Has Cambridge Analytica endangered our elections forever?

cambridge analytica
(PC: cbsnews.com)

Democratic festival aka general elections in India, by the very nature of their volume, eligible voter count, number of constituencies involved and the fact that they not only decide the fate of many big politicians but of the nation as a whole, have always been more rough than smooth. Yet their integrity and transparency, (barring few exceptions sometimes), have largely been intact. But so was thought of the privacy of US citizens until Snowden revealed otherwise to the world through wiki cables.

In his long testimony before the US Congress, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg categorically admitted that his company had in fact indulged in the data scandal and theft done by Cambridge Analytica and his failure of putting in place strong measures to protect its users data has brought in new fears of the subversion of the electoral process across world democracies, especially in India.

In another similar testimony to the British parliamentary committee, Christopher Wylie, a former employee of Cambridge Analytica which identifies itself as a data analytics and political consultant firm, it was clear that the Congress in India did try to gain the benefits of its services, thereby intentionally diluting the integrity of Indian elections. Reportedly, the firm was involved in “all kind of projects” in India and had the Congress as one of its major clients. The BJP also asserted that the Congress Party’s campaign in last year’s Gujarat assembly poll was managed by Cambridge Analytica and that it is also engaging the firm for the 2019 polls.

It would be disastrous for a democracy, where millions exercise their voting rights, to be complacent about any such unethical meddling of their opinions, of their free voting choices, that could influence the voting outcome, directly or even through any kind of remote manipulation. Worse, by a foreign company. But Cambridge Analytica on behalf of politicians who hire them seems to be doing it, or has done it already.

Now, the question to be asked here is this: Has Congress’ tying hands with Cambridge Analytica endangered the sanctity of our democratic elections forever?

I do not care much how the company influenced the outcome of 2016 US presidential election or the Brexit vote in the UK or other events, but I couldn’t tolerate anything when it threatens to alter the long standing and time tested democratic virtues of my nation (except for the electoral prying of Sardar Patel by Congress which is still frowned upon). At a time when India is already battling to prevent fake news and propaganda campaigns over caste and religion by the oppositions in the wake of 2019 elections, the hijacking of user data could serve as a major tool to safeguard their ambitions. Imagine what would happen if the current government is overthrown in 2019, not by a genuine mandate but by a serious (albeit temporary) manipulation of voters’ minds and beliefs. The consequences would not languish soon until five years of corruption and loot has already dented the country further, putting it back from where it picked up speed after 2014.

“In total, we believe the Facebook information of up to 87 million people — mostly in the US — may have been improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica,” writes Mike Schroepfer, CTO Facebook, in his blog and claims that over 5 lakh users’ information from India may have been improperly shared.

Director and CEO of SCL group companies including ‘SCL elections limited’ (British registered name for Cambridge Analytica) Alexander Nix (now suspended) apparently does the work of running secret campaigns in elections across the world including social media branding and voter targeting using front companies and subcontractors. And then selling the profiles created to companies run by politicians that use them to study and manipulate public opinion and political will. The unfairness of such firms is even linked with military coups, writes Politico. Cambridge Analytica models their work on the research done by of Michal Kosinski in 2008 who developed a profiling system at Cambridge university using general online data, Facebook likes, and smartphone data, and showed that with a limited number of “likes”, people can be analysed better than friends or relatives can do, and that individual psychological targeting is a powerful tool to influence people. The company, along with this, also uses the outcome of psychographic research done by scientist Aleksandr Kogan combined this with artificial intelligence to create a unique data analysis model.

How much damage is already done, is not as important as how much more it can do if such backdoor data-thefts is not restrained. While the election commission in India identifies ways to neutralize such forces that subvert the electoral process, and a contrived and humiliated Zuckerberg realizing the need for them to broadly understand their responsibility towards such large volume of their user data, we also need to understand that the prime ownership of our data should remain with us – the owners. That status quo should never change for the sake of our own privacy and, in this context, for the sake of our nation.

Votes govern the future of our nation. Imagine if such companies succeed to bring out electoral results their clients desire against the nation’s genuine mandate. There would be hardly any back-tracking to validate the results but the country would suffer for long. We have seen political parties resort to booth capturing, not allowing opposition to file nomination papers like the recent TMC move in West Bengal, vote-buying, creating communal-disharmony, minority appeasement and other unconstitutional strategies to woo voters in their favor, but these physical means to capture the mandate can be largely prevented by judicial interference, proper execution of law and order, creating awareness among voters and so forth.

