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Aug 07 2019

Obituary: Kamal Boullata (1942–2019)

by Kate Lau

The celebrated artist and art historian KAMAL BOULLATA has died, aged 77. Portrait via the Arab American Institute’s webpage.

Kamal Boullata, a Palestinian artist, art historian, and writer acclaimed for his exploration of the concepts of exile, belonging, modernism, and the emergence of Palestinian identity against colonial powers, has died in Berlin at the age of 77.

Born in Jerusalem in 1942, Boullata grew up in the Christian Quarter and was apprentice to the painter Khalil Al-Halabi, studying the Arabic calligraphic and geometric aesthetics that would later influence his body of work. Following Israel’s occupation of the territory in 1967, he was exiled to Beirut and later traveled to Europe and the United States, where he studied at the Corcoran Art Museum School in Washington, DC.

In his early works, Boullata established a distinctive aesthetic that foregrounded the angular symmetry of the Kufic script, which he arranged into colorful, modern geometric patterns. This style placed him in the Hurufiyya art movement, which included artists—notably Etel Adnan and Dia Al-Azzawi—who strove to identify a Pan-Arab, modernized visual language. Boullata’s silkscreen artworks, which addressed the concepts of binaries and divided identity, often included clear visual references to the decorative elements of the Dome of the Rock—a site he frequently visited as a child in Jerusalem—as well as the traditions of Palestinian embroidery. In more recent works, such as those displayed in his London exhibition “And There Was Light” (2015), Boullata’s signature abstract style evolved to include in-depth studies of light and space, which art historian Gérard Xuriguera described as “product[s] of a vigilant discipline.”

In his research, Boullata’s dedication to exploring Palestinian modernism and Islamic aesthetics was unparalleled. In the early 1990s, he conducted field research on Islamic art in Morocco and Spain as a Fulbright Senior Scholar Fellow, and in 2001, he traveled to Palestine to study post-Byzantine painting with a grant from the Ford Foundation. He was also the author of four books on Palestinian art, most notably Belonging and Globalisation: Critical Essays in Contemporary Art and Culture (2008), as well as Palestinian Art: From 1850 to the Present (2009), the culmination of his 30 years of research into the topic, with a foreword by art critic John Berger. In 2012, he moved to Berlin after being elected a Fellow of the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin Institute for Advanced Study. He resided in the German capital until his death.

Boullata’s work can be found in numerous collections including at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha; Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah; Sharjah Art Museum, Sharjah; Alhambra Islamic Museum, Granada; British Museum, London; New York Public Library, New York; Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris; Khalid Shoman Foundation, Amman; and the Bibliothèque Louis Notari, Monaco.

Kate Lau is an editorial intern of ArtAsiaPacific.

To read more of ArtAsiaPacific’s articles, visit our Digital Library.

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Saturday, June 02, 2018

This Time Will be Different

So—a lot happened since I posted last in late April! The U.S.-North Korea summit was on, then off, then on again.

Now that the summit is back on, so is the familiar chorus singing: “we’ve seen this all before.” The chorus points out North Korea promised to denuclearize, then lied, cheated and reneged on the promises, repeatedly for the past 25 years. North Korea previously put on the show of taking down a cooling tower of the Yongbyon nuclear facility in 2008, and the demolition of the Punggye-ri nuclear testing site last month is also likely to be a sham, to the extent that North Korea claimed the demolition shut down the testing site irreversibly.

North Korea previously put on a grand show demolishing
the cooling tower of the Yongbyon nuclear facility in 2008 (source)

The historical facts are, of course, undeniable. They all really happened. But it is a bit too much for the critics to argue that nothing will ever change when it comes to North Korea, as if North Korean behavior is the laws of physics. That simply cannot be true; the future never looks exactly like the past. It is entirely unreasonable to claim that time will pass but nothing will ever change, as if our world in 2018 is exactly the same as the world in 1994 or 2002 or 2007. History serves as a guide only to the extent that we can discern how the present is different from the past. Saying this time will be different is not naivete; rather, it is a rational conclusion based on noting the many differences between the past and the present.

When it comes to North Korea, there are essentially four players divided into two camps: North Korea and China in one, South Korea and United States in the other. Each one of the players is in a different situation compared to the past, and so is each camp collectively.

What’s different about North Korea? Here’s an obvious one: they are all but finished with building nuclear weapons and long-range missiles that could reach the United States. It has been amply established that North Korea sought the nuclear weapons and missiles as a form of deterrence against the attempts to overthrow the Kim regime, now in its third generation with Kim Jong Un. There simply is no “first use” option for North Korea that does not immediately turn it into a radioactive wasteland in a massive counterattack by the United States and South Korea. Prior to 2018, North Korea had enough reasons to cheat from its agreement: the payout for cheating was a better, more complete deterrence in the form of nuclear-tipped ICBMs. But now, the nuclear-tipped ICBMs are complete, bringing North Korea to peak negotiating position—which is a major reason why Kim Jong Un came out to talk in January 2018. It would be an overstatement to say North Korea has no incentive to cheat. But compared to 1994 or 2002 or 2007, it has much less incentive to do so.

(More after the jump.)

Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at

How is China different in relation to North Korea today? It is shocking to see how few analysts of North Korea consider this question, considering how China is the foundation of North Korea’s security and economy. The Sino-North Korea relation has steadily deteriorated in the recent years, as the memories of fighting together in the Korean War have faded. Shen Zhihua, China’s foremost historian on the Korean War, recently declared that “North Korea is China’s latent enemy and South Korea could be China’s friend,” adding “we must see clearly that China and North Korea are no longer brothers in arms.” The ordinary Chinese, leading a fairly prosperous life in a relatively open economy, is rapidly losing patience with North Korea that they deem backward. The derision on the Chinese internet went to a point that in 2016, North Korea requested the Chinese government ban the usage of the word “Fat Kim the Third” online. North Korea’s nuclearization made the relationship even worse: the Chinese severely dislike the fact that the nuclear North Korea raises the possibility of a U.S. military action, and worry that North Korea might undergo a Chernobyl-style disaster whose fallout would reach China.

