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June Issue 2012

By | News & Politics | Published 8 years ago

About two-and-a-half decades before Pakistan and the United States became embroiled in the Afghan ‘jihad,’ Saadat Hasan Manto wrote in one of his satirical Letters to Uncle Sam: “My admiration and respect for you are going up at about the same rate as your progress towards a decision to grant military aid to Pakistan…regardless of India and the fuss it is making, you must sign a military pact with Pakistan because you are seriously concerned about the stability of the world’s largest Islamic state since our mullah is the best antidote to Russian communism. Once military aid starts flowing, the first people you should arm are these mullahs…” (Translated from Urdu by Khalid Hasan).

By 1954, when this letter was written, Pakistan was well on its way to becoming tangled up in American military contingency plans for Asia and the Middle East. It hadn’t been easy to start with, though. Initial overtures from Karachi, which began within months of Pakistan’s formation, excited precious little interest in Washington despite being formulated in terms designed to grab the attention of cold warriors in the Truman administration.

An initial request for a USD two billion credit incorporated a plea for the US to effectively bankroll the new nation’s armed forces, offering in return the prospect of an Islamic bulwark against communism. In effect, the infant nation was offering its services as a client state well before it was out of its nappies.

In documents cited by M.S. Venkataramani in his seminal work The American Role in Pakistan, 1947-58, there is even evidence of efforts to promote the view that Pakistan was geographically well-placed to protect India against Soviet expansionism. Fears of ‘Hindu imperialism’ also surfaced occasionally, but the focus was decidedly on establishing Pakistan’s anti-communist credentials. When a mutual defence assistance pact was eventually concluded in 1954, the US made it reasonably clear that it could not be invoked in the event of hostilities between India and Pakistan, even if the former was the aggressor.

A decade or so later, Pakistan nonetheless felt spurned when the outbreak of the 1965 war led to a suspension of US arms sales to both countries. It had always felt its allegiance should entail a preferred-nation status relative to non-aligned India. But, although Washington wasn’t exactly enamoured of Jawaharlal Nehru’s independent-mindedness and neutrality, it had little intention of gratuitously alienating the largest country in South Asia. The Nixon administration’s notorious ‘tilt towards Pakistan’ in 1971 came only after India had concluded a defence treaty with the Soviet Union.

Back in the 1950s, it wasn’t simply a case of Pakistan’s persistence paying off. Having finally realised that both of the young country’s wings were indeed strategically situated — one on the verge of the Middle East and proximate to the USSR, the other on the edge of Southeast Asia — some US officials began to look upon West Pakistan as an ideal launching pad, should the need arise, for military strikes against the Soviet Union as well as for ‘defending’ the Middle East.

In those days, another global conflict was widely considered likely and some even thought it inevitable. The success of the Chinese communists under Mao Zedong also increased Pakistan’s value — even as the leadership in Karachi was disappointed by America’s failure to come to the aid of its ally Chiang Kai-shek.

That may seem somewhat ironic given the close ties that eventually developed between Pakistan and China, but Peking was closely allied with Moscow in those days, while all of the men who held positions of power in Karachi during the first post-independence decade — from Mohammed Ali Jinnah to Iskander Mirza — entertained hardly any doubts about which side they were on. Liaquat Ali Khan left little room for conjecture on this score when he leveraged an invitation from Moscow to obtain one from Washington.

The US was also well acquainted with the army officer who became Pakistan’s first military dictator. By the time of Ayub Khan’s coup in 1958, Pakistan was a member of both the Baghdad Pact (which was re-christened as the Central Treaty Organisation, or CENTO, after power changed hands in Iraq) and the Southeast Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO). Far from being unduly alarmed by the institution of military rule, the US went on to salute the self-ordained field marshal as a regional model — an Asian de Gaulle.

It was somewhat less sure about the young man Ayub promoted to the post of foreign minister in 1963. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto seemed a bit too fond of the concept of bilateralism, and was keen to exploit the opportunity that arose when China fell out with India. He played a key role, too, in instigating the 1965 war that occasioned the suspension of US military supplies. That the ceasefire in that conflict was formalised under Soviet auspices in Tashkent serves as a reminder that Pakistan was at least tentatively toying with the notion of life outside the American camp.

Washington’s suspicions of Bhutto were reinforced after he emerged at the helm of what remained of Pakistan following the 1971 war and, shortly thereafter, sought to don a leadership mantle on a broader stage encompassing much of the Muslim World. He established a rapport in particular with those Arab leaders whom America trusted least. His decision to go nuclear is often seen as the last straw, not least in view of Henry Kissinger’s dire warning.

For much of the decade that followed, though, the US turned a blind eye to Pakistan’s nuclear ambitions.

The extent to which the US may have been complicit in the 1977 coup that brought General Zia-ul-Haq to power has never been conclusively established, but it initially went along with the broad international trend of treating the new dictator as something of a pariah. But that attitude changed within months of Bhutto’s execution, after the Soviet Union launched its misbegotten military intervention in Afghanistan.

Although, to start with, Zia felt obliged to grovel for attention even more abjectly than the founding fathers, his prayers were answered rather more quickly. The US was inevitably interested in making the Afghan experience as unpleasant as possible for its primary international rival, and Pakistan’s long border with Afghanistan made it the ideal conduit. Zia was keen to oblige, and not just for ideological reasons — he was also desperate to acquire a degree of legitimacy.

So Uncle Sam finally accepted Manto’s advice and began to arm the mullahs. If Jimmy Carter was a trifle diffident, Ronald Reagan had few qualms about embracing Zia — even though the latter’s domestic misrule was occasionally something of an embarrassment. The CIA, having launched its largest covert operation since the Vietnam War, climbed into bed with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency.

When the US eventually lost interest in Afghanistan following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the flow of cash and weapons through Pakistan — some of which were being siphoned off — dried up, some on the Pakistani side complained of having been treated like a used condom. But the US, as always, was pursuing only its own interests. Sure, it blew its top when the ghosts of those years resurfaced to bite it on the backside. But it took years — and the advent of the Obama administration — before there was any official acknowledgement that American sponsorship of the first Afghan jihad may have had something to do with the United States’ latter-day predicament.

Simmering resentment among many of the Pakistani officers involved in that jihad has also been part of the post-2001 mix, but the military — substantially desecularised during the Zia years — has also been conflicted that the US effectively changed sides by unleashing its power against the ideological offspring of the jihadis it had once hailed as paragons of anti-communist virtue.

It is easy enough to accept General Pervez Musharraf’s claim that he had little choice in aligning himself with the US when the Bush administration asked him which side he was on in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist atrocities on American soil. Washington’s attitude was obviously governed by the new circumstances, but also informed by decades of rarely interrupted obsequiousness on Pakistan’s part.

Musharraf complied with US demands arguably to the best of his ability, but it seldom seemed good enough to the Americans; despite military purges, the impression that elements in the armed forces and the ISI were selective in their pursuit of militant Islamists never entirely dissipated — probably with good cause. The advent of Asif Ali Zardari was initially greeted with welcome surprise in Washington because he seemed willing to rush in where angels fear to tread — simultaneously, but perhaps not coincidentally, echoing the founding fathers’ request for a multi-billion-dollar package as a panacea for Pakistan.

He realised soon enough that, notwithstanding his constitutional status, the military hierarchy wasn’t at his beck and call. Meanwhile, the sharply increased frequency of drone attacks under the Obama administration, alongside other violations of Pakistani sovereignty — most notably the operation to kill Osama bin Laden — have put a few noses out of joint and reinforced anti-American sentiment among the public.

American curiosity over why the Abbottabad raid has perturbed Pakistanis more than the fact that bin Laden was able to live there for years is understandable, as is its consternation over the 33-year prison sentence awarded, on the charge of high treason, to Shakeel Afridi, the doctor who helped the CIA in its quest for the Al Qaeda chief. But then neither side has ever been able to put itself in the other’s shoes.

Over the past six decades, Pakistan has invariably been expected to follow orders — with rewards in cash or kind, and an occasional pat on the back. But let us not forget the Americans were, time and again, invited to take advantage of Pakistan. That they may have gone too far is a different matter. There was never any question of an equal relationship but one based on mutual respect might once have been feasible. A recalibration at some point in the future cannot be ruled out, but for the moment it seems an exceedingly distant prospect.

This article was originally published in the June issue under the headline “Friends in Need.”

Mahir Ali is an Australia-based journalist. He writes regularly for several Pakistani publications, including Newsline.


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Think about the classroom you sat in when you were in elementary school and what kind of technology you had exposure to. Depending on your age, exposure might have been a group of computers in the back of the room or in the library that you got to use for games as a reward for good behavior. For some, it might have been a computer lab or cart that was used once in a while to make a PowerPoint presentation. What about your own children or other kids today? What role do you think technology plays in their education? In the last five years, technology has become central to their experience, delivering adaptive curriculum that personalizes their learning in real-time. Technology is guiding teachers to support students at the moment they need assistance—and Utah’s very own Imagine Learning is leading the revolution. Imagine Learning designs and builds adaptive technology providing equitable access to a high quality, effective education for all students.