However, in the technology-driven information age, the challenge of conducting free and fair elections has grown manifold. APIs and Apps snooping you privately, websites storing cookies without your notice, targeted ads eavesdropping on your page are new tools and are far too superior than all the previous ones. Even a small thing as a company targeting ads know what you visit. So, like Senator Nelson, if you happen to show your love for chocolates, you will see ads for chocolates on Facebook/Google. This is precisely how targeted communication fundamental operates. To show you targeted ads, messages, and emails. The companies even employ business intelligence research, investigation and surveillance services to spread the influence.

Micro-targeting evolves into complete campaigns after harnessing your personality traits and creating a psychometric data profile; showing you the algorithmically curated content to unconsciously shape your opinions and choices further.

No doubt, social media can tempt you to share your most personal moments and choices with the public, through what you like, what you share, tag or tweet and so forth – and thereby influencing the ones who are connected to you as well. Every website click you make, every site you visit, every tweet you retweet or a post you like, you leave behind a tiny portion of your personal behavioral preference, like a digital footprint. And if this data is leaked to a company that specializes in data mining and data analysis, it can use it to psychologically influence you thereby compromising the very fairness of your choice in future – i,e during elections, killing the essence of a true democracy like India, one voter at a time.

When Cambridge Analytica happened, much of the data we shared was already compromised and our digital profiles already to highest bidders.  ‘This Is Your Digital Life’ quiz that made the data-harvesting possible revels that even the quiz/games we play online collect our data without our notice. Fake twitter handles, or blue tick profiles may induce false belief in us. So to contain the damage, we now need to be aware of what we share or like, careful about the apps we install, the websites we give permission to store our data.

With India becoming the largest mobile manufacturing nation and around 462 million internet users, only behind China, the scope of this threat only increases. Especially after 2014, Indian voters are witnessing an age where caste, gender or religion equations, matter less and less than economic and civic challenges. No one bothered about Rajya Sabha elections outcome before, now even political rallies sweep the trends. Youth today is more aware and want to participate in the government accountability more than ever, but at the same time more busy and hence more technologically dependent as well. They eat their breakfast while consuming the curated news and Facebook posts, and that also injects a certain level of vulnerability in what they see or read and how much they know if what they see is what being deliberately shown to them.

And hence not only us, the government too needs to be vigilant around this essential expansion of Indian youth’s electoral mindset and enthusiasm and ensure that foreign entries into this process are thwarted. It can ponder over policies to bring strict institutional checks on how and to what extent third-party service providers can use our data, including Aadhar data, if need be and frame mitigation plans if the companies go bankrupt or merge to ensure that data remains safe.

The solution is by working together. I witness ‘Big data’ taking over our current manual and routine IT jobs and if we don’t align ourselves with this transformation silently happening under our nose, our future is unpredictable but it would be the last thing I would want to see if the same technology falls in the hand of those who use it to hijack elections, news or opinions in India. And to ensure it does not become a reality, the prime onus is on every voter, every user ‘in the connected world’ to use the mobile-internet technology wisely and cautiously and tell others to do the same.


Why Warren Buffett Wouldn’t Choose A Cash ISA

Warren Buffett’s fans aren’t big risk takers; they’re ordinary investors who have seen their savings steadily grow under his conservative management. Over the past 50 years that he has been running Berkshire Hathaway, shareholders have seen the book value per share rise from $19 to over $146,000, a compound annual growth rate of 19.4%.

Homespun wisdom

Each year he writes to shareholders, imparting the kind of homespun wisdom that has given him the moniker The Sage of Omaha.

What is sound advice for the moms and pops of Oklahoma is worth listening to in the hard-pressed households of middle England. And Mr Buffett’s most recent letter has some specific advice that might come as a surprise to many who put savings into cash ISAs in the belief that it’s a safe way to invest for the future. In this year’s 50th anniversary letter he says:

“The unconventional, but inescapable, conclusion to be drawn from the past fifty years is that it has been far safer to invest in a diversified collection of American businesses than to invest in securities…. Stock prices will always be far more volatile than cash-equivalent holdings. Over the long term, however, currency-denominated instruments are riskier investments – far riskier investments – than widely-diversified stock portfolios that are bought over time and that are owned in a manner invoking only token fees and commissions.”

