movement that once symbolized the Web's idealism. Several high-profile attacks in recent months exploited security flaws found in the "open-source" software created by volunteers collaborating online, building off each other's work."

While it's true that open source means you can review the actual code to ensure there's no data-theft, loggers, or glaring security holes, that idealism doesn't really help out most people who simply don't have time, or the knowledge, to do it. As such, the trust is left to the open source community, and is that really so different than leaving it to a corporation with closed source?"
The Military

Submission + - Pentagon Contractors Openly Post Job Listings For Offensive Hackers (

Sparrowvsrevolution writes: In the wake of confirmation that the U.S. government was involved in the creation of Stuxnet and likely Flame, a look over job listings on defense contractor sites shows just how explicitly the Pentagon and the firms that service it are recruiting offense-oriented hackers. Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, SAIC, and Booz Allen have all posted job ads that require skills like "exploit development," have titles like "Windows Attack Developer," or asks them to "plan, execute, and assess an Offensive Cyberspace Operation."

Submission + - Google, Apple, and Microsoft all slammed over privacy issues (

walterbyrd writes: "Apple Inc must defend against a lawsuit accusing it of letting advertisers secretly track the activity of millions of mobile device users.
Microsoft is selling “political campaigns the ability to target voters online with tailored ads using names, ZIP codes, and other registration information,” based on a report.
And finally, another Google is Evil article."

Submission + - Rare operating Apple 1 rakes in $374,500 at Sotheby's auction (

coondoggie writes: "It's not one of a kind but pretty darn close. Sotheby's this week auctioned off a rare working Apple 1 computer for $374,500 to an unnamed bidder. The price was more than double the expected price listed on the Sotheby's web site.
The Sotheby's notes about the Apple 1 say it is one of six thought to be operational boxes and one of about 50 known to exist."

Submission + - My IT department wants you to hack my account 1

An anonymous reader writes: I work for a publicly traded company. When I submit tickets to helpdesk, they reply with an automated response which has a link to the ticket. Nothing special there, right? The only thing is, it is a plain http: link, leading to a page that immediately asks for my password. If I add an s after the http, there is not even a listener there. So the only way I can access that page is to send my password in the clear. That server is geographically distant, so I am pretty sure I would be sending my password in the clear over the internet. (And even if it is fully intranet-based, isn't this still a pretty big risk?) Again, it is my IT department which is sending this link. This is not the first company where I have seen this. So I am starting to think that the easiest way for a hacker to compromise a company is actually provided as a service by that company's IT department. How common is this, and how can it possibly be happening? More generally, how safe is my personal data that I provide to corporations, when they may be so astoundingly easy to compromise?

Comment Re:Not losing much... (Score 3, Informative) 272

The 64bit version of flash on linux was much better for me than the 32bit version running through ndiswrapper. The plugin used to crash for me all the time when wrapped but ever since the 64bit version came out crashes are rare. When I go full screen on say you tube it does get a bit choppy very easily but I'll take that over crashes.

Submission + - Gmail, Too, Seeks to Rival Facebook (

chicagoan writes: Google Inc. is taking a swipe at Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. (WSJ subscription may be required) with a new feature that makes it easier for users of Gmail to view media and status updates shared online by their friends. Google could announce the new Gmail feature as soon as this week, said people familiar with the matter. A Google spokeswoman declined to comment.

The change adds a module to the Gmail screen that will display a stream of updates from individuals a user chooses to connect with, said one of these people. It is a format popularized by Facebook and Twitter.

Visual Studio 2010 Forces Tab Indenting 390

An anonymous reader writes "For years, Microsoft has allowed Visual Studio users to define arbitrary tab widths, often to the dismay of those viewing the resultant code in other editors. With VS 2010, it appears that they have taken the next step of forcing tab width to be the same as the indent size in code. Two-space tabs anyone?"

Comment Re:Comodo? (Score 1) 127

That is actually the first thing I did when I read the original post. Seems to work exactly the same for email purposes at least and everyone I sent mail to was able to decrypt etc. I also found the getting the cert process much easier. I didn't have to create an account and the email saying my cert was ready only took about 1 minute, I think i've waited close to 15 minutes for thawte certs in the past.