Xi Jinping’s rise to power also hurt the Sino-North Korea relationship. After Xi took office in 2012, he spent years battling his political rivals, which included former president Jiang Zemin and his cronies. Jiang remained influential even after 2002 when Hu Jintao succeeded Jiang. Importantly, Jiang and his cronies—the so-called “Shanghai Clique”—were very friendly to North Korea, using their regional base in Shenyang near North Korea to oversee the trade between China and North Korea. As Xi was sidelining the pro-North Korea faction in the Chinese leadership, North Korea became openly hostile to Xi. The relationship came to a point where, in February 2013, Kim Jong Un went so far as to declare: “Korea’s nuclear missiles would not be aimed at Washington only; they can aim at Beijing also.” (Imagine a U.S. ally making a nuclear threat to the United States!) The possibility of Xi Jinping staying as China’s leader for much longer, as Xi recently eliminated presidential term limits, cannot be a welcome news for North Korea. One of the speculated reasons why Kim Jong Un was in such a rush to murder his brother Kim Jong Nam was because Kim Jong Un feared China would use his brother as a puppet to lead North Korea after it overthrew his rule.

In the other camp, there is South Korea led by Moon Jae-in, who followed the nine deeply corrupt years of conservatives Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye. Moon is the most popular leader of the free world, as he enjoys stratospheric approval rating that floats between low 70s to mid-80 percent. This support allows Moon a very wide berth of operation, which he capitalized to the maximum. Much as been made about Moon’s willingness to dialogue with the North, exemplified by his daring second inter-Korean summit in which he crossed the demilitarized zone to meet with Kim Jong Un on short notice after Donald Trump abruptly cancelled the U.S.-North Korea summit. But equal praise is due for Moon’s ability to respond strongly when necessary. When North Korea tested its ICBM in July 2017, Moon Jae-in ordered his own “decapitation” missile drill, meant to show Kim Jong Un that his own life would be at stake if Kim attempted a nuclear strike. During the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, North Korea’s special envoy Kim Yo Jong invited Moon for an inter-Korean summit; Moon declined, insisting North Korea satisfy certain “conditions”—implying North Korea must dialogue with the United States with denuclearization on the table if it wants to have an inter-Korean summit.

Donald Trump and Moon Jae-in (source)

Also noteworthy is the manner in which Moon Jae-in internalized the lesson from the Sunshine Policy era, chief among which is the importance of multilateral action. Exploiting the rift between China and North Korea, Moon has built a solid relationship with Xi Jinping. Moon Jae-in administration was the quickest in the history of South Korean democracy to hold its first summit with China. Xi apparently appreciated the effort, as he opened the meeting with Moon by quoting the Chinese maxim that appears in Moon’s autobiography: “the later flow of the Yangtze River pushes out the earlier flow”—a not-so-subtle hint that China may end up valuing its newer relationship with South Korea over its older relationship with North Korea. Moon also put in a huge amount of effort to ensure the United States comes along. South Korean officials have said Moon has spent triple the time and effort dialoguing with the United States compared to dialoguing with North Korea. Although many initially expected that the liberal Moon Jae-in would clash with Donald Trump, the two have in fact gotten on swimmingly.

Which leads, finally, to the United States. If you want to know how I feel about Donald Trump and his supporters, you can check out my previous writings, or spend a few minutes on my Twitter feed. But Trump’s White Male Confidence is at least making him try things with North Korea that the previous U.S. presidents have not tried before. For once, North Korea is the first priority of the United States, not secondary or tertiary concern in relation to, say, Iran or Russia. Trump’s engagement with North Korea is happening early in his administration (as is the case with Moon Jae-in,) such that the U.S. is likely to stick to its end of the deal for some time. (In contrast, Bill Clinton’s deal with North Korea fell apart when George W. Bush succeeded Clinton and designated North Korea as one of the “Axis of Evil.”)

Put them all together, and we can get a sense of how the events came together for the past year. North Korea finished its nuclear-tipped ICBM and was ready to negotiate the terms of concessions to be earned from giving up its nuclear weapons. To the extent North Korea was reluctant to play its hand, China under a new leadership levied unusually harsh sanctions, which pushed North Korea to come to the table to discuss a potential denuclearization. South Korea had a leader who was savvy enough to progress in a deliberate pace while ensuring both China and the United States came along. And the United States had a leader who is self-absorbed enough to think he could do something the previous presidents could not and ignorant enough to depart from the standard operation procedure when it comes to North Korea. The result is the historic U.S.-North Korea summit meeting in Singapore, now less than ten days away.

Seeing the confluence of interests held by these four actors also allows us to see the basic terms of the deal that would take shape. North Korea, at a minimum, would have to halt its nuclear or missiles program in a verifiable manner, because neither the United States or China would accept anything less. In exchange, the United States would have to give North Korea some level of security guarantee for the Kim Jong Un regime, because neither North Korea nor China would countenance the possibility of a regime collapse. All four players are incentivized to open up North Korea to some degree. North Korea would open up to receive economic aid, as it would like to reduce its dependency to China under Xi Jinping. South Korea would like to reinstate regular exchanges with North Korea as a way to lower the overall military tension. United States and China would like to enter North Korea regularly in order to ensure North Korea is complying with the denuclearization program.

Having this basic frame allows one to be creative about the actual structure of the deal. Here’s a pretty wild idea that nonetheless stays within this frame: a U.S.-North Korea alliance, with the U.S. putting a small contingent of its troops in North Korea that simultaneously performs three functions: (1) persistent on-the-ground inspectors who can keep a close eye on North Korea’s compliance with denuclearization on the ground; (2) security guarantee against U.S. military action, as U.S. cannot attack North Korea without sacrificing its own soldiers; (3) security guarantee against China, as a sign of commitment for U.S. to intervene if China ever attempted to topple the Kim Jong Un regime to replace it with more a Sino-friendly regime. This is a great deal for the United States and South Korea, a solid deal for North Korea, and a tolerable one for China. Yes, I know it is pretty far out; the point is not to say this will happen, but to stretch the realm of possible outcomes beyond what may seem intuitive.