(The italics are Mr Buffett’s, not mine).

The UK equivalent of “securities”, “cash-equivalent holdings” and “currency-denominated instruments” are gilts, bonds, bank deposits and the like. Mr Buffett’s argument is that, over time, these kinds on savings are riskier than stocks. That’s because stocks grow in value, on average, whilst inflation makes the value of money shrink. He cites how, with reinvested dividends, the S&P 500 generated a return of 11,196% over the past 50 years, compared to an 87% decline in the purchasing power of the dollar.

Volatility isn’t the same as risk

Of course, stocks are more volatile, so owning stocks for just a day or week or year is riskier. Money that investors might need in this timescale should be stored in cash-like investments. Many financial advisors recommend keeping 6-months’ worth of earnings as cash. But if you have money to tuck away for several years, then stocks aren’t just likely to grow more, according to Mr Buffett they are less risky than cash. And if you can put that money in a stocks and shares ISA, you protect those big long-term gains from tax.

A low cost FTSE 100 tracker is one easy way for inexperienced investors to get started. The index has returned 9.6% p.a. over last three years and 9.1% p.a. over the last five.

One of the ways that long-term investments grow is through the reinvestment of dividends, which acts just like compound interest. Albert Einstein called that the eighth wonder of the world, saying "He who understands it, earns it... he who doesn't... pays it".

If you want to understand more about how you can get seriously rich, possibly joining the ranks of the ISA millionaires, then I recommend you read 'Seven Steps to becoming seriously Rich'. It's an exclusive report packed full of advice on how to grow your wealth in the slowly-but-surely style. Just click here to download it, without obligation.


Digital Mapping Final Exam

The flashcards below were created by user dudekarate on FreezingBlue Flashcards.

  1. Choropleth map
    a thematic map in which areas are shaded or patterned in proportion to the measurement of the statistical variable being displayed on the map, such as population density or per-capita income.Image Upload
  2. Proportional symbol
    uses symbols of different sizes to represent data associated with different areas or locations within the map. For example, a disc may be shown at the location of each city in a map, with the area of the disc being proportional to the population of the city.Image Upload
  3. Isarithmic map
    depict smooth continuous phenomena such as precipitation or elevation. Each line-bounded area on this type of map represents a region with the same valueImage Upload
  4. cartogram
    a map in which some thematic mapping variable – such as travel time, population, or Gross National Product– is substituted for land area or distance. The geometry or space of the map is distorted in order to convey the information of this alternate variableImage Upload
  5. Electoral geography
    the analysis of the methods, behavior, and results of elections in the context of geographicspace and using geographical techniques. Specifically, it is an examination of the dual interaction whereby geographical traits of a territory affects political decisions and geographical structure of the election system affects electoral results. The purpose of this analysis is to identify and understand driving factors and the electoral characteristics of territories in a broad and integrative manner
  6. map
  7. carrying capacity
    the number of people, other living organisms, or crops that a region can support without environmental degradation.
  8. sustainability
    how biological systems endure and remain diverse and productive.
  9. demographic measurement
  10. demographic transition
    refers to the transition from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates as a country develops from a pre-industrial to an industrialized economic system
  11. Malthus Theory
    Thomas Malthus warned that population growth would exceed resource growth, leading to catastrophic checks on overpopulation. This would occur because population grew exponentially while food supply grew arithmetically.
  12. Population Pyramid
  13. data collection
  14. Participant observation
  15. quantitative
  16. qualitative
  17. metadata
    are defined as the data providing information about one or more aspects of the data, such as:Means of creation of the data, Purpose of the data, Time and date of creation, Creator or author of the data, Location on a computer network where the data were created, Standards used
  18. georeferencing
  19. geocoding
    the process of finding associated geographic coordinates (often expressed as latitude and longitude) from other geographic data, such as street addresses, or ZIP codes (postal codes). With geographic coordinates the features can be mapped and entered into Geographic Information Systems, or the coordinates can be embedded into media such as digital photographs via geotagging.
  20. geoprocessing
    a GIS operation used to manipulate spatial data. A typical geoprocessing operation takes an input dataset, performs an operation on that dataset, and returns the result of the operation as an output dataset. Common geoprocessing operations include geographic feature overlay, feature selection and analysis, topology processing, raster processing, and data conversion. Geoprocessing allows for definition, management, and analysis of information used to form decisions
  21. geography
  22. topographic map
    characterized by large-scale detail and quantitative representation of relief, using contour lines but, historically, using a variety of methodsImage Upload
  23. T and O map
    a type ofmedieval world map, sometimes also called a Beatine map or a Beatus map because one of the earliest known representations of this sort is attributed to Beatus of Liébana, an 8th-century Spanish monk.Image Upload
Card Set:
Digital Mapping Final Exam
2014-05-05 10:59:04
digital mapping final exam