Hopefully they don't follow the same fate at thawte did.

Submission + - AT&T Asks FCC to Investigate Google Voice (

chicagoan writes: "It seems that AT&T hasn't taken too nicely to all the bad press they have been getting in the Google-Apple-AT&T fiasco. Google Inc.'s Google Voice service is improperly preventing consumers from calling certain phone numbers, violating federal call-blocking rules, AT&T Inc. said Friday in a letter to the Federal Communications Commission."

Submission + - Google barks back at Microsoft over Chrome Frame s (

CWmike writes: "Google hit back at Microsoft on Friday, defending the security of its new Chrome Frame plug-in and claiming that the software actually makes Internet Explorer (IE) safer and more secure. "Accessing sites using Google Chrome Frame brings Google Chrome's security features to Internet Explorer users," said a Google spokesman today. "It provides strong phishing and malware protection, absent in IE6, robust sandboxing technology [in IE6 and on Windows XP], and defenses from emerging online threats that are available in days rather than months." On Thursday, Microsoft warned users that they would double their security problems by using Chrome Frame, the plug-in that provides better JavaScript performance and adds support for HTML 5 to Microsoft's browser."

13-Year-Old Trades iPod For a Walkman For a Week 354

BBC Magazine convinced 13-year-old Scott Campbell to trade in his iPod for a Walkman for a week and see what he thought. Scott thinks the iPod wins when it comes to sound quality, color, weight, and the shuffle feature. The Walkman, however, offers two headphone sockets, making it much easier to listen to music with a friend. My favorite part of the review is, "It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape. That was not the only naive mistake that I made; I mistook the metal/normal switch on the Walkman for a genre-specific equalizer, but later I discovered that it was in fact used to switch between two different types of cassette."

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Subject Datestamp Replies Score
Use of the word "device"  *Sunday July 17, 2011 @09:16PM  1
   attached to iOS 4.3.4 Prevents Hacking and Jailbreaking
Just another reason to not use a cell phone  *Sunday July 17, 2011 @09:02PM 1 1
   attached to Customer Asks For Itemized Bill, Verizon Tells Her To Get a Subpoena
Global Pressure?  *Friday January 14, 2011 @12:15PM  1
   attached to NASA Says 2010 Tied For Warmest Year On Record
Re:capitalists take note  *Saturday January 01, 2011 @09:29PM 1 2
   attached to Chinese Intellectual Property Acquisition Tactics Exposed
All your data are belonging to thief!  *Saturday December 18, 2010 @07:01PM 1 3, Insightful
   attached to Intel's Sandy Bridge Processor Has a Kill Switch
Fantastic stuff! Wish i'd dumped cable earlier!  *Friday December 17, 2010 @10:53PM 2 1
   attached to Finding Independently Produced TV Shows?
Completely insecure  *Friday December 10, 2010 @11:41AM  1
   attached to RIP, SunSolve
End free trade with non-free countries  *Sunday November 07, 2010 @07:19PM  1
   attached to Obama Says Offshoring Fears Are Unwarranted
Corporate fascism  *Saturday September 18, 2010 @02:07PM 2 2, Interesting
   attached to Google, Apple and Others Accused of 'No Poaching' Deal
Re:Should've kept him  *Tuesday September 07, 2010 @07:17PM 1 1
   attached to HP Sues Hurd For Joining Oracle
Smoke detectors  *Thursday September 02, 2010 @12:51PM  1
   attached to I can see X LEDs as I fall asleep. X = __
Attach GPS transmitters to police cars  *Wednesday August 25, 2010 @08:54PM  0, Redundant
   attached to GPS Tracking Without a Warrant Declared Legal
Rows of portable buildings yet?  *Monday August 23, 2010 @09:36PM  1
   attached to Los Angeles Unveils $578 Million Public School
Learn to speak Chinese  *Monday August 23, 2010 @09:39PM  2, Interesting
   attached to Skills Needed For a Future In IT
CEO list sorted by character and capability  *Tuesday August 17, 2010 @10:45AM  1
   attached to HP CEO's Browsing History Used Against Him
Re:I tried to buy one yesterday  *Saturday July 24, 2010 @02:38PM  1
   attached to Dell Drops Ubuntu PCs From Its Website
It's about money, not cancer.  *Monday July 05, 2010 @03:43PM  1
   attached to California To Drop State Rock Over Asbestos Concerns
It only works when you travel West  *Wednesday June 16, 2010 @10:42AM 1 1
   attached to Solar-Powered Ultralight To Try 24-Hour Flight
Setting people on fire is illegal.  *Tuesday June 15, 2010 @10:03AM  1
   attached to Set Free Your Inner Jedi (Or Pyro)
I'm a brewer - the yeast will die   *Wednesday June 02, 2010 @10:50AM 1 1
   attached to The Race To Beer With 50% Alcohol By Volume
Plantation owners defended their slaves too.  *Thursday January 28, 2010 @05:55PM  1
   attached to Ballmer Defends Microsoft In China
End free-trade with non-free countries  *Tuesday January 12, 2010 @11:43PM  1
   attached to Google Hacked, May Pull Out of China
Gambling is a tax for the poor... at math  *Monday October 12, 2009 @09:59PM  1
   attached to Is Working For the Gambling Industry a Black Mark?
End free trade with non-free countries  Wednesday September 09, 2009 @09:33AM 3 1
   attached to China Considering Cuts In Rare-Earth Metal Exports