Am I saying everything will definitely be all fine and dandy? Certainly not. It would be foolish to make specific predictions in the diplomatic equivalent of the moon landing. The U.S.-North Korea summit may not even happen, for reasons we cannot imagine as of now. But where each actor stands in this play is not a secret. Considering the possibilities offered by how their current stances intersect is hardly the “Kim Jong Un is a Swiss-educated reformer” kind of wishful thinking. Because every element that makes up this time is different, I am hopeful this time will be different.

Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at

  1. It is pity to see that even somebody like you is so much blinded by the ideological bias... All this outburst of enthusiasm was truly comical. No, it will no be different. There is no reasons to be different. North Korean leaders are no fools, unlike South Korean intellectuals and academics, they cannot afford to be fools or 'dreamers'. They do not want to be dragged to the 'human rights tribunal', they do not want to be lynched. They are in the brutal survival game, not in some dream world the SK liberal public (but not MJI and his bunch of slightly corrupt and very smart-ass politicos) wants to inhabit. So, the North Koreans will outsmart everybody again. It is good to see what is happening. But excessive optimism, even when it is driven by the ideologically-influenced (tread: distorted) view of the world, is not going to help. I repeat: NO, THIS TIME IT WILL NOT BE DIFFERENT. Period. Best, Andrei Lankov, your long-time silent and distant admirer (who still sometimes finds your ideological biases annoying or, rather, funny)

    1. The guy says right there that it would be foolish to be excessively optimistic, but you accuse him of excessive optimism. That right there tells me that you are too biased the other way.

    2. Wait, what? Was that really Dr. Lankov?

    3. Dr. Lankov, if that is really you, give us a sign!

    4. It was me. A but annoyed by AskAKorean optimism, as well as majority optimism here, in Seoul
      People will get burned eventually. And might go other side wat too far.

    5. Calm down Lankov, there's no danger to a little optimism when things are going well. That's how it logically works: people get optimistic when things are going OK, even if it hasn't in the past. Would you get annoyed at a parent getting optimistic about his child trying to emerge out of a drug rehab program? No? Then STFU.

  2. Thanks for this. I too am hopeful. President Moon is a smart guy, and having the decisionmakers in closer and more frequent contact can help lower tensions. And lower tensions can be the foundation for a lasting peace.

    That said, there is one important error in the above: North Korea did not develop nuclear weapons to deter American attempts to overthrow the Kim regime. In 1992-1994, North Korea successfully deterred US military action via its conventional forces. Having achieved deterrence, there is no such thing as “more deterrence.” If the nukes were only meant to deter a US attack, they were a waste of money; upgraded conventional weapons would have been a better investment, and would not have subjected North Korea to massive sanctions.

    Rather, North Korea developed nuclear weapons to deter US intervention in a second, conventional Korean War. Here’s that scenario:
    1. North Korea neutralizes the US-SK alliance, either by nuclear threats or by mutual agreement.
    2. North Korea conducts regular, marginal attacks in response to routine military training, as they did in late 2010. Since South Korea won’t be able to retaliate without risking escalation, North Korea will be in a position to dictate conditions for South Korean military readiness. Over time, the South Korean military will deteriorate.
    3. Sanctions relief, a reforming economy, and foreign aid will allow North Korea to develop its conventional military forces. Unlike the South, North Korea will not tolerate limits on military readiness.
    4. After many years of charm and coercion (and possibly a brief war for Seoul), North Korea compels unification with South Korea on extortionate terms.

    This is a nightmare scenario, and I don’t think it is likely to succeed; South Korea would develop its own nuclear force long before things got out of hand. But for now, nothing in North Korea’s behavior suggests that they have abandoned their generations-long mission to unify the peninsula at gunpoint.

    1. This seems like a terribly written thriller novel. Although relative strength of NK vs SK will shift when NK opens up the economy, it will never be significantly larger (or for that matter larger than SK) as they are also limited by size of their land and population. Even if NK was able to some how break the alliance between SK and the US, NK will not be able to take over a country that has twice its population (as of now) especially when the population is extremely hostile towards NK's gov't (from democracy to dictatorship). Not to mention none of the more powerful neighbor would allow this to happen (China doesn't want instability while this is likely a call to war for Japan).

  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

  4. "with the U.S. putting a small contingent of its troops in North Korea"

    and this is where it all falls apart. No one in their right mind would think that a) the chinese would allow this or b) that the north would accept this. not going to happen.

  5. Very interesting writing on the topic. I can't wrap my mind around troops in North Korea. But your take on the players is believable, including Trump being egotistical enough and dumb enough to actually make a deal.

    One set of players you didn't mention was Trump's base. They're used to thinking of North Korea as the Axis of Evil. And Trump, he won't do anything to disappoint the people he desperately needs for that ego of his.

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The SGO (Systems for Green Operations), part of Clean Sky, aims at developing systems which enable environmentally sustainable flight operations. New operational concepts are being evaluated for integration in future flight management systems gener

ations, in order to minimize envir

onmental effects and provide more sustainable and green operations to airliners. Among those, the Multi Criteria Departure Procedure (MCDP), ECO STEP and Adaptive Increased glideslope (A-IGS) have been modelled and tested in a laboratory environment showing significant savings in terms of fuel consumption and environmental pollutants.

ATAEGINA project and team, aims at supporting Clean Sky SGO in the test and validation of these new functions within a nominal operational environment, which will provide the perturbation factors that could influence the expected benefits. This real-world testing will identify implementation issues, enabling requirements and will allow a more realistic evaluation of the expected benefits.