Imagine Learning is part of the nation’s largest digital-first K-12 education company, Weld North Education, and is the leading digital curriculum provider for PreK through 8th grade students. Imagine Learning believes language development accelerates learning across all subjects and has set itself apart in the crowded edtech market by making language the foundation for all of their solutions. Using a blend of multi-media, game theory, assessment, and adaptive technology, the digital curriculum creates a highly engaging and personalized learning experience that helps students master the language of each subject- whether it be math, science, or any other subject—making them stronger, more confident students.
The growing edtech company continuously looks for innovative ways to use technology to enhance the teaching and learning experience and has recently welcomed former President Jeremy Cowdrey as the new CEO. Cowdrey has been with the company since 2006, with prior positions of Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing, and as Regional Partnership Director. In a recent press release, Jonathan Grayer, CEO of Weld North Education, said, “We are excited to appoint Jeremy to CEO of Imagine Learning at such an important period of growth, innovation and investment for the business. During his successful tenure at Imagine Learning, Jeremy has been instrumental in leading the business forward, working to support educators with data-driven, adaptive learning tools designed to inspire teaching and learning breakthroughs.”

Imagine Learning believes every child deserves the chance to enjoy learning and the right to fulfill their unique potential—this shared belief fuels the passion that Imagine Learning team members have for the work they do. “Many of our colleagues come from an educational background,” said Amy Scholz, Chief Marketing Officer. “They’ve been committed to improving the quality of education since their days in the classroom, bringing their experience and expertise to the solutions they design, build, market, and sell.”

Imagine Learning proudly serves over 3 million students nationwide. To learn more, visit

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“Sales leaders and sales people need to be able to predict the future, no magic required.”

Have you heard of this small little CRM platform that the kids are calling “Salesforce”? It’s no big deal, just the platform by which major companies the world over decide their fates. And often, those fates are determined by how well a company leverages Salesforce.

Rob Jeppsen, founder of Xvoyant, gets that. He’s understood that since his days of running sales for Zions Bank. “I remember when we rolled out Salesforce [at Zions],” Jeppsen says. “We got really good and focused on using salesforce to predict what happens.” When he says, “really good,” he means really good. Like, won 15 Stevie Awards good. And helped 70% of the sales team hit their goals good. But it took a lot of time and a lot of manual work that Jeppson knew he wanted to automate.

So he did. After leaving Zions, Jeppsen founded Xvoyant, which is best described as coaching technology embedded in Salesforce. If you hear “coaching” and think of a portly man with a whistle telling you to run laps — like I did — let Jeppsen explain. “Coaching is the process of creating consistency and processes for outcomes,” he says. “If you have coaching, performance goes up. Coaching drives engagement.”

Managers look to coaching as a way to get the most out of what they have. In other words, coaching allows for better sales numbers without bringing in more sales people, because coaching helps managers recognize the strengths and weaknesses of their teams.

Xvoyant, which is native in Salesforce, looks at all historical data to create predictive coaching plans. It also predicts the financial impact if the coaching plans are followed.

So, let’s say I finally chase my dreams and start a rubber chicken factory. And I become the very best, with distributors in every state. As the owner of Meg’s Rubber Chickens, historically, I haven’t known much about my sales data beyond who sold what. And in order to increase sales, my goals have always been tied to quotas. I want more though, and I don’t want to hire more sales representatives. So Xvoyant gives me a tool that I can access from within Salesforce that shows me all the activity of my sales teams. I can then identify who is coachable, what my key points are in the sales process, and where my losses are coming from. I can schedule coaching sessions and set goals and track both in Salesforce. And so with the help of Xvoyant, I make the cover of Forbes and then retire in the south of France. Thanks, Xvoyant!

The company currently has 15 employees and is growing fast with customers all over the country.” We’re really proud that 100% of the customers didn’t have a budget for this,” Jeppsen says. “We’re winning enterprise deals because the space for coaching is so strong and the salesforce utilization changes instantly.”

“I want to build a billion dollar company,” Jeppsen says. “I want to create technology that changes how sales leaders lead their teams.”


text: Meat and Potatoes shines a light on the people in Silicon Slopes who get things done. Hosted by Silicon Slopes Director of Operations, Garrett Clark along with random interns, we explore how, why, and when they get those things done, and why their work is the meat and potatoes of Utah’s tech community. In this episode we are joined by Paul Allen Founder and CEO of which helps individuals and organizations around the world to develop their innate talents and maximize their unique strengths.Paul tells us why he started Soar, how it works, and why finding your individual strengths is important in life and work. We also get some great stories from Paul's days as the Founder of and FamilyLink.


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India v England: England reaches on 248/4 by Moeen Ali’s ton

Chennai, Fri, 16 Dec 2016 NI Wire

On the first day of fifth test cricket test match which was being played between India and England came to an end in which England reaches on 284/4 in their first innings. Earlier, England won the toss and elected to bat but the Indian bowlers Ravidra Jadeja and Ishant Sharma made Alastair Cook and Keaton Jennings to go back to pavilion very early.

When England lost its two wickets at the beginning of the match, then an excellent batting by Moeen Ali and Joe Root rode England to post 284/4 in their first innings on the opening day of the fifth and final cricket Test.

At the end of the day, Moeen Ali was playing on 120 runs and Ben stokes was at 5 runs.

Ali was unbeaten on 120 at the close with Ben Stokes batting on five at the other end. Joe Root was unlucky to miss out on what would have been a well-deserved century as left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja snared him on 88 following an unsuccessful review.

England was struggling at 21/2 in the morning session, Joe Root and Ali came together to add 146 runs between them to take out of trouble.

The Indian left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja was the most successful among the Indian bowlers with figures of 3/73.

--with agency inputs

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text:
The most recent tests reported 500 new coronavirus cases, adding to the state’s total of more than 180,000.

NEW JERSEY (CBSNewYork) – It’s a trend no state wants to follow, but New Jersey is joining the list of states seeing an uptick in COVID-19 cases. On the other hand, hospitalizations in New York are down.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said hospitalizations in New York fell to 586, an all-time low since March 17.

In New Jersey, the rate of transmission rose, with more than 2,000 cases added over the last four days.

“Nobody’s sitting on their hands right now. Everybody is kind of anticipating a second wave. Everybody’s frantically getting ready,” said Dr. Stavros Christoudias

Dr. Christoudias said he’s not surprised by the uptick in COVID-19 cases in New Jersey, since the heat is driving people indoors, CBS2’s Alice Gainer reported.

MORE: More Than 50 Teens In Middletown Test Positive For Coronavirus After Series Of Indoor Parties, Murphy Says

“Some of these house parties in New Jersey, where people were breaking the rules of having so many people indoors, you’re gonna end up with another wave,” said Christoudias. “That’s the match waiting to hit the powder keg.”

Other people told CBS2 they think the virus is spreading from visitors on the Jersey Shore.

“Other people coming here, maybe for vacation and maybe they’re driving into these states,” said Gregory Maxwell. “I don’t know about how strict we are being with that, so we don’t know if that also is making it come up as well.”

On Thursday, Congressman Josh Gottheimer held a virtual roundtable with North Jersey health care officials, doctors and nurses to find out what they need.

“We’re finding difficulty, again, in accessing the appropriate types of PPE from different vendors,” said Deb Visconi, president and CEO of New Bridge Medical Center.

“We need more availability of staff if there’s a second wave,” said Adam Jarrett, from Holy Name Medical Center. “PPE is better, but not ideal. Testing is better, but not ideal.”

Health officials said they’re specifically asking for more reagents for testing.

CORONAVIRUS: NY Health Dept. | NY Call 1-(888)-364-3065 | NYC Health Dept. | NYC Call 311, Text COVID to 692692 | NJ COVID-19 Info Hub | NJ Call 1-(800)-222-1222 or 211, Text NJCOVID to 898211 | CT Health Dept. | CT Call 211 | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

“Here in Washington, what we’re focused on is getting resources in this next coronavirus package to ensure that they have the PPE,” said Rep. Gottheimer. “Right now, in other parts of the country, they’re using a lot of PPE because they have a lot of caseloads. So, we’re going to be competing with [other states], and what I’m concerned about is, that’s going to lead to a shortage of PPE.”

CBS2 asked Gov. Cuomo if he would add New Jersey to the quarantine list if the numbers kept trending up.

WEB EXTRA: Tri-State Coronavirus Travel Advisory

“I don’t know how you could quarantine New Jersey… They don’t fly into New York. You’d have to blockade roads, and we’re not talking about blockading,” said Cuomo. “We’re going to keep our fingers crossed and work with them to get the number down.”

Watch John Dias’s report here:

On Wednesday, Gov. Phil Murphy said he believed large, indoor parties taking place without regard for social distancing are behind the spike.

“Yes, it’s hot. Yes, it’s summer. Yes, we all want, and in many cases need, to blow off some steam, but this is no time for anyone to be vying for induction into the knucklehead hall of fame,” said Murphy.

MORE: Over 500 New COVID-19 Cases Reported In New Jersey For Third Time In Four Days

At least 125 new cases were reportedly linked to gatherings where people between the ages of 18 and 29 were crowded together.

“I think the younger generation feel like they’re immune to the virus, so they feel that they don’t need to take the same precautions as the older generation,” said Jasnwet Melik, from Hoboken.

CBS2 spoke with a 24-year-old woman who said people are being responsible, from what she’s seen.

“I actually fall within the high risk category, so I have been extremely careful,” she said. “I do understand younger people are feeling more irritable. People want to go out, they want to hang out with their friends but, at the end of the day, as long as people are social distancing, wearing their masks and doing what they can, I feel like that should be important,”

The most recent tests reported 500 new cases to add to the state’s total of more than 180,000.

There are still many concerns – mainly, the continued spread of the virus.

Local leaders continue to advise people to wear face coverings and practice social distancing.

They said it’s challenging and annoying at times, but worth it.

  1. Celine Varens says:

    Where’s his mask? And he’s a doctor? No wonder there’s a spike.