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Comment Not a whole lot, but... (Score 1) 203

What do you do when the cloud shuts down? Nothing. Seriously. This is why you strongly weigh the advantages of cloud computing or relying on an outside network in general. I recently purchased a house that has no and will have no Internet connection. While there my computing change and I figure out ways to accomplish many of my same goals with a limited set of resources. I sort of look at the whole thing as interesting computing problem to solve or work around.

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Comment LiDAR is the primary sensing modality not video (Score 1) 57

I don't think some people posting here understand that video-based detection, the subject of this paper, is not the current object detection modality for Google's autonomous vehicles. Those primarily use LiDAR to detect people, cyclist, vehicles, and other objects. It is much easier and much more reliable to detect objects with LiDAR compared to video-based detection as you get a nice cluster of 3D points without having to worry about whether the sun is out or even in light fog or dusty conditions.

I believe Google would certainly like to use video more, as cameras are cheaper than LiDAR, but there's still a ways to go before video/image-based techniques will be as reliable as LiDAR.

Moon-Excavation Robots Face Off 61

avishere writes "Student teams designed and built robotic power-lifters to excavate simulated lunar soil (a.k.a. 'regolith') earlier this month, with $750,000 in prizes up for grabs. Excavating regolith, according to NASA, will be an important part of any construction projects or processing of natural resources on the Moon. Interestingly, regolith is especially difficult to dig because its dust particles want to stick together. The whole robotic system has to be sturdy enough to scoop moon dirt and powerful enough to move through the dust while still meeting the weight requirements. The winning excavator, from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, lifted 1,103 pounds within the allotted time, and got its creators a sweet $500,000 for their troubles."

Comment Re:THE SUN DAMMIT (Score 1) 703

NASA already has a major headache every time it wants to launch an RTG (radioisotope thermal generation) powered vehicle. The outcry is typically, "Oh no! What if the thing explodes on launch and spreads radioactive material all over the place!"

You think they could ever get clearance to launch nuclear explosives?!?

A Standardized OS For Robots 184

Hugh Pickens writes "The New Scientist reports that at present, all robot software is designed uniquely, even for parts common to all robots but that could be about to change as roboticists have begun to think about what robots have in common and what aspects of their construction can be standardized, resulting in a basic operating system everyone can use. 'It's easier to build everything from the ground up right now because each team's requirements are so different,' says Anne-Marie Bourcier of Aldebaran Robotics but Bourcier sees this changing if robotics advances in a manner similar to personal computing where a common operating system allowed programmers without detailed knowledge of the underlying hardware and file systems to build new applications and build on the work of others. 'Robotics is at the stage where personal computing was about 30 years ago,' says Chad Jenkins of Brown University. 'But at some point we have to come together to use the same resources.' This desire has its roots in frustration, says Brian Gerkey of the robotics research firm Willow Garage. If someone is studying object recognition, they want to design better object-recognition algorithms, not write code to control the robot's wheels. "You know that those things have been done before, probably better," says Gerkey, who hopes to one day see a robot "app store" where a person could download a program for their robot and have it work as easily as an iPhone app."