Latest News

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  • MCDP flight campaign started After successful MCDP execution in TAP simulators, the MCDP flight campaign started on December 2015, using the new concept for departing from Lisbon runway 03. The provision of the required parameters to perform the MCDP on-board were provided through the MCDP charts. Based on the meteorological conditions (temperature and headwind) and the aircraft TOW, flight crew were able to select from tables the MCDP parameters to be used in the departure operation. On ground, the Noise Monitoring Terminals Network was used for recording acoustic data on the airport surroundings during the MCDP flights.
    Posted Sep 19, 2016, 2:28 AM by Josep Montolio
  • MCDP Simulations in Lisbon At September 17th 2015, the first MCDP simulations were carried out by TAP in their Lisbon premises. The initial simulation flight trials were performed in the Full Flight Simulator A330/340 and  A320. During the post simulation analysis meeting, the pilots unanimously agreed that the MCDP execution was successful and that they did not find any significant operational issue.
    Posted Sep 19, 2016, 2:02 AM by Josep Montolio
Showing posts 1 - 2 of 2. View more »

Project Objectives

ATAEGINA project is aimed to test three new green concepts (ECO STEP, A-IGS and MCDP), provided by SGO, on real daily operations, implying random perturbation factors and real flight conditions. As a first step, and after analysing the FM functions provided by Clean Sky and their compatibility with actual fleet operations and avionics equipage, the ATAEGINA Consortium will set up a series of scenarios to be run in TAP simulators. Those scenarios will be consolidated with the consortium members taking as first approach the preliminary trials flight plan provided in the ATAEGINA Technical Proposal.

The simulations will serve to evaluate the different safety risks that can appear due to these new FM functions, and to mature the operational procedures and get the feedback from pilots. With the outputs from the simulations, and taking into account the identified operational constraints for the trials (e.g. airport time/daily loads), the final flights candidate list per flight optimization type (ECO STEP, I-AGS and MCDP) will be defined. Data will be collected during the green flights for later post-process and comparison with historical data.


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With the appearance of science and know-how, new improvements have come forward making life extra comfortable for us, bringing completely different types of leisure at our fingertips and their easy accessibility ensures that the consumers take pleasure in them utterly. Mitochondrial respiration is crucial for preliminary activation of naïve T cells ( 9 , 10 ), and our data revealed a to this point unappreciated role of DHODH in control of mitochondrial respiration throughout T cell activation. Cloud computing, data facilities, and cell phone infrastructure are energy-intensive components of the ICT system.

Justin Sherman, a college junior at Duke College in North Carolina who is double-majoring in laptop science and political science, says getting an schooling in computer science can enhance one’s understanding of the world normally, since know-how plays a pivotal position in society.

Our results confirmed that TLR- and IL-1R-dependent JNK activation was additionally abolished in cells previously …

The Tendencies In Laboratory And Scientific Technology

By fidha 3 months ago

Science and expertise is the perfect thing society may ever ask for. Some historians have marked the 18th century as a colorless interval within the history of science ; seventy eight nonetheless, the century noticed important developments in the follow of drugs , arithmetic , and physics ; the development of biological taxonomy ; a brand new understanding of magnetism and electrical energy ; and the maturation of chemistry as a discipline, which established the foundations of modern chemistry.

Collectively, these data indicate that affinity-dependent alerts via the TCR are intracellularly translated into metabolic applications via distinct modulation of a set of key metabolic transcription components, which, in flip, lead to a differential metabolic capability of high-affinity versus low-affinity T cells.

We did not observe a difference in OXPHOS and aerobic glycolysis of CD4+ T cells in teriflunomide-handled sufferers ( Fig. Right this moment’s know-how has been within the means …

Latest News

By fidha 3 months ago

Science and arithmetic are usually not cool topics, say students. 3 a: data or a system of information covering normal truths or the operation of normal legal guidelines especially as obtained and examined by way of scientific methodology b: such information or such a system of information concerned with the physical world and its phenomena.

We despatched a pre-survey to all 3rd, 4th and 5th grade academics to be learn aloud to the students, but accomplished with only the students’ prior knowledge concerning STEM Careers. Assuming that the energy intensity pattern for IoT gadgets follows that noticed for consumer electronics, IoT expertise additionally has the potential to reduce the vitality use of the methods into which it is embedded.

Activation-induced increase in mitochondrial respiratory exercise and glycolysis further illustrates the improved metabolic potential of these T cells ( Fig. 5, C to E ). DHODH inhibition did not have an …

A Science Honest Where Nerdy Kids Really feel ‘Like They’ve Discovered Their Tribe’

By fidha 3 months ago

One of the most typically requested questions in the contemporary world is ‘What’s the meaning of science and know-how?’ Man is progressive in nature. Here, we reveal that pharmacological interference with DHODH, a mitochondrial enzyme in the pyrimidine synthesis pathway and the goal of therapeutic brokers used for therapy of RA and MS, doesn’t uniformly suppress proliferation of activated T cells.

The Carnegie-Mellon Study took under consideration the variations of what engages female students and modified the Computer Science packages curriculum so that the context for this system was taught a lot earlier on in the semester and moved some of the extra technical aspects of the curriculum (such as coding) to later in the semester.

7, B and C ). Matching our observations from the TERIDYNAMIC examine, absolute numbers of IFN-γ-producing CD4+ T cells within the periphery were significantly diminished underneath leflunomide (P < zero.05),="" whereas="" numbers="" of="" interleukin-17a="" (il-17a)-producing="" cd4+="" t="" cells="" weren't="" affected="" (="">

Science & TechnologyIf we look life a hundred …


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Wednesday, March 22, 2017

What It's REALLY Like When Your Kid Gets An Autism Diagnosis

Another day, another disgusting article from a non-autistic parent of an autistic child telling the world “what it’s really like” when your child receives an autism diagnosis.  I feel like I see these types of articles so often, yet each one is framed as if it were the first time a parent was ever given a platform to complain about autism  in the history of ignoring and speaking over autistic voices ever.

Well, I’m a parent too and these types of articles that talk about “grief” and “devastation” and usually refer to non-autistic people as “experts” are not only ableist and offensive, they are abusive.  It is abusive to talk about your child to the entire world as if they are a problem to be solved.  It is a betrayal to your child.  It is a betrayal to the promise we make as parents to protect and unconditionally love our children.

It’s also a lie.  And parents need to stop telling it to themselves, the world and most importantly, their own children.   How you talk about autism is how you are telling the world to treat your autistic kid.  Don’t ever forget that.

Do you want to know what it’s REALLY like to get an autism diagnosis for your child?  I can tell you what it was like for me as a parent to an autistic child since apparently my kid’s diagnosis is all about me.  Because the entire process is horrifying and scary, but not for the reasons you think it is.

It was an answer to a question I already knew the answer to.