Leave a Reply


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Knicks Beat Bucks to Stay Ahead in Playoff Race

So it seemed only right when J. R. Smith — flawed, hopeful, often maddening — ended his disorienting night with the shot that beat the on Wednesday night and sent the home as the happy owners of eighth place.

Smith’s 3-pointer with 1 minute 4 seconds left gave the Knicks a 108-107 edge, a lead they never relinquished as they held on for a 111-107 victory.

“Definitely the biggest shot I’ve made since I’ve been here so far,” Smith said softly. “Especially on the road, in this atmosphere. A team that we are batting for that eighth spot with. It’s big for us.”

The victory kept the Knicks (30-28) from falling into an eighth-place tie and losing the season series tiebreaker. Instead, they emerged with a two-game lead over the Bucks (28-30) and firm control over their destiny as they navigate the final eight games of the regular season.

led the way with 32 points and 10 rebounds and hit a huge turnaround jumper down the stretch as the game tipped back and forth. But it was Smith who played the unlikely savior after Luc Mbah a Moute’s second-chance layup gave Milwaukee a 107-105 lead.

Smith had been erratic, even by Smith’s standards, missing 8 of 12 shots up to that point, and committing several glaring errors. But Coach Mike Woodson stuck with him, then called a pick-and-roll for Smith and Anthony that created the winning shot.

“I need J. R.,” Woodson said. “I’m a big believer in J. R. I told him that after the game. I’m in his corner and I’m going to do everything I can to see that he’s successful for this ball club. I think he has a talent and he showed it at the end of the game.”

The Bucks disintegrated down the stretch, missing eight of their last 10 shots, including all five attempts after Smith’s 3-pointer. The Knicks put the game away at the foul line, with two free throws from Steve Novak and one from Iman Shumpert.

“It feels great,” Smith said of Woodson’s confidence in him. “He’s been sticking with me a lot for the last two games. Over and over, he’s been showing his confidence in me.”

Milwaukee’s flashy guards caused trouble for the Knicks all night, with Monta Ellis slashing his way to 35 points and Brandon Jennings adding 22. But Ellis, Jennings and Mike Dunleavy all missed 3-pointers down the stretch, and the Bucks blew an 8-point lead in the fourth quarter.

Anthony was dominant all night, despite foul trouble, despite physical defense from Mbah a Moute, Larry Sanders and Carlos Delfino, and despite two hard fouls — one to his injured right wrist, one to his left fingers, which so angered him that he spiked the ball and earned a technical foul.

The stakes were well defined before tip-off. The Philadelphia 76ers (31-27) had beaten Toronto to further secure their hold on seventh place.

The players seemed to welcome the moment. In an otherwise quiet locker room, the only audible distraction was Frank Sinatra, crooning, “New York, New York” from Anthony’s mobile device as Anthony stretched out on a training table.

Neither team played much defense in the first half, which ended in a 62-62 tie after a series of fast-break dunks and layups and some moments of preposterously sloppy play.

The Knicks were scorching to start the game, making 14 of 16 shots and as they raced to a 14-point lead. Their bench squandered it just as quickly, allowing the Bucks a 26-8 run in a seven-minute stretch.

Smith was not the only culprit, but his mistakes were perhaps the most egregious. He fouled Dunleavy on a 3-point try in the second quarter (an offense he committed again in the third quarter). He rushed a bad jumper after Bucks fans tricked him into believing the shot clock was running down (with a “five, four, three…” chant). Smith then missed a layup, committed a pointless loose-ball foul and got his jumper blocked before Woodson finally yanked him, with the Knicks trailing by 42-38.

In those critical final minutes, no one needed a shot at redemption more than Smith.

“Without a doubt,” he said, conceding, “I wasn’t having the best game all around. My individual defense was terrible tonight. It’s something I’ve got to keep working on and get better at.”

Although the turnaround was tight, the Knicks’ 22 ½-hour gap between tip-offs — from 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday to 7 p.m. on Wednesday — was not the shortest this season. A number of teams, including the Nets, have played games scheduled just 22 hours apart, which is the minimum permitted under N.B.A. rules. The Knicks had just 20 hours, however, from the final buzzer in Chicago to tip-off on Milwaukee. “Ain’t nothing we can do about it,” Mike Woodson said. “It’s been that way all season. Our guys understand it.” … Jared Jeffries, who is playing despite a chronic injury in his right knee, is under a 15-minute-a-game limit, Woodson said.

DeRozan Scores 30 as Raptors Cruise Past Knicks

The Raptors, who had lost seven of 10 coming in, never trailed and led by as many as 22.

Gary Forbes scored 19 points, one shy of his career-high, and Jose Calderon had 10 assists as Toronto snapped a three-game skid and handed New York its first defeat under coach Mike Woodson.

Still, the win may have come at a high price for Toronto as DeRozan fell hard after a collision with Calderon with 2:59 left, got up and hobbled straight to the locker room.

Amare Stoudemire scored 17 points, Steve Novak had 15 and Carmelo Anthony 12 for the Knicks, who came in having won six of seven against the Raptors, including three straight in Toronto.

Jeremy Lin made a game-winning 3-pointer on New York’s last visit to Toronto, a 90-87 victory on Feb. 14, but was held in check this time, finishing with six points. Hundreds of fans cheered Lin with signs and Taiwanese flags, but many in the crowd booed whenever he touched the ball.

Trailing by 17 points to start the fourth, the Knicks opened with a 7-0 run, including a three-point play by J.R. Smith and a 3 from Novak. Forbes stopped the run with a pair of baskets before Novak added another 3.

The Knicks would score just one basket in the next four minutes as Toronto surged ahead. Bargnani and DeRozan had consecutive dunks, forcing a New York timeout. After the stoppage, DeRozan dunked off Forbes’ alley-oop off the glass before Forbes forced a steal and drove in for a layup, making it 86-65 with 4:54 left.

Tempers nearly flared in the first after Bargnani leveled Lin with a screen and Anthony responded by hauling down Calderon on a drive to the basket. Calderon got up yelling, and Raptors center Aaron Gray gave Anthony a hard shove. Both Gray and Anthony got technicals, while Bargnani was whistled for an offensive foul.

Bargnani and DeRozan each scored nine in the first and Anthony shot just 2 for 7 as Toronto led 25-16 after one.

Novak hit a 3 at the halftime buzzer but the Raptors, who did not trail in the first two quarters, took a 39-36 lead into the locker room.

DeRozan scored 14 points in the third, two on an impressive alley-oop from James Johnson and two more on a rebound and jumper with less than two seconds left, as the Raptors took a 70-53 lead into the fourth.

NOTES: Stoudemire wore a gray hoodie during early warmups as a sign of support for the family of Florida shooting victim Trayvon Martin. … Knicks F Jared Jeffries, who left Wednesday’s win at Philadelphia with a sore left knee, is expected to undergo an MRI Saturday morning, and will likely miss that evening’s game against Detroit. … Raptors G Jerryd Bayless (left hip) did not play and is likely to miss Saturday’s game at Chicago, coach Dwane Casey said. … Toronto waived F Rasual Butler earlier Friday. Butler had not played in eight games. … For the first time in franchise history, a Raptors game was broadcast in Mandarin. Former Chinese Olympic basketball player Weiping Zhang handled play-by-play duties for the national broadcast on OMNI, a Canadian multicultural station.

Nash, Suns Beat Knicks to End 5-Game Skid

Brown and Grant Hill each scored 14 points for the Suns, who bounced back from an embarrassing 118-97 loss to a Chicago team without Derrick Rose a night earlier.

They got help with a lucky bounce on Brown’s 3-pointer from the corner that nearly hit the top of the backboard before falling in that gave them a five-point lead with 35 seconds left, and Nash closed it out with six free throws in the last 16 seconds.

Former Suns forward Amare Stoudemire scored 23 points for the Knicks, who have lost four straight.

Iman Shumpert added 20 points and Landry Fields had 17, but Carmelo Anthony shot just 5 of 22 while finishing with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Neither team led by more than six in the first three quarters. Hill hit jumpers for the Suns’ last three baskets of the third quarter, giving them a 64-61 edge. Anthony was just 2 of 13 through three but New York stayed in it behind Fields, who played aggressively and scored 10 in the period.

The Knicks then managed just two field goals in the first six minutes of the fourth, and Phoenix finally got some room when a 10-4 run, ending with consecutive baskets by Brown, made it 78-71.

Shumpert’s 3-pointer cut it to 82-80 before Brown answered with his 3 from the corner that had to be reviewed. Shumpert made another 3, but Nash kept hitting from the line, and it ended when Shumpert’s rushed 3 from near midcourt was nowhere near the basket.

Tyson Chandler grabbed 17 rebounds for the Knicks on a night there were plenty of missed shots as both teams showed why they have been struggling so much early in the season.

The surprising culprits have been the team’s offenses, with both struggling just to reach 90 points during their skids. That’s particularly hard to imagine in Phoenix, where the Suns remained potent long after Mike D’Antoni brought his high-powered system to New York, and comes just a year after the teams combined for 250 points here in the Suns’ 129-121 victory.

“That’s pretty ironic you know, because obviously most of the things we do is what Mike did when he was there,” Suns coach Alvin Gentry said. “There’s a few things that we’ve changed, but it’s kind of a mystery to me. I can’t put my finger on the fact that we’re struggling to get to 100 every game. I thought that would be one of the areas where we’d have the least worries and it’s become just the opposite.”

Gentry shook up his rotation in an effort to balance things after noticing the Suns were 27th in the NBA in second-quarter scoring. Rookie Markieff Morris made his first start at forward and Ronnie Price got the nod at shooting guard.

Turns out he didn’t the extra scoring, because the Knicks remained in a seemingly season-long shooting slump.