Comment Artivle Useless (Score 1) 151

Red Whittaker founded Astrobotic Technology - I don't know why this "article" is written as if he's joining the company. And the company does have long-term aspirations for the moon and the Google X Prize allows it to offset the cost of development, assuming they win, of course.

Then the article goes on to say that the "only remaining problem" is handling very low temperatures - while I'm sure it's definitely a problem, I highly doubt that that's the only thing left to be solved.

Bottom Line: Ignore TFA, just read the Astrobotic blog entry.

Minor disclaimer: Dr. Whittaker was my master's thesis advisor.

How Google's High Speed Book Scanner De-Warps Pages 209

Hugh Pickens writes "Patent 7,508,978, awarded to Google, shows how the company has already managed to scan more than 7 million books. Google's system uses two cameras and infrared light to automatically correct for the curvature of pages in a book. By constructing a 3D model of each page and then 'de-warping' it afterward, Google can present flat-looking pages online without having to slice books up or mash them onto a flatbed scanner. Stephen Shankland writes that the 'sophistication of the technology illustrates that would-be competitors who want to feature their own digitized libraries won't have a trivial time catching up to Google.' First, a book is placed on a flat surface, while above it, an infrared projector displays a special mazelike pattern onto the pages. Next, two infrared cameras photograph the infrared pattern from different perspectives. 'The images can be stereoscopically combined, using known stereoscopic techniques, to obtain a three-dimensional mapping of the pattern,' according to the patent. 'The pattern falls on the surface of (the) book, causing the three-dimensional mapping of the pattern to correspond to the three-dimensional surface of the page of the book.'"

Comment No, it's not (Score 2, Informative) 33

Actually, no. This is the IXZ-500/650 that they are talking about, which measures pitch and yaw (rotations about the X and Z axes). The IDG-600 which you link to is the older gyro which measures pitch and roll (rotations about the X/Z) axes.

And as far as getting 3-axes goes, pairing one of Invensense's X/Y dual axis gyros with their single axis Z gyro would give you that in a single plane.

For those saying this is the part in the MotionPlus, it's not. That's using the IDG-600 which the parent talks about.

As the article mentions, this is for apps where you only want pitch/yaw and don't care about roll, as in a typical remote control application where you're waving up/down and left/right.

Blue Lights To Reset Internal Clocks 332

holy_calamity writes "Researchers at RPI are testing the effects of putting blue LEDs inside cars to keep drivers alert. People driving through the night are much more likely to cause accidents because our circadian rhythms just want to sleep — blue light at around 450nm wavelength can fool them into thinking it's morning and keep them awake."

Submission + - Space Elevator Teams Compete for NASA Prizes

Hugh Pickens writes: "The University of Saskatchewan's has the first place climb in the Second Annual Space Elevator Games being held this weekend at the Davis County Event Center in Salt Lake City with teams competing for $1,000,000 in NASA prize money. Although the idea of a space elevator has been around for decades, the space technologies needed to support it have yet to be created so the non-profit Spaceward Foundation has hosted an annual competition since 2005, supported by a cash prize from NASA, to build a super-strong tether similar to what would be needed to support a real elevator, or get a robot to climb a suspended ribbon. In the robot climber competition, teams have to get their device to hurtle up a 100-metre-long ribbon, suspended from a crane, at an average speed of two metres per second. The climber must be powered from the ground: strategies include reflecting sunlight from huge mirrors on the ground to solar panels on the climber; shining lasers from the ground up to similar panels on the robot; or firing microwaves up at the climber. Qualifying rounds have been taking place all week, and although high winds and rain have caused delays, four out of eight teams have made it into the finals. There are no outdoor climbs today because of bad weather but that some of the tether competitions will happen indoors later this afternoon."