It was watching him have to go through rounds of dehumanizing and invasive questions being asked about him right in front of him like he wasn’t even there and wondering why the hell they kept offering ME tissues and telling ME it was okay to cry.

It was doctors and therapists trying to convince me that ABA 20 plus hours a week was the only hope for my child to have a “normal” life.  Even when I knew in my heart that was wrong, they tried to convince me repeatedly that I needed to start working day and night to fix this beautiful, not-even-broken child that I am so incredibly lucky to call my kid.  It was being told that I was failing him as a parent because I cared more about his self esteem and happiness than trying to mold him into something he was never meant to be.

It was navigating confusing and inaccessible services that I was told were necessary because of some bullshit “developmental window”.  It was being told that I was to ignore my non speaking child when he didn’t “use his words”, no matter how distressed he became.  A loving connection with my child was seen as a failure on my part.  I was “too easy” on him.  I made him “spoiled” and allowed him to “manipulate” me.  Even though I knew that when the world was too much, I needed to be his soft place to land.  We are told that when our children are autistic, we must be “tough” and to ignore their needs.  That is something I could never, would never do.

It was being pressured to make every moment “a teachable moment” instead of allowing him to enjoy his childhood or ever have a second of down time.

It was being bombarded with inaccurate information from hate groups like Autism Speaks instead of being directed to learn about autism from actually autistic people.  It was being taught that autism was the enemy and that I had to be a “warrior”.   It was being told that I needed to fight autism because somewhere, there was another kid inside mine, a version of himself that was not even him and I was supposed to want that instead of the perfect kid right in front of me.

It was people giving me the sad face like my child’s neurology was something to be mourned.  It was seeing how pervasive and ugly ableism is in a completely new way.  It was the whole world telling me that I was a victim of my child’s disability….but refusing to see how their ideas and attitudes victimize disabled people every day.

All of these things were not caused by autism.  They were not caused by my child being who he is.  They were caused by a world that is fearful and hateful toward disabled lives and would rather fuck up the relationship between a parent and child than admit it’s okay to be autistic.  It’s okay to be disabled.  Being who you are is not a failure.  Loving your child is not a failure.

Getting an autism diagnosis for your child is not the end of the world, it’s just official confirmation in writing of something you already knew.  It changes nothing about who your child is and how they deserve to be loved.  Don’t ever let anyone make you think that it should.

image: blue/white starburst background with white text that reads: "How you talk about autism is how you are telling the world to treat your autistic kid."


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EcoJewish Action on One Foot

Aytzim and others offer many environmental tips for how together we can help build a more sustainable world. But each of these actions can have vastly different scales of impact. For example, recycling is good, planting your own garden is good, but neither is nearly as impactful in addressing climate change as much as going solar. So how can you prioritize your environmental actions? In the Talmud, Pirkei Avot, ethics of our ancestors, teaches us that the world rests on three things: Torah, service, and kindness (Pirkei Avot 1:2). While proverbially standing on one foot — Jewish shorthand for quickly providing the basis of a complex subject (Shabbat 31a) — the following are three actions for making a positive environmental difference in the world.

Click here to continue reading.

Big Changes at Aytzim: WZC and Welcoming Jews of the Earth

While Aytzim’s Green Zionist Alliance will no longer be in the World Zionist Congress, it will continue its mission of education and advocacy about Israel’s environment through resources available at and as well as, after the coronavirus pandemic has ended, through in-person meetings and public lectures. And the Green Zionist Alliance is only one of the projects in the Aytzim grove. The others are, the online home of the Jewish-environmental movement; Shomrei Breishit: Rabbis and Cantors for the Earth, a cross-denominational international group for Jewish-clergical environmental advocacy; and EcoJews, a regional group for Jewish-environmental activities in the San Francisco Bay Area. Now we are pleased to welcome a fifth project to the Aytzim grove: Jews of the Earth.

Click here to continue reading.

EcoJudaism in the Time of the Coronavirus

Covid-19 is not a punishment brought by God for our transgressions against nature; rather Covid-19 is a direct result of our transgressions against nature. In Judaism, the Torah is our guidebook to life. We learn best practices for human behavior. And, we are warned, it is best to maintain a healthy balance with nature because if we do not do so, the results will be deadly for humanity.

Click here to continue reading.

Aytzim Brief Statement Against Unilateral Annexation

30 June 2020 / 8 Tammuz 5780

Empowered by a U.S. president facing reelection and courting votes from U.S. evangelical Christians — many of whom see strengthening Israel as key to enabling the New Testament-prophesied "End Times," aka apocalypse and Armageddon with true believers of Jesus raptured to heaven and terrible things happening to nonbelievers — the Israeli government is considering unilaterally annexing parts or all of the West Bank. Regardless of whether or not these lands eventually would become part of Israel as the result of a negotiated two-state solution, unilateral annexation is a mistake, in that it lessens the likelihood of long-term peace in the region, harming both Israelis and Palestinians, and it threatens to extend unjust treatment of Palestinians in perpetuity.

It has been 53 years since Israel seized the West Bank from Jordan in the Six Day War and nearly 27 years since the signing of the Oslo Accords that began steps toward establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank. For decades Palestinians in the West Bank have been living under a combination of Israeli martial law and very limited self-rule, without the benefits of Israeli citizenship, and without representation in the Israeli government — a moral failure that should be corrected, not exacerbated. In keeping with Theodor Herzl's vision for a Jewish state that treats all peoples fairly and equally, and in keeping with Jewish laws and customs to treat all peoples fairly and to pursue justice, Aytzim has a long record of supporting a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and of opposing violating the human rights of Palestinians. Aytzim supports efforts toward peace and justice and condemns efforts that work against peace and justice. Correspondingly, Aytzim opposes plans for Israel's unilateral annexation of part or all of the West Bank and encourages Israeli and Palestinian leadership to return to the negotiating table to reach a lasting agreement for peace in the region.