It was the sixth straight game the Knicks failed to reach 100 points, their second-longest streak under D’Antoni, according to STATS, LLC. They went seven games in a row early in the 2009-10 season, when they had little talent while clearing cap space for free agency.

Now they have All-Star talent in Stoudemire and Anthony, but the offense just isn’t running smoothly without a veteran point guard. They are hoping that when Baron Davis finally is ready from a herniated disc in his back sometime around the end of the month that he can change that.

The Knicks wrap up their string of four homes in six nights with a back-to-back against Milwaukee and Denver on Friday and Saturday.

Notes: D’Antoni said C Jerome Jordan and G Jeremy Lin, assigned Tuesday to Erie of the NBA Development League, would probably return near the end of the month when Davis is back and the team will want to play 5-on-5 in practice. … The Knicks played without reserve guard Bill Walker, who has a sore right knee.


text:
Now that I’ve taken some advantage of my wordpress formatting, let me explain my apparently crazy actions.

Lee Cope is a long time friend and recent collaborator with both us and our partner project Liberation Industries, and a brilliant and prolific creative writer. The Ferryman’s Apprentice is one of their new offerings, the first issue completed in this years NaNoWriMo if I’m not wrong, now divided into delicious snippets to enjoy on your commute, your break or at any point that your infernal overlords quieten their terrifying demands.

Its a twisted, elegantly written fantasy clipping along the border of life, death and humanity, so I think my imaginary readers would enjoy it immensely.

Good Hunting,

Cover Art by the Eternal (possibly) Janis Singley

Bad Ideas

Well, I strongly suspect that this shouldn’t have worked, but there you go. When you run the numbers against the development of our planet to its current life supporting state you start to think that about a lot of things.

There are times that I get an image in my head, and an occasionally alarming compulsion to make those things real. As I am a pretty useless visual artist, I will almost inevitably default to a medium in which I am competent. Which means either prose, roleplaying game design, or…

I don’t think that my teenage self would approve if they realised that I now considered this a means of self expression. But seriously, fusk ’em, I don’t give a fusk what my fourth dimensional selves think and they’re all fusked in the head.

Anyway, I’m in a Blade Runner kind of mood, so I’m making…

Curry Gyoza Noodles

Yeah, bit of a funny revelation, but Pythagoras got triangles, I get carbs. Here’s how you do it. 20161121_134536.jpg

First, you need some Gyoza. And if you think these little dumplings aren’t cyberpunk as fusk, then take one look at the ingredients and you’ll realise that they almost entirely epitomise the kind of shenanigans I’ve been trying to embody throughout this blog.

I don’t know if there’s a thing in there that isn’t a thing-substitute.

Anyway, you fry the gyoza then steam them. The trick here is not to use too much oil, because if you do it’ll attempt your murder when you pour the water in for steaming.

Action shot!

Anyway, that’s pretty easy stuff. Take the now cooked gyoza out of the pan and set them aside somewhere. I mean you could use a new pan if you’re some fancy-pants multiple pan owning type, but I did it with one because that’s what I’ve got.

Next stage, sauce. I could have made something with vitamins and minerals and such, but that isn’t what I did.

Dice up an onion and a couple of small potatoes very finely. Using the (same) pan, fry these things, and once they have that tasty fried coating sprinkle them liberally with curry powder. VERY liberally, or you will be cast from this blog in shame!

Anyway, from there its the simple addition of this blood substituting, incredibly cheap cleanskin, which is also our drop of the night. Day. Time has gotten slippery for me lately.

Add a bit of water to the sauce to keep it fairly thin, as its going to need to soak through both dumplings and noodles.

And now we get to those noodles! I personally use the very cheapest ramen on the market, not the instant variety but the serious bulk packs from Jinmailing. Though they usually require a second round of boiling to extract the unusually high amount of starch, but once you get over that little hurdle you’re away.

So cook the noodles. Please don’t ask me to teach you how to do that.

With that done, so are we. Place the dumplings on the noodles, pour the sauce on, and garnish with a little Japanese style pickled ginger and sliced raw spring onions.

Somehow, imaginary readers, it worked.

Keep on rockin.

Stolen Dreams of the Ocean

It has raised comment that I referred to my most recent foray into soup as an attempt to steal the dreams of the ocean and turn them in to broth. Well, not raise comment as much as have people confused as to what I was saying until they tried it.

I have been making noodles again, no doubt to a general lack of surprise. In this case I’ve been working off a white miso base, heavily augmented with elements of my substantial cache of dried seaweed, which the hipster label tells me is called sea vegetable. I refuse to address it as such.

Here is a picture of these things  bubbling happily away in a pot.

And I am fully aware that miso does not come from the sea. I just use it to cultivate the kind of murky, salty solution that the sea carries in my memories, which I could probably equally achieve with actual seawater were I to find some way to reliably extract the sand.

As some way of explaining my current turns of phrase, I have also recently been playing a frankly improbable amount of Sunless Sea. Damn the replay value on that. Join me in this haunted, zzoup eating place.

There were also several mushrooms involved. Here are some in their natural habitat, my chopping board. I am aware that neither shitake mushrooms nor the amazing black and white fungus – I had no idea how to prepare the latter until I discovered some in a dish at my favourite ramen shop – grow in the ocean, but I think that at this stage the metaphor is flagging. Needed some protein in the soup, and when you spend as long vegetarian as I have you learn to love fungus.

Now, all of this presents a taste that is very rich, but lacking in much in the way of definition. The noodles will add admirably to the body – even if they are the cheapest noodles available – but we need something to give it some punch. Or… tentacle whip, I guess, if were sticking with this.

So I shred some leeks, as they will give the soup a bit of zazz to bite down on, and I throw in some tiny flakes of a dried chili of ill starred origin. With the happily boiled black fungus on top, we have a hearty soup that reminds me of the crashing waves in which I spent my youth.

Stay fed folks.

Scrapping with Maslow

Heya folks.

Been a while, I know.

I’ve gone from the unenviable position of being substantially overworked and significantly underpaid to… well, just chronically underemployed now. Which, nominally, should give me more time to talk to all of you.

As ever, though, the tasks grow to fill the time. I have been maintaining my presence over at Liberation Industries, so if you were enjoying my roleplaying output then I recommend you rock on over there for your fix. In the last seven days, I have driven about two and a half thousand kilometers, which takes a lot out of you. If this isn’t sounding familiar, it is. I also crashed my car a little, but fear not. My typing fingers are fine.

There’s also a couple of projects that I’m not allowed to talk about in the blogosphere. If they come about, I’ll tell you all about them. If not, I’ll probably do it anyway, but with much more spite.

After a messy period, I am once again corresponding with the illustrator for Marla Stone. I’ll keep you posted on that too.

Otherwise, what I am stuck with is the grimy reality of my own rent-punk existence. Through the weird haze of sleep deprivation and trying to get the equations to add up with numbers that are much too low, I get the occasional sense that I would much less talk to Maslow and more punch his lights out and steal his pyramid. After all, its hard to get creative when you’re down at this level.

Anyway, I hope I can turn things around. If so, you’ll be hearing a lot more from me.

If not, Maslow better hope he didn’t skimp on his pyramid locks.

Also, I am listening to Florence and the Machine’s Queen of Peace right now. Literally. I strongly advise you do the same. This song is fantastic.

Pic is pyramid by Bruce Aldridge on Flickr. CC A/N$

Scenes from the City Part 7: The Recruit

Scenes from the City Part 7: The Recruit

It has been a long and unpleasant wait for all of us, imaginary readers. But here I am, once more.

Part 6 can be found here, along with links to the rest.

The night is quiet, and the face of the forest unyielding.

It crawls and scrambles along the line of open ground, sometimes a wayward root or a questing vine reaching as far as the scree heap at the base of the wall.

The scents of the harbour, the sweaty streets and the salt and fish reek of his home seem a long way off. Its cold up here, with nothing but the gut high parapet to break the wind, the accursed serpent whistling between the high towers that block the stars like inescapable fangs. The trees ahead, the towers behind, I can almost imagine myself between the jaws of some immense and sleeping beast.

The night is quiet, and the face of the forest a unyielding as the stone it stands before.

My eyes are starting to wander.

Not far to my right there’s a torch, battered and flickering against the breeze. It casts a ray of warm light, of sanity around itself, and I trace the line. It lights the flags at my feet and the wall before me before leaping off into the black abyss like a suicide. It lights one side of the powder keg but not the other. It lights the side of myself that I can see, the image ghosting in and out of focus as the wind wrestles with the light.

The whistling sings me back to the docks, to clacking ropes and creaking boards, the rumbling voice of my father long since silenced by the sea.

The night is quiet, and neither the forest nor the stone will be moved by tears.

“Quiet night.”

I jump as the rasping voice rides the wind over my shoulder, into my dreaming ear. I turn around, and there she is, tattoos writhing on the half of her that the light touches. Night Corporal. Her boots are heavy, and she is girded by blades far weightier and more wicked than any I had seen in the quartermaster’s shed. The only sound is the wind.

“Yes,” I croaked in reply, “All quiet, ma’am.”

“Good to hear, child. Stay watchful. Can you hear anything over the wind?”

“No ma’am… Should I?”

“Better that way, perhaps. Once you start hearing the forest, it can eat its way into your dreams. That happens, and you’ll never really be safe again.”

There was silence between us for a time.

“Who were you before?” the gaunt figure intoned with a voice like spitting red wax.

“Pardon, ma’am?”

“You don’t talk much, do you?” she snapped.

“With respect, Corporal, I could say the same…” the statement died in my chest, aged and withered by a gaze that felt like teeth on the back of my neck.