Submission + - Carnegie Mellon to build Lunar X-Prize robot

Anonymous Coward writes: "Google's Lunar X-Prize already has a prominent entry, William Whittaker, a researcher from Carnegie Mellon University said that he will be assembling a team to development a robot that will be be competing for the $20 million grand prize. According to this story, Whittaker has some unfair advantage, as he has developed a pretty cool lunar rover for NASA that "can find concentrations of hydrogen, possibly water and other volatile chemicals on the moon that could be mined to produce fuel, water and air that are essential for supporting lunar outposts." The Lunar X-Prize runs until the end of 2012 and Carnegie Mellon's announcement could be a first indication that reserachers are taking this challenge very seriously."

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The computer can't tell you the emotional story. It can give you the exact mathematical design, but what's missing is the eyebrows. - Frank Zappa


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Shugo Chara! 6

July 21, 2009

Peach-Pit – Del Rey – 2009 – 9+ volumes

I reviewed this for the weekly Manga Minis column at Manga Recon, so check out the review over there.

I don’t really have much else to say about it, other than it has been awhile since I’ve read a magical girl series, and I should probably fix that sometime soon by starting one from the beginning.  I have to be in the mood though, otherwise I won’t enjoy it.  They are, by their very nature, sort of shallow fun, and if I don’t hit them at the right time, I’ll only see the shallow.

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Do you have comments or questions? Here’s how to get in touch with me:

  1. Lauren,

    The time has arrived! WRiTE CLUB has been going strong for the last 19 weeks and has finally reached the point where only two finalist remain. Time for you to choose. If you’ll send an email to dlh(dot)hammons(at)gmail(dot)com, I’ll send you both of the 500 word writing samples and to select from.

    I would like to announce the winner on December 10th, so please get back to me quickly.

    Once again…thank you for doing this for me! The WRiTE CLUB is anxious to see your choice.🙂

  2. Dear Lauren,
    Congratulations! This is a good career move for you and I’m sure cuts down your commute time!
    Your advice about building our Author Marketing 101 platform was great and Morgan and I are thrilled with the response. Please consider doing a guest blog post for our Finer Points Friday topics. And, of course, feel free to direct your authors to our site for when they are creating their initial marketing plan and author persona.

    I tried to submit this as a direct contact, instead of as a comment, but the above form doesn’t seem to work. My apologies if it did and this is a duplicate.
    Terri Patrick

  3. Dear Lauren,
    OH NO, oh no, oh no! I spelled your name wrong. PLEASE don’t hold that against the rest of the message.
    Mea culpa, mea culpa.
    With utmost sincerety,
    Joann Brosnan

  4. Dear Lauren,
    Your information regarding how to best format/submit a query (plain text etc..) was fantastic. Now I am left wondering if that is the best way to also paste a tasty 10 pages of the novel. The novel (which I work on in a Scrivener program) looks a little like road kill when it’s pasted to an email. Is there a way to avoid this?
    Thank you for being so supportive of authors. It makes me so hopeful to work with an agent some day!
    So many thanks,

  5. Hi Lauren, As I’m getting ready to query (she shakes violently in her seat), I have a format question 101. When I paste my query and or pages of manuscript to the email it looses it’s shape. Is there away around this? I use an Apple? I hate to get rejected for form, getting rejected for content seems way more noble. Thanks! And thanks so much for putting what you are looking for on the BookEnds site! Happy New Year, hope it’s query nice!

  6. Hi Lauren,
    I just wanted to thank you for your fabulous blog. It is informative, creative and really visually lovely! As a writer who one day hopes to work with an agent, it is fantastic to have access to how agents think and what they think about! Love the queries and links! Thanks a lot!

  7. Oops, I was trying to email you for an interview, not comment. The form submitted as I tried to create a hard return. – Cherlyn

  8. Perp St.Remy Asiegbu

    Just posted a comment to you now. So sorry, I made a mistake, the word ‘telling’, should be ‘selling’. Thanks

  9. Having settled down from the Merchant Marine to write, I now have mucho mas material — which I hope to entice you into wanting…

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