Aytzim Brief Statement for Reparations and Against Violence and White Supremacy

3 June 2020 / 11 Sivan 5780

The racist rhetoric and actions of white supremacists — including policemen who murdered George Floyd, and the U.S. president who threatens further violence against those who stand up for justice — once again leaves us stating the obvious: Caring for the Earth also means caring for its people, and the institutional racism built into governmental systems causes senseless death and suffering, as well as economic deprivation, traumatic stress and exposure to pollution that is inflicted from generation to generation. White supremacy should have been dismantled long ago and its stubborn persistence represents a blight on society. White supremacy is a systematic problem and it demands a systematic solution. As always, Aytzim stands against senseless violence and stands against racism and stands against white supremacy. And as always, Aytzim stands with the marginalized, the oppressed and their allies who shout for justice.

To that end, it is past time that America pays for its crimes of slavery. Reparations cannot heal the wounds of slavery, racism and white supremacy, but it offers the opportunity to help correct some of the economic injustices that have been institutionalized by governmental systems for generations. The Jewish laws of shmita dictate that it is not enough to free enslaved people, but that they must be compensated for their labor. They must be given reparations. Grounded in our Jewish values, Aytzim supports efforts to provide long-due reparations and we also support efforts to end police violence. As the Torah commands us (Deut. 16:20), we must pursue justice. Justice!

Aytzim Brief Statement Against Presidential Anti-Semitism

21 Aug. 2019 / 20 Av 5779

The anti-Semitic rhetoric of the 45th U.S. president — along with his other racist, xenophobic and belligerent speech and actions — are antithetical to Jewish values, and his hateful words have proven himself to be disloyal to America.

Aytzim Statement Against Anti-Semitic Terrorism

As advocates of sustainability, we at Aytzim realize that no progress can be made in creating harmony on the planet when there is not harmony between human beings, and that eradicating violence and anti-Semitism in all its forms goes hand-in-hand with eradicating violence to the planet. As Jews and as defenders of both human rights and the Earth, we were horrified this past Shabbat when a white-supremacist terrorist murdered 11 at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.

Click here to continue reading.

Aytzim Statement for Unity and Against Hatred

The Torah commands us over and over to pursue justice. So we shall not be silent. We can’t stand by idly. We will say what the president failed to say, but what should be patently obvious.

Click here to continue reading.

Aytzim Statement in Support of Immigrants, the Climate and Civility

Aytzim has a long history of being a Jewish-environmental organization composed of people who care not just about Judaism and the Earth, but about the peace and wellbeing of all of our planet’s inhabitants, regardless of religion, ethnicity, gender or economic status. It is therefore with grave concern that Aytzim views the recent policy shifts by the new presidential administration in Washington.

Click here to continue reading.

Shmita Revolution: The Reclamation and Reinvention of the Sabbatical Year

Jewish observance of shmita (alternatively spelled shemitah)—the sabbatical year, or seventh (sheviit) year—is changing. Historically rooted in agriculture, modern Jewish environmentalists are seizing upon the long-ignored environmental and social justice (tikkun olam) aspects of shmita as originally described in the five books of Moses, the Torah in the Hebrew Bible, the basis of Jewish law. Primary research was conducted through key-stakeholder interviews with leading American and Israeli Jewish environmentalists and thought leaders. They see shmita as a core Jewish value—one that, like Shabbat, the Jewish sabbath, has the power to transform society. Their work has brought shmita from an obscure law dealt with mainly by Israel’s Orthodox to a new Jewish ethos being discussed across the United States, Europe, Israel, and even on the floor of Knesset, Israel’s parliament. This article also describes shmita as delineated in the Torah and through the rabbinic canon of halacha (Jewish law), and explains shmita practice from biblical times to the present day.

Click here to download the article as a PDF.

We Need Green Rabbis

Which rabbinical school will lead the way by offering an academic focus in Jewish environmentalism? Which will be the first to eliminate landfill trash and recycle and compost all of its waste? And which will be the first to forsake fossil fuels and go carbon neutral?

Click here to continue reading.

Introducing Aytzim: Ecological Judaism

Since our founding in 2001, the Green Zionist Alliance has successfully worked for the declaration of new nature preserves, the planting of millions of trees, and the construction of hundreds of miles of bike trails. But today we are proud to announce a large expansion in our work. And with that we have a new name: Aytzim: Ecological Judaism.

Click here to continue reading.

The Next Jubilee: A Vision for 2050

Theodor Herzl said that if you will it, it is no dream. What our Earth looks like in the next yovel, or jubilee, year will not happen by accident. Whether our Earth continues to heat up or whether we stem the tide isn’t predetermined — it’s actually up to us. While our present is what we make of it, our future, as Herzl taught us, will be what we make it to be. By our next yovel, if we choose, we can let climate change become the biggest problem ever faced in human history, or we can deal with it and assign it to the dustbin of history. The choice is ours.

Click here to continue reading.

L’Dor V’Dor? Intergenerational Equity, Climate and the Jews

The Green Zionist Alliance this week joined five other faith-based environmental organizations, including GZA partner Interfaith Moral Action on Climate, in filing a friend-of-the-court brief in what’s known as the “Our Children’s Trust” case.

Click here to continue reading.

What Would Herzl Do? Zionism and Muslim-Jewish Dialogue

What happens when Jews sit down in the same room with Muslims?

Click here to continue reading.

Social Justice and Climate Change

When we think about climate change, we often think in terms of dramatic shifts in the natural world: melting glaciers, heat waves, tornadoes and earthquakes. One might think that changes in nature affect us all equally. But in fact, poor and non-white populations — both in the United States and around the world — disproportionately pay the price for our overuse of natural resources.

Click here to continue reading.

Please donate to the GZA!

Israeli Nature Poll

What is your favorite natural area of Israel?

"God placed the human being in the Garden of Eden, to till it and to guard it."

- Genesis 2:15

Did You Know?

Israel has developed subsurface drip-irrigation systems that are even more water efficient than the conventional drip-irrigation systems that the country pioneered.

Mideast Green News

Aytzim (Green Zionist Alliance, Inc.) is classified by the IRS as a tax-exempt nonprofit organization under Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3). is a carbon-neutral website hosted by DreamHost and is best viewed in Firefox. Please donate to Aytzim!