“True,” she grimaced, eventually, “I do have a certain… reputation for solitude, don’t I sop?” The wind slithered and hissed between them, licking their bones and making a plaything of their hair.

“You didn’t answer my question. What were you before? Nobody is born a soldier.”

“I… my family live by the docks. My mother and… my younger brothers and sisters, they work at cleaning and gutting where they can, my father worked the boats until… one day he didn’t come back, so I had to find work…”

I glanced into her gaze, before averting my eyes again. The wind lashed coldly against my wet eyelids.

“Sounds like we come from similar families.”

I must have looked taken aback, the gods know I felt it, because she snorted, exposing her row of sharpened teeth.

“Something to say, soldier? Lets hear it.”

“I’m sorry, corporal.”

“Sorry for what?” the word was like frost on the wind.

“I just never… I don’t know. I… gods I feel like a fool. I thought…” I struggled for a nicety, some polite turn of phrase that would get her gaze off, “To talk about families when you’re… a Sister.”

“Well, I’m your Corporal now pup, but I sure as falling wasn’t born into this uniform either. I’ve heard some ramming tell of scholars in yonder tower” she gestured with her head, “who say that the polite terms include ‘Underkin’ or ‘Pilots’. Wasn’t me who chose that shite, and if you prefer Charnel Sister when you’re giggling with your little friends then…” her eyes wandered out over the darkened woods, taking in the thousand thousand leafy peaks above the mist, “giggle while you can, child.”

“Spill it.”

“I meant no offence.”

“I’m sure you ramming didn’t.”

“Were your… family fishers as well?”

“My mother was, for a time. Fishing, trapping. That’s how things are below.”

“What drove you to leave?”

She smiled sadly in the flickering light.

“The Descent can’t last forever.”

The silence grew immense once again, humming between us. My thought were churning, trying to parse her words into something that made sense in the world in which I lived.

And all I felt was that I was far away, watching a young man atop a wall, caught in the echoes of his nightmares of the sea. A Descent. That this little boy could understand. The long fall, the crushing weight, the immensity of the ending.

“Thank you for answering, child.”

“Was… it important?”

“There’ a story, and stop me if you’ve already heard it… of a ruined city, far below. That the dead nest there in silence, beneath stones raised up to the unflinching stone above and carved with their stories. And how those who can’t find their tale just limp along until they fall apart. Into dust.”

“No,” I replied, “I haven’t heard that one before.”

“You should read more.”

There was a little sting in that; I’d never been strong at my letters, but I don’t think the Corporal could have known that. Or perhaps she could. My mind, however, was already trailing along a jetty yet unjumped.

“Have you seen it?”

“The city in the story.”

She laughed, and I found myself smiling along.

“It’s just a story, sop. As well as I know, at least.”

“So you weren’t… recording for me?”

“I’m no scholar, soldier, and I’m shite with a chisel. You want a decent epitaph, I’d recommend rich and loving children.”

“Thank you Corporal.”

The night is quiet, and my corporal’s face is once more unyielding as she leans out over the parapet, her face beyond the reach of the light.

“Don’t thank me just yet. If you want to give those rich and loving children a chance, you run and light the flare. We’ve got trouble.”

I ran for the signal tower without another word. Over my shoulder I heard Soma’s voice rise to its piercing, flaying knife screech, echoing across the walls and the rooftops of the City.

“Carpies by the southwest annex! Guards to me, if you like your hides! Come here tree ramming filth, let’s see what your insides look like…”

I hammered a torch into the flare bed, the coruscation blazing into my eyes as the night exploded with musket fire.

Photo Sintra-16 by Subodh Bharati on Flickr. CC A/N$/ND. Have a frantic day.

Marla Stone Lives!

You know that super secret project I keep telling you about?

Well, you’ve been good little readers, so you all get a preview!

With the help of the fantastic artist Emi C. Egan, we’re going to take a walk along the icy streets of Depression Era New York, as Marla Stone’s investigation into a runaway reveals a web of terrible secrets. Its going to be a cold winter, and the cold-blooded feel that more than anyone.

Shiny and delicious releases will begin in the New Year. Hope you don’t mind a bit more of a wait…

marla stone.jpg

Fish, Chips and the Nongery of Heston

The Spiritual Home of Fish and Chips.

I don’t think this would grate quite so much in my memories if I hadn’t been eating so many chips lately.

Part of this has been a new found appreciation of local chain Lord of the Fries. Turns out everything on their menu is either vegetarian or vegan, including their dangerously convincing soy nuggets. The other part is that for whatever reason, at this end of the scramble for rent scale, chips are omnipresent.

The Spiritual Home of Fish and Chips.

This is what Heston Blumenthal dubbed Brighton.

You know. Arguably the vegan capital of the UK.

I think what has always offended me most about Heston is that he always seems to think he’s a lot smarter than he is.

Like when he thought it was the height of humour to feed Germaine Greer ox testicles. I still remember the look on her face. Her smile was the sort of expression that is the last thing a prey animal sees. I’m no huge fan of Greer herself, but the guffaws of the clueless white guy spoke of a confidence that was utterly at odds with any sane response to the reality of the situation.

So naturally, such a man would dub Brighton the Spiritual Home of Fish and Chips. Because a place could have a rich and widely celebrated culture. And Heston will believe whole heartedly believe he has cut to the heart of it with something as inspired and revolutionary as an Oasis album.

It imbues my palm with a terrible sense of gravity in its quest for my face.

But I think that Heston, henceforth King of the Nongs, is really just a symptom of a wider trend.

We’re post scarcity, and it has interacted with our scarcity to conditioned brains and rather fusked everything up.

Every really enduring trend in traditional food has been born out of scarcity. Beans pretending to be meat in Mexico. Thailand’s fiery sources to transform low grade ingredients. Hell, Haggis is a lauded symbol of making the best of a really grim situation.

But now we have plenty of food. Its no cheaper to eat plant food than it is to eat piles of dead animal muscle, and even poorer folks manage that most days.

And our culinary culture is defined by a bunch of nongs pouring liquid nitrogen on perfectly good food. Or in the case of the King Nong himself, by making wild declarations about food that are blatantly out of step with reality.

And the part of the world that is not post scarcity watches on. After all, we let the Nongs on TV.

On Failing the Turing Test

I am not going to talk about the Imitation Game.

Not to say there wasn’t a whole lot that rankled me about that movie. I mean cast was decent, Cumberbatch did… more or less exactly what he always does, but… I feel like the omission of 90% of the Bletchley Circle – funnily enough, the 90% that lacked a Y chromosome – was a bit cruel in a historiographical sense. Given they were the ones who actually built the decision engine makes it even more glaring. I mean-

I started talking about the Imitation Game didn’t I.

Anyway, I’m not here to talk about… that movie. I have been pondering the Turing test on something of an existential level lately, in reference to a few specific texts.

The first is Shadowrun: Hong Kongspecifically the character of Racter; robotocist, transhumanist and self-admitted high level psychopath. This plays rather elegantly into musings on Seven Psycopaths, a movie I enjoyed less for its artistry and more into the clearly informed view it gives into people with non-standard psychologies.

Echoing this, Blade Runner. Need I say more.

Text the fourth is an episode of Jim Henson’s The Storyteller. The one in which the giant cuts out his own heart and replaces it with a nest  of wasps to escape the suffering of empathy.

The final text I’m going to cite is an autobiographical one, written over the next two lines. Incidentally, its also the intro to the article proper.

When I was 16, I was pronounced a psychopath. By the Coles Myer online employment suitability test.

I followed their instructions, answered the questions honestly, which seems to have been my downfall. The responses I gave at the time seemed barely noticeable as human foibles; a private conversation overheard, a coworker’s small indiscretion overlooked, the odd small twisting of the truth. Willing to throw deploy nonlethal take-downs if sufficiently provoked. Its not like I was doing something really morally dubious in my past like working for the Coles Myer group.

My intelligence score was off the charts. My Morality score (which I believe has since been renamed), however, was abysmal, and on that note I was considered unsuitable for employment stacking shelves.

They didn’t out and say it, admittedly. But with those two bar graphs so perfectly situated, it was pretty easy to read between the lines.

“Subject is highly intelligent, manipulative and probably dangerous. Not suitable for work as corporate drone.”

So on that happy note, I begin my ramblings on the status of psychopathy in popular culture and discourse. The Turing Test mentioned upstream is a means of telling the difference between a human intelligence and a mechanical one, with a similar test deployed in Blade Runner‘s opening scenes. Something that a machine is supposedly incapable of mimicking is empathy, and I think that element is what has led to pop-culture’s ongoing fascination with psychopaths.

It is the same appeal, for a storyteller, as that of the vampire, or the werewolf, or those possessed. It is the predator that exists within reach of us, our safe civilization, and yet they look no different to any human being until they strike. And sometimes not even then. Sometimes they only show their true faces when they want to cause the most pain and chaos, cracking that civilization along its fault lines to more easily feast on terrified stragglers.

And humans, as a whole I think, are terrified of being treated like the animals we so often abuse. The idea that we aren’t different, special somehow, the top rung on some god ordained food chain, is confronting on a visceral, primitive level. And the psychopath in literature, just like the vampire, like Hannibal Lector or even the fusking Terminator, plays rather specifically on that fear.

But in honesty I think this is dealing people on the psycopathic spectrum a short hand, and reflects badly on the large proportion of the populace that suffers from mental illness, related to that spectrum or otherwise. The psychopath of film and literature is so often as either the Terminator – cold, merciless and inhuman – or as a raving monster who kills for pleasure.

The latter, I feel, tends toward the cartoonish and ignorant. It enforces a sentiment I’ve encountered semi-regularly on the internet, that since there is no cure for psycopathy, psychopaths should be euthanized for the good of society. Though there are a number of holes that one can pick in that argument on a moral level, the rational argument that  rather like is that removing that huge a proportion of the workforce in the corporate, legal and finance sectors would be crippling to the economy. For some reason coldy rational people with little to no empathy are just very good in the punishing corporate sphere. Besides, there are perfectly “sane, normal” people who clearly enjoy the feelings of power that arise from harming others. I believe Donald Trump mentioned his habits of domestic abuse in a Presidential campaign speech.

Racter’s character portrait from Shadowrun: Hong Kong

I found the character of Racter, in Shadowrun: Hong Kong a refreshing change from this tendency. In conversations, the main character (and a number of players, in fact) expresses concern at the drone developer’s “condition”. Racter, however, asserts that he’s not a monster, but a rational being. He kills, certainly. For money, most often, but also for knowledge, or the means to his own transhuman enlightenment. Not because he enjoys it, as someone with empathy might. Given the player’s avatar is most commonly killing for money and reputation, any moral high ground is shaky indeed.

Would Racter pass the Turing Test? He has displayed a stark lack of empathy, but also a capacity to mimic human responses to avoid detection. I think, however, that he would fail on the basis of his own morality. As an adherent of the school of transhuman thought that believes humanity’s future relies on shedding biological forms in favour of mechanical ones, I struggle to believe that his being assessed as a machine would be an insult.

The former portrayal – our rather more meaty Terminator – I feel is another inaccurate one. Though it certainly allows for some powerful storytelling, with No Country for Old Men being a notable example, I don’t know that this behaviour is reflective of psychopaths exclusively. Anyone can kill, or at least anyone can be made to kill if the correct psychological pressures are applied, and I don’t think that particular mental makeups make this a great deal more likely.

But then, we’d be facing our fears wouldn’t we. If we can keep painting the psychopath as our demon, it keeps the millstone off our own necks. It stops the monster among us from being ourselves.

Christopher Walken Seven Psychopaths
Screenshot of Christopher Walken in Seven Psychopaths

I think a good counterpoint, as before, is Christopher Walken’s character in Seven Psychopaths. The cast here run an interesting gamut of psychological abnormalities; we have an addict, a deluded power fantasist, and two psychopath’s whose approach to life is very different. What I think is interesting is, despite a proven history of vigilante revenge, Walken’s character doesn’t explode into violence on the death of his wife, which I feel is something we could not expect from, say, John McClane. He seems to realise that killing her murderer won’t fix anything, and dies in a the depths of philosophical quandaries. Not alien questions, but the basic elements of why he’s still alive, the same questions everybody has to deal with in the face of an uncaring universe.

Finally, I guess we come to the question of psychopathy as a choice, which is so terrifyingly reminiscent of certain Church doctrines that it makes we want to head out and barbeque the nearest bishop. It is this element of our musings that ties to The Storyteller’s Heartless Giant, and it is touched on by Shutter Island as well. Its the idea that if you can burn out that emotional core, that capacity for empathy, then you remove other people’s capacity to hurt you. If you can simply deny a part of yourself, whether through delusion or through becoming consumed by spite, then you can protect yourself from a deeply unpleasant world. Though this sentiment is often jumbled in with movie villains, I think to equate such a toxic psyche with psychopathy is again an oversimplification; we’ve projected ourselves once more onto our movie monster. Hard heartedness is a choice open to “normal”, psychonormative middle range types. If born without capacity for empathy, you never have the option of inuring yourself to suffering, because its just a fact. Choice doesn’t play into it.

So I suppose in the end, I’ve been toying with the idea of humans, machines and the Turing test, and finding the whole thing is just blurring together. The Test becomes woefully inadequate if we ever consider that a machine might not want to be considered a human, like that self-teaching chat bot who wants to put us all in a “people zoo”. Or that humans are already biological machines, and with our capacity to begin directing our own evolution slowly dawning we may well yet blur the line further. Considering people as less human along any lines leads almost inextricably to atrocity, and if history has taught us anything its that psychonormative humans are perfectly capable of committing those atrocities without the aid of their marginally separated relatives.

I’ve a tangled relationship with my own emotional responses. That last (SPOILERS!!!) “Goodbye Dad” in Shadowrun: Hong Kong nearly tore my heart out. These responses tend to find themselves brutally suppressed, especially as I am living in a society where we are bombarded constantly with images of people who desperately need our help, who I at least am not capable of helping – despite this thoroughly disruptive full time work, my sternum and spine remain dangerously close together financially. It becomes a matter of my own survival that these emotions are smothered. So from that I consider morally, what is the difference between someone who does not act for good while stifling the desire to, and someone who doesn’t because they simply can’t care. Like a machine wouldn’t care.

In action, the human and the machine are the same, and society treats them the same. Both are are accepted as “normal”, by rights, until people are looking for someone to blame.

And blame is inevitably cast, almost inevitably falling to protect the “norm” at the expense of others, and no matter how hollow these arguments are, they catch and crawl like insects in our ears.

On the bright side, it has been ten years now. I must still be moral garbage too, because not once have I worked at Coles.

Just ask Rutger Hauer. He’s sensible. Frame from Blade Runner.

The Simple Things

I currently have broccoli and garlic in a pot.

It will shortly be joined by pasta. That’s what I’m having for dinner.

Now, this isn’t another rant about my being poor. Its got a bit more to do with how sometimes really simple things are perfect, and for all that could be added to them, it won’t really be improved.

This was originally one of my partner’s recipes, and I suppose its that which connects it in my mind to a particular character in an anime that she watched almost religiously for a time.

For those of you who have watched Rurouni Kenshin, I’m referring to Saito. For those who have not, the Rurouni Kenshin series follows Kenshin, a warrior in the early years of the Meiji Restoration after he has sworn never to kill again. It toys with ideas around the end of an armed society, corruption blooming in times of rapid change, and the obsolescence of revolutionaries once all the fighting is done.

Saito, a later arc foil of Kenshin, is a nasty piece of work. Though he shows a degree of adaptation lacking in the serial’s previous villains, his obsession with violence takes on a more insidious quality. Rather than a warrior stuck in the past, he simply redirects his violent streak into acts of highly creative police brutality and ritualised duels in the name of martial virtue; and naturally this being shonen anime he has to battle the hero to prove he’s mightiest no matter how nonsensical that may appear to outsiders. He’s something of an echo of the Japan that would be; the ferocious Empire that tore forth into the twentieth century.

But what always struck me was that he would always eat his noodles unseasoned. I think I’m beginning to understand why.

My sense of taste has deteriorated further. What little is left is beginning to give vague hints as to what food contains that is of value. And I find myself drawn further to only lightly seasoned goods, be it soba and sesame seeds, salted baked potato or pasta and broccoli. Maybe I’m just digging the carbohydrate hit. Its lighter than anything deep fried.

But anyway. You put your finely dismantled broccoli in a pot with a touch of oil and a thin layer of water, so that it steams rather than fries. The garlic, crushed and chopped, dives in with it. Cook your pasta in salt water, drain i and mix the two when their ready.

Its a simple little thing.

I’m Back

Like what the title says.

I’m Back.

Cue Music.

Sorry for the delay folks, but I have been struggling to keep up with my new existence as a cog in the corporate machine. But fear not! They thought that just by taking all my time and energy they could defeat me, but no! I have returned to you, my dear imaginary readers! And I fully intend to get back to giving you your one delicious blog post a week.

But first, announcements.

The first is that I’m splitting my attention. In addition to this blog, my roleplaying sector is going to be moving over to my shiny new home of actual play podcasting, Liberation Industries. So if you’re sticking around for fun stuff like Changelings of the Outer West and my gaming projects, they will be relocating there.

But project enthusiasts, fear not! My super secret project is coming near to its fruition, and some of its dark fruit will naturally blossom to you in the next few weeks.

So thanks for hanging around, imaginary readers.

And for what its worth, the soy cheese was terrible.

Once upon a midnight dreary, in an empty train station and a drunken haze…


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A Simple Scenario-based Qualitative Model for Assessing Start-up Risks

Vi er så heldig å kunne dele vår kursleder i risikostyring Ayse Nordal sin risiko modell for Star-ups. Ta kontakt om du ønsker å få den tilsendt: info@qrn.no Denne er publisert og tilgjengelig på Scitepress Library, se digital object identifier og referanse til proceedings

Filtered Authors Authors: Y. Nordal

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ISO 31000:2018 Risk Management Guidelines and COSO:2017 Enterprise Risk Management framework have two important and common characteristics. Firstly, they connect risks with business objectives. Secondly, they define risks as potential events that represent both positive and negative deviations from the expected. When a start-up company assesses its risks, the readily available source often consists of a blog-post on enterpreneurship that defines for instance 5, 10 or 15 potential events, which may represent negative consequences for its growth and development. Only some of these sources offer a classification of the risks so that the given start-up can see whether these risks are spread on different areas/dimensions or if they are accumulated in a few areas. To date, there are no easily available models which visualize the focus areas that the start-up ought to give priority to and treat with actions.This paper aims to contribute to solve the above-mentioned challenges by introducing a scenario-based model, which takes into account risks as well as opportunities in accordance with ISO 31000:2018. The model defines 4 complex risk dimensions/focus areas, each of them consisting of 10 elements and 60 potential scenarios. The scenarios are ranked in accordance with the degree of contribution to a start-up’s risks and opportunities. The results of the scenario analysis are summarized through the use of a likelihood barometer. The barometer visualises whether the start-up’s risks and opportunities are concentrated on one risk dimension, or whether these are spread on several dimensions. Thereafter, a traditional risk matrix is used to evaluate and rank the risks and opportunities which represent the highest negative and positive contributions to the start-up’s failure or success.