Aytzim™, Ecological Judaism™, Jewcology™, Jews of the Earth™, Shomrei Breishit™, Rabbis and Cantos for the Earth™, Green Zionist Alliance™, The Grassroots Campaign for a Sustainable Israel™, Green Zionism™, Green Israel™ and Green Israel Summit™ are trademarks of Aytzim.

Copyright © 2020 Aytzim and its respective contributors. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without written permission. No quotes may be used in any media without attribution to Aytzim. The opinions expressed and those of the authors do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Aytzim, its staff or lay leaders.


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Just how to Enhance Your Sex Life. How exactly to spice the bedroom up

Just how to Enhance Your Sex Life. How exactly to spice the bedroom up

If you should be seeking to spice your sex-life you’ve started to the proper destination! Having better intercourse and things that are spicing in the sack is really essential in wedding. In almost any relationship, things and folks modification. And that means you don’t fall into a rut so you need to be putting in the effort to spice things up and make them fun again! This means setting up the effort and placing your self available to you. We now have so resources that are many allow you to have better sex and keep things exciting! A couple of sure-fire how to spice up the room and have now better intercourse are to experiment, build the expectation, while increasing how frequently you may be intimate. We are going to plunge mind first into every one of those subjects and provide you with an abundance of resources to truly get you down to a good begin!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. To find out more about ’em, just click here.

Why Intercourse is very important

Based on studies, intercourse plays a part in better emotions, less depression, healthier hearts, and also reduced dangers for a few cancers. Nonetheless, within our opinion that is all simply an advantage. The value that is real of is available in the bond and closeness it offers to partners. Most likely, you might be sharing this intimate little bit of your self that no body else extends to knowledge about you with the exception of your lover. Which can be exceptionally bonding.

Regrettably, couples are experiencing less intercourse than these were years ago. Read more


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STABALLIZER exercise sphere helps with lifting, balancing and gaming

Everyone’s still talking about the core. A’core’ding to fitness professionals, a strong core helps the rest of your muscles perform at an optimal level as well as improves your posture. There are lots of workouts that target the core and most involve balance.

The STABALLIZER is a eight-in-one fitness device. All clammed up, it looks like a simple medicine ball. However, it breaks apart and can be used for destabilized push ups, as free weights, a balance device, footweights, a kettle ball, plank handles and an AB roller handle. With the STABALLIZER, fitness buffs can engage in planks, squats, lifting, pushups, crunches and more. Additional handles and straps secure the ball to your hands for added comfort.

Interestingly enough, STABALLIZER is meant to be used with your smartphone or tablet. The campaign shows a woman planking with her hands on the half ball. On the flat surface rests her tablet showing a tilting game. Using her strength and precision, she can play the game and have fun while planking at the same time, challenging herself to last the length of the game.

At a first glance this seems like just any other fitness product. However, its compatibility with tablets and smartphones make it a little bit more interesting. While the name is still in typical all caps, yelling at us to buy the product, it offers more than just beefier muscles. This is an entirely new way to integrate technology into our workouts. One goes for $220 for delivery in September 2015 with higher tiers offering more accoutrement. STABALLIZER is hoping to raise an ambitious $200,000 on Kickstarter.

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Monday, October 20, 2008

House (Before)

Kuwait House

Ok, so these are the "before" pictures of the house. This just gives you a general idea of what things look like. I am pretty much done unpacking, and in the "decorating" phase now. Once things are looking pretty I will post some more pictures of the house. At least now you have some idea of what it looks like. Note the KFC we are eating! In Kuwait, isn't that crazy! Again remember that you need to click on the picture above to see all of the rest.

1 comment:

Scott, Sarah, William, Daniel, Colin, and Sam said...

Wow! Very nice. Can't wait to see the finished product.


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• Barry Ferrier 2016
  • Barry Ferrier
  • Barry Ferrier 7
  • Barry Ferrier 1
  • Barry Ferrier 11
  • I'm Doctor Baz!

    Barry Ferrier is Australian musician based in Byron Bay - a multi-instrumentalist, singer & multi-award winning song-writer /composer who has enjoyed a long and diverse career in the performing arts and in multimedia design. Look around and discover his colourful range of experience in many facets of the music, theatre and media production industries. Doctor Baz has entertained all over Australia, and in Europe & the UK and lived a life dedicated to creativity. [Click right hand arrow to read more!]
  • Musician.

    Born in Sydney Australia, Barry gained early recognition in music theatre, appearing in the original Australian production of 'Jesus Christ Superstar' at the Capitol, Sydney and Palais, Melbourne and in 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat' at the Seymour Centre, Sydney. He was composer for the internationally famous Lindsay Kemp Mime Company, performing in their productions of 'Flowers 'in Melbourne, and composing the music for Kemp's production of Oscar Wilde's 'Salome', which was a sell out for 18 months at London's Roundhouse . He has worked with many of the leading names in Australian music including the 70s chart-toppers 'The Ferrets', has opened for guitar maestro Ry Cooder and toured as band leader for the legendary diva Eartha Kitt. [Click right hand arrow to read more!]
  • Entertainer.

    Described as 'the Charles Bronson of swamp blues' by someone who ought to know better, Barry has a fascinating range of music industry credits to his name, and has most recently begun appearing in the lead role of his self-penned music theatre show based on the life of Jonny Cash "I Hear That Train a-Comin' " which has been a sell-out success at in clubs and theatres along the east coast of Australia. [Click right hand arrow to read more!]
  • Designer

    He's called "the doctor" because he's earnt a PhD in multimedia design. With a warm, deep voice (reminiscent of Nick Cave, Johnny Cash and Leonard Cohen) Barry is an accomplished electric and acoustic guitarist with exciting flamenco skills. and also turns his hand to boogie and swing style piano. For enquiries and bookings for weddings, parties, entertainment at music venues and corporate functions, - or maybe some design work - use our "Contact" link above to get in touch! [Click right hand arrow to read more!]
  • Byron Bay legend.

    As a long-time resident of the Byron Bay region he established himself as a pioneer of the local music scene in the early 80s, and has since become a consistent and popular entertainer at all the leading local venues and on the Gold Coast and in Brisbane for over three decades. He performs regularly as a soloist and in an interesting variety of musical combinations which are profiled on this website, and has had great success as an entertainer for many beautiful Byron Bay weddings. [Click right hand arrow to read more!]