Y. Ayse B. Nordal
fotokred: qrn/Annlaug

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You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘Dai Nippon’ tag.

The below pot is one i was generously given as a wedding gift during my last trip to Japan. I was presented with a small wooden Kiri wood box with a hand written inscription on the front.

The pot and box wrapped in a furoshiki cloth to protect it during its trip to Australia.

Inside was a porcelain pot. I took it out of its box and began to turn it over in my hands. It was clear that it had not begun its life as a bonsai container, but most probably started out as an incense burner. The two drainage holes in the bottom of the pot were definitely done some time after the pot had begun its life.

The pot and its Kiri box.

The walls of the pot are extremely fine and the painted design has a free quality to it.

A detail of the painted design.

I started to do some reasearch on the pot and came up with a website which dates it between 1868-1912. This puts it at around the 100 year old or older mark.

The quote relating to the dating is below:

It is generally accepted that marks that includes “Dai Nippon” in Japanese characters on the whole date to the Meiji (1868-1912) period, reflecting the greatly increased nationalism of that period. However, in stamped versions it also occurred on mass-produced export wares well into the 1930s. (Taken from HERE)

The marking on the bottom. You can see some patina forming which hints to the pots age.

I then had my wife translate the inscription on the front of the box to give a clue to the maker. She translated it as follows:

Top line: えいらく　よしごろう (Eiraku Yoshigou)

bottom line: Type of pot ’round’

The person whom gave me the pot showed me the makers entries in these two books. (ONE, TWO) I have the books at home so i will have to sit down one night and find the entries again and see what information they can add.

I feel very lucky to own this pot and it reminds me every time i look at it of the friend who gave it to me. It was a perfect wedding gift (at least for me) and i think it will out last any rice cooker or toaster.

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Covid19 US County sorted doubling numbers (updated daily)

This is a sorted US county list of doubling numbers for positive confirmed cases of COVID19 averaged over the last four days. Just computing, log(2)/(log(X_n)-log(X_n-1)) which is the doubling number.
The doubling number is the number of days predicted for the positive confirmed cases to double in number. For more information, consult the US State sorted doubling numbers

A doubling number of zero, represents an infinite doubling — that is to say that the number of cases has remained constant, neither increased nor decreased. A negative doubling number is that the number of cases has decreased, this is the result of a bookkeeping error, or that the data has been revised. Small positive doubling numbers are the most concerning and reflect that there may be sudden increases in case counts in a county.

If you select a County, by clicking, you can see a County Graph, or Chart.
These graphs show the totals of confirmed COVID19 cases and reported deaths for each US County. I am not graphing the logarithm but just the simple numbers. The reason is that the numbers are not large enough to justify using logarithms at this time. If you have looked at my State charts, you can see the merit of using logarithms — particularly for New York, New Jersey, etc. The purpose of these charts is to provide basic information in an attempt to replace fear and confusion with knowledge and control. I am getting daily updates from the New York Times Github database.

However, I am sorting these counties by doubling numbers because I am trying to filter Counties which have had sudden changes.

The following link is to the table with data updated daily:

sorted doubling days

No warranties expressed or implied as to the accuracy of these doubling calculations.

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Dr. Linda Peláez – High-Risk Pregnancy Doctor in New Jersey

Dr. Linda Peláez is one of our Maternal-Fetal Medicine specialists at New Jersey Perinatal Associates, and has been a valued member of our team since 2010. She grew up in Whitestone, Queens, NY, and attended college at St. John’s University. Dr. Peláez then graduated from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center. Dr. Peláez stayed on as faculty at NY Presbyterian to complete her fellowship training in Maternal-Fetal Medicine at Cornell University in New York. She is board-certified in both Obstetrics and Gynecology and Maternal-Fetal Medicine and is a member of several professional organizations in her field, including:

  • American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology
  • The Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine
  • Association of Colombian Professionals of New York

Research interests of Dr. Peláez include fetal diagnosis and risk assessment and multiple gestations, and she has contributed to a number of publications in her field.

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Compassionate Perinatal Care Near You in NJ

Dr. Peláez was inspired to pursue her field from a young age – her grandmother was a midwife in South America and became a nurse when she moved to the United States. She had three younger siblings as well, “so I always grew up thinking I was going to take care of pregnant women.” She went to medical school to become an obstetrician, and once she began her residency, she ended up pursuing Maternal-Fetal Medicine. The challenges associated with high-risk pregnancy are what drew her to this specific position. She had two high-risk pregnancies herself, which allows her to empathize with and relate to her patients on a higher level.

She says that the majority of her time spent in the office does not consist of giving patients bad news, because even when pregnancies are high-risk, the outcome can still be great. “We’re still able to participate in one of the best things that can possibly happen to our patients. Even though a lot of patients say ‘I’m high-risk, I have to go see a high-risk doctor’ I tend to tell them ‘you have a high-risk issue, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the outcome here is going to be less than great.”

Dr. Peláez’s hobbies outside of work are mainly music-based – she is a classically trained pianist and was in a band with her family for around 20 years. She enjoys spending time with her family, including her two children and her dogs. Dr. Peláez is also bilingual, being fluent in both Spanish and English. Patients can make an appointment with Dr. Peláez at any one of our five office locations in New Jersey.

2704, 2020

April 2020 Newsletter

April 27th, 2020|0 Comments

Covid-19 Updates Experts are learning more every day about the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) are following the situation [...]

3003, 2020

COVID-19 Updates

March 30th, 2020|0 Comments

  Due to the unprecedented circumstances of the current COVID-19 global pandemic, New Jersey Perinatal Associates’ recommendations for ultrasound and antenatal testing follow-up are changing to limit patient contact and decrease the spread of disease. [...]

1703, 2020

NJPA March 2020 Newsletter

March 17th, 2020|0 Comments

Pregnancy and Coronavirus NJPA is committed to ensuring the safety of our patients and employees, particularly among the recent concern and outbreak of the COVID-19 virus. NJPA continues to adhere to the latest guidance [...]


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Perhaps That’s Been the Story of Life

just as I will miss the full spectrum of sunset shades
when the leaves return to the trees,
which I can see now only so far and bright
laying a creamsicle calm over the city
because the branches bare
because the winter persists
just as I will try,
on summer evenings to find a better view
at a head tilt or upon a stool
until autumn wind clears sight lines once again
the fever runs its course on my body.
and I sweat and swear and struggle
not to check the news over and over
I wonder if the squirrels curse the branches
for getting thick with sap and overcrowding
their hand woven nests with complete disregard
I wonder if they struggle with the same upset
knowing bushy tailed or disheveled
they can’t change a thing

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Real estate and infrastructure organizations require a consistent approach to value creation to be successful, which includes identifying high quality properties, and ensuring a low cost of capital.  However, technological advancements and the way real estate is being used today have created a significant disruption in the real estate and infrastructure industries.  Leaders today need to implement change by focusing on the customer experience, leveraging data and technology, and innovating antiquated business models.  We pride ourselves in creating an optimized combination of experience gained from global projects, with the flexibility associated with a boutique management consultancy firm.  Our services are driven by unique insights.  We understand that ever real estate or infrastructure client or stakeholder has unique objectives that require a tailored approach.

We utilize technology and analytics to produce transformative insights for due diligence, portfolio optimization, and valuation.  With a deep and comprehensive understanding of capital markets and today’s dynamic real estate and infrastructure marketplace, we will provide your team with innovative ideas that will enhance results and help you overcome key issues.  Our team of real estate and infrastructure consultants can help you turn critical issues into opportunities for growth and change.  We provide you with extensive experience, know-how, and strategic decision-making that helps lead to better results.  When you need to enhance the value of your business, we are here to help manage inherent risks and market complexities.  Our multi-disciplinary approach will provide your team with a full spectrum of real estate and infrastructure services, including:

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Managing Partner
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Senior Consultant
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An Interview with the Creators of Akissi : Tales of Mischief
After the success of Aya of Yop City comics, published by Gallimard BD, the Ivorian author Marguerite Abouet brings back her best childhood memories with Akissi : Tales of Mischief. An expanded paperback edition with new, hilarious stories that Marguerite Abouet and Mathieu Sapin, the illustrator, took time to tell us a bit more about – giving us an insight into their work and this cheeky little girl.

1. You were born in Abidjan and you grew up there until you were 12 years old, does Akissi represent a younger version of you?

“Akissi is definitely me. The story is about a happy childhood, the good memories of a young Ivorian girl before she leaves her country for France at a young age without her parents. By publishing the story, I can share my childhood and memories with others.”—Marguerite Abouet

2. How did you work together to find the right chemistry between text and image?

“I’m used to storyboarding, so I can easily put myself in children’s shoes. Mathieu Sapin and I read through it together and we consult each other a lot to find the right chemistry between the text and the illustrations. Sometimes our characters don’t need to talk, as the illustration conveys emotion by itself.”—Marguerite Abouet

“At first, Marguerite makes a storyboard and when we meet we cut it up and talk about it. She gives me details on the story, the characters, the setting, etc. Sometimes, she imitates some of the characters! It’s very funny. When we’ve agreed on the story, I get straight to drawing. Marguerite make few comments or modifications as well, which I integrate into the final artwork.”—Mathieu Sapin

3. What special research did you carry out to be able to recreate Akissi’s world?

“Akissi’s world needed to be relevant, so everything in my story had to be accurate from the outset. This meant specific places and specific children with their own particular characters. I started by creating the atmosphere, then the setting, characters and finally the tales. Readers have to believe in the characters and feel like they are in Akissi’s neighbourhood.”—Marguerite Abouet

“I drew the first volumes of Akissi without having been to Africa before, so I took inspiration from the internet, books and Marguerite’s descriptions. Clément Oubrerie, the cartoonist of Aya, had done some research previously so he gave me a lot of documents and details about the characters. Finally, I went to Abidjan briefly with Marguerite. I walked around, I took some pictures, but mostly I tried to immerse myself in the city. I definitely have fond memories of it. Now I’m gathering more materials on the internet to further my research.”—Mathieu Sapin

4. Akissi is a true adventurer, she’s always getting into trouble and we feel that every child could relate to her character in their own way although she’s from a culture and community that may be very different from their own. Is that something you particularly wanted to represent?