"Introducing Barry Ferrier aka Doctor Baz, a Byron Bay based award winning Australian musician, singer/songwriter, composer, actor and writer. "

Current Projects

Barry performs at pubs, clubs & weddings as a solo entertainer on vocals, guitar, piano & stompbox; he also performs with a dynamic music duo as Pete C. & Dr. Baz; and he stars as Johnny Cash in his self-penned music theatre show             "I Hear That Train a-Comin : the Johnny Cash Story".

Doctor Baz aka Barry Ferrier Solo

Pete C & Dr Baz Blues Duo, Byron Bay

Barry Ferrier Johnny Cash


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What does a Straw Bale or Cob bench or wall cost?

What does it cost to build a straw bale or cob bench or wall?

That depends on quite a few things:

  • The Shape and Size
  • What Materials will you use?
  • What do you have on hand?
  • What materials will you have delivered?
  • Is your labor force paid or volunteer?
  • What type of finish do you want?
  • Do you have the time, skills, and energy to oversee and facilitate the project?
  • Will you hire someone to run your workshops, and oversee, or complete, the project?

These are a few elements involved in creating an earthen form:

Site selection and preparation
At the very least you want level solid, compacted ground, that is not lower then the surrounding area. Your most likely going to want to dig at least a three inch trench the shape of the foot print of the structure, in which to form your footer. Choose an area that makes sense with the appropriate orientation relative to the sun, wind, traffic flow, etc. Move the straw bales around and sit on them visualize the end shape and how it will fit in to your space. What features can you build in to it? Can it be more then one thing, serve more then one purpose?
Can a wall be a bench, or a bench a wall for a garden, Can a wall be a bench and a water tank?
Who will use the space? how? how many?
Also consider access to materials , water, work area etc. Where will you mix? pile materials?.How will you get the materials to the site?

Your Footer
Footers can very from a rubble filled trench and pavers, to an urbanite (chunks of busted up concrete) filled trench, formed up with flashing, and infilled with quickcrete, or even a poured footer, or mortared stone, brick, or block. What ever footer material you choose, it has to be thick enough to support the weight of the structure, and dug in well enough to prevent under cutting, as well as high enough above grade to keep moisture from wicking up from the ground. The bottom of the cob, bales and plaster should be a minimum of 3″ from grade and as much as a few feet in snow country.

Straw Bales or Cob Pile
The method you choose, either straw bale with earthen plasters, or a cob pile, will effect both the materials cost, and the labor requirements. A straw bale core is quicker in the beginning stages, requires more straw bales, less adobe mix, and a thinner footer. Cob pile requires more adobe mix, less straw, and a more substantial footer, but it is more flexible as far as shapes.

Finish coats
Either method requires a plaster coat and some kind of weather resistant coating, even in dry areas, to slow deterioration.  This can be done with linseed oil, lime plasters, and a number of other earth based coatings.

Depending on your climate, you may need to protect your bench with a roof. Horizontal surfaces are vulnerable to heavy rains and snow. Most of the work I am currently doing is in the Tucson Arizona area, also known as the upper Sonoran Desert where we get an average of 12″ of rain a year, and seldom more than an inch in a day. I do tough outer coats, topped off with a linseed oil earthen plaster that will be maintained on a yearly basis. I feel this will suffice here, and offers a good balance between upfront costs and ongoing maintenance.
Walls can be capped with stone, bricks, concrete, tiles, old pieces of roofing or planks of wood. You name it as long as there is adequate overhang to protect the wall. Benches need more cover in some areas with a ramada or gazebo roof covering the whole bench with a few inches of over hang at least.

So say you want a curved bench with a back about 4 feet tall and a full bales width to sit on. You want it to be able to sit 8-10 people comfortably facing a center piece such as a podium court yard or fire pit.

This bench is straw bales covered with cob done mostly by hand, no mixer, with only one day of workshop, to put on the rough cob coat. I put nearly 200 hours in to this project and bought a mixer near the end to take some of the work out of mixing alone.

This bench has a 6″ footer made of on site gravel and hardware cloth staked in with rebar. All the adobe mix was harvested on site The finish coat has linseed oil in it and the cap bricks are mortared in to place.

The materials were about $300.00 or so, the labor would have cost around $2000-$3000 depending. It could have been completed in 3 weekend work shops with set up and finish work done in between. The cost of the project if done workshop style would be around $1000.00-$1500.00, depending on the cost of the facilitator and how much paid work was needed. Most of the work can be done during the workshops, which should minimize labor costs.

If it was a wall you wanted say 30 feet long, and just under 6 feet tall, you want it curvilinear for looks and stability, with minimal horizontal area on the top.

This wall was built by Rhiwena and myself out of cob pile using a mixer and some on site materials harvested from basins created to direct the water away from the wall, and some adobe mix brought in.

The footer was urbanite mortared and filled with quickcrete. 8″-10″ thick and set in a trench. The finish coat was linseed oil and earthen plaster.

The materials were about $500.00 and we put about 300 man hours in to it. Labor would have been $3000 – $4500.00 depending. If this project were done workshop style over 3 or 4 weekends it could be done for about $1500 – $2000.00

If what you wanted was a couple of benches with seating area for up to 12 and a back about 3 feet tall.

These benches are straw bales covered in cob and earthen plaster. mostly done by hand work shop style with about a week of paid work for the footers and set up and 2 weekends of work shops. The cost of materials was about $400.00 The workshops and paid labor cost about $800.00 – $1000.00

The footer is urbanite infilled with quickcrete and formed up with 6″ flashing set in a 3 inch trench. The final coat will be linseed oil and earthen plaster.

These are just three examples of projects I have helped with. You don’t have to start this big, simple one or 2 bale benches can be made in a day for $50.00 or less. Your figures will depend on local costs of materials and labor source.
For me the least expensive and generally most fun way to do these types of projects is workshop style. Find a local earth builder or experienced work shop facilitator and gather your friends and neighbors. Make it a community building, and learning experience, have fun with it.

I’ll be expanding on these design examples in future posts with drawings, materials lists, and detailed instructions.