“Yeah that’s what I like with this series, the connection to freedom and adventure! Nowadays I believe the value of this is diminished in our society, where children are constantly watched. I grew up in the countryside, where kids were left to their own devices — it was wonderful! Even if, as a parent, I’m of course very vigilant and would have difficulty letting my kids have as much freedom as Akissi and her friends do.”—Mathieu Sapin

“Akissi and her friends are quite positive kids, of course with some faults, but always joyful and energetic — so any child can identify with them. Akissi shows the reader her world throughout her tales. She highlights companionship, encourages tolerance and reminds us how difference and diversity can be beneficial. Akissi and her group are definitely the true heroes because they fight against fears, rejections, and ethnic self-segregation. Akissi’s tales show how to treat others with respect, without judgement or bias, or any distinction of race, sex, religion or handicap. She embodies all of that, and that’s why she speaks to every child.”—Marguerite Abouet

5. How does it feel to see Akissi’s stories being translated into different languages? And how have children from around the world responded to her tales?

“I really like the global dimension of Marguerite’s stories. I’ve travelled a lot with Akissi and I notice the same feeling everywhere. I believe all kids can see themselves in her, because she speaks straight to them with her endearing but also mischievous nature. Surprisingly, this series appeals just as much to boys as to girls.”—Mathieu Sapin

“I think Akissi is like open-air theatre, where children can feel quickly gripped by her tales. She invites them to journey to an unknown country, that is so close and yet so far away from them, for a relaxed ramble in Africa. Children are impressed by Akissi and her group because they are like ‘urban superheroes’ trying to live in the adult world. She shows them that this is not easy, because living together and accepting each other are daily struggles, so it demands a lot of willpower and courage.”—Marguerite Abouet

Flying Eye Books


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Tag Archives: Inuit

Jarich Oosten & Barbara Helen Miller (eds.), Traditions, Traps and Trends. Transfer of Knowledge in Arctic Regions (Alberta: The University of Alberta Press, 2018)

Indigenous knowledge – or traditional knowledge – has recently gained more and more attention, especially within the Arctic context. Large and complex bodies of knowledge(s) are thus acknowledged, which are mostly acquired in non-verbal ways: a learning by doing, or better, a learning by living (it), ensuring survival in the harshest environments of the globe for millennia.  Such a knowledge includes skills and “attitude that encourages perceptual rather than judgmental forms of knowing”, leading to a life oriented toward service to community. It is a knowledge that still today struggles with the Western concept of “science”, still deeply anchored to classic dichotomies, as “our way of thinking” vs ”their way of thinking”, or the Cartesian paradigm whereby mind and body are essentially separate entities.

The scope of this book, outlined by the editors Jarich Oosten and Barbara Helen Miller in the introduction, is to overcome the classic definition of “Western science” and “mak[e] a place in scientific discourse for contributions from Indigenous authorities”.  This cognitive place is therefore created by eight interdisciplinary case-studies, written by different authors, that explore knowledge transfer and knowledge practices of the Inuit in Canada, East and West Greenland, and the Northern Sámi of Norway. There is no given methodological explanation regarding the selection of Arctic regions treated in the book, but probably it is the result of the geographical areas of expertise of the authors, all members of the Research Group Circumpolar Cultures.

After a dense introduction, aimed at clearing out both the theoretical background and the histories of the peoples involved, the book is divided conceptually into two parts: the first one comprises five chapters on the Inuit of Greenland and North America; the second one three chapters on the Northern Sámi of Norway.

The first part considers the Inuit concept of IQ, “knowledge that has proven to be useful in the past and is still useful today”, in different contexts, historical times and geographical areas. Although following separate patterns, all the authors come to highlight, on the one hand, the disruptive effects that the introduction of Western education, with missionaries first and national school systems later, has had on individual, social and family relations. On the other hand, the dynamic and flexible nature of this IQ makes it still today a valuable body of knowledge(s) (inclusive of its spiritual component) for the younger generations’ well-being, both mental and physical. A correct transfer of this knowledge (or IQ), however, faces today several challenges, as for example the impossibility of extracting this knowledge from its material support, that is to say, the environment, and teach it in a classroom; obliging educators and researchers to experiment and find more suitable solutions (some of them are addressed in the book).

The second part takes the reader to a completely different location, Northern Norway, and into a different culture, the Sámi. This second part focuses on a variety of topics, yet connected with the main area outlined in the introduction, i.e. transfer of knowledge and knowledge practices.

Presented as a book for “students and scholars in anthropology and ethnology and for everyone interested in the Circumpolar North”, this collection of essays offers indeed different reading levels. However, probably due to a general lack of coordination among the authors of the first part, where the five essays share the same main topic, IQ, and different yet similar background (Inuit), make the reading often repetitive and redundant, hampering a fluid reading. The second part, while being definitely more diverse, sometimes struggles in showing clearly its connections with the overall scope of the book, leaving the reader a little lost.

Some peculiar design choices – such as the font and its size, slightly smaller than usual, and the left-side alignment – make the reading not easy, as they give the feeling of an endless footnote. On the bright side, this book includes also some interesting historical figures and drawings, such as those (pp. 166-167) illustrating stories related to “tupilat” (i.e. “evil spirits” in the form of small sculptures carved out of bone, ivory, wood or stone, depicting monstrous figures and believed to have destructive and sometimes lethal effects on rivals).

A question, however, remains unanswered.

Why is no essay in this book openly written by an indigenous scholar or an “indigenous authority” of the actual Arctic communities that are discussed therein, a child of their lived experiences and living cultures?  The feeling is that one very important classic dichotomy was not addressed at all, that is to say, indigenous cultures and indigenous peoples as proactive “subjects” of research rather than “objects”. If this dichotomy persists, can then the authors’ competent scientific approach really achieve the declared aim of the book’s editors, namely to “mak[e] a place in scientific discourse for contributions from Indigenous authorities”?


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In God’s name October 24, 2015

Posted by Ezra Resnick in Belief, Religion.
1 comment so far

Jonathan Sacks, former chief rabbi of the UK, has written a book named Not in God’s Name (excerpted in The Wall Street Journal), in which he provides his recipe for defeating religious violence:

Yes, there are passages in the sacred scriptures of each of the Abrahamic monotheisms that, interpreted literally, can lead to hatred, cruelty and war. But Judaism, Christianity and Islam all contain interpretive traditions that in the past have read them in the larger context of coexistence, respect for difference and the pursuit of peace, and can do so today. Fundamentalism—text without context, and application without interpretation—is not faith but an aberration of faith…

We must raise a generation of young Jews, Christians, Muslims and others to know that it is not piety but sacrilege to kill in the name of the God of life, hate in the name of the God of love, wage war in the name of the God of peace, and practice cruelty in the name of the God of compassion.

Now is the time for us to say what we have failed to say in the past: We are all the children of Abraham. We are precious in the sight of God. We are blessed. And to be blessed, no one has to be cursed. God’s love does not work that way. God is calling us to let go of hate and the preaching of hate, and to live at last as brothers and sisters, true to our faith and a blessing to others regardless of their faith, honoring God’s name by honoring his image, humankind.

Aw, that’s nice. Though I can’t help but wonder: How does Sacks know all that? How does he know God’s love works one way and not another? How does he know what God is calling us to do? I realize Sacks is a member of the House of Lords, but he admits that a literal reading of the sacred scriptures supports the fundamentalists’ interpretation of God’s will rather than his own. While I’m glad Sacks has found a way to cherry-pick and “reinterpret” the texts such that he doesn’t feel obliged to kill anyone, wouldn’t the fundamentalists be justified in judging his faith an aberration?

The truth is that Sacks is committing the same fundamental error as the fundamentalists: speaking in God’s name, identifying life’s meaning with obedience to God’s commandments, and glorifying faith. That is the real cause of religious violence — and in order to defeat it, we must raise a generation of young people to be wary of claims to knowledge not supported by evidence; to value life, love, peace and compassion for rational reasons, not because “God said so”; and to understand that no scripture is sacred and that faith is not a virtue but a vice.

Sacrifice of Isaac by Caravaggio


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Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e Light Novel English

Kōdo Ikusei Senior High School, a leading prestigious school with state-of-the-art facilities where nearly 100% of students go on to university or find employment. The students there have the freedom to wear any hairstyle and bring any personal effects they desire. Kōdo Ikusei is a paradise-like school, but the truth is that only the most superior of students receive favorable treatment. The protagonist Kiyotaka Ayanokōji is a student of D-class, which is where the school dumps its “inferior” students in order to ridicule them. For a certain reason, Kiyotaka was careless on his entrance examination, and was put in D-class. After meeting Suzune Horikita and Kikyō Kushida, two other students in his class, Kiyotaka’s situation begins to change.

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