digital mapping final
Show Answers:


HMRC internal manual

VAT Construction

Changing the use of certificated buildings - buildings completed before 1 March 2011: who accounts for the charge?

The person who received the zero-rated supply accounts for the charge.

Where more than one person in the supply chain has received relevant zero-rated supplies, the person who last received a relevant zero-rated supply should account for the charge.

A builder zero-rates to Charity A the construction of a building intended to be used solely for a relevant charitable purpose. The charity later sells the building to Charity B, who also intends to use the building solely for a relevant charitable purpose. Assuming the sale isn’t a transfer of a going concern, it is zero-rated as the first grant of a major interest in a qualifying building by a person constructing it. Charity B later changes the use of the building. Although there are two relevant zero-rated supplies, only Charity B accounts for the charge.


Unpredictable art

KV Times – Febuary, 2011

By Joanna Carson Skead

Emenau’s work found in homes around world

Darren Emenau is a potter from the Kennebecasis Valley whose work is becoming increasingly well known in North America and abroad. He’s been featured in Ceramics Monthly, an internationally distributed magazine on ceramic art.

Title: Caprie.

Medium: Local cone 06 Earthenware

6 x 4 x 4”, 2009.

Private collection,Fredericton, N.B.

Darren Emenau likes to experiment with a lichen-like glaze. His work is found in homes all around the world and is part of the New Brunswick Art Bank collection. The combination of unique glazes and interesting forms sets his work apart from traditional pottery lines. I asked him to elaborate on his influences.

Q: Why pottery? What events and life experience set this in motion?

A: When I was en route to getting my masters degree in biology, I ran into an old friend at the farmers market in Fredericton. He was selling jewelry and I thought that it would be a nice thing to look into when I retired. Then it hit me. I realized that I was seriously interested in looking into what other career options were out there. Soon I was enrolled at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design – and clay ended up being the calling.

Q: You grew up in East Riverside. Did your time in the Valley shape your work in any way?

A: I would say that the relaxed environment of the River and woodland played a very important part in the way I approach ceramics. Growing up in the ’70s, I had a lot of freedom to explore and really get in synch with nature. I moved to Montreal for four years to check out the city scene and acquire an education. Coming back for visits, I was able to see what N.B. had to offer. I love it here so much – the people, the land, the ways.

Title: Lichen Pod.

Medium: Local cone 06 Earthenware

14 x 14 x 3”, 2008.

Q: You currently produce four different lines of pottery. Two are everyday dishware, similar in shape but different in character. The others are unique natural-looking pieces dealing with local clays and wood-firing. Can you explain the differences?

A: The Whimsical line is my oldest style of work and was developed when I was a pottery student. My inner child gets to play through the “light and foolish” (as my neighbour calls it) imagery. I enjoy the spontaneous calligraphy brush strokes this technique requires.

The style of the Whimsical then inspired me to create something where the focus was more on the subtle variations of the form itself. I made a neutral colour palette to emphasize the overall piece, which became known as the Japonesque line.

When I was producing these two lines, I also became interested in more traditional ceramic techniques. I found and dug some local clay and learned quickly how hard it was to create a finished product that I was happy with. This led to experimenting with a lichen-like glaze that mimicked my woodland surroundings.

Q: The wood firing process involves a lot of effort with unpredictable results. Why do you think it captures the attention of so many skilled potters?

A: I believe it’s because of its unpredictable outcome. The lengthy process bonds the maker to the work and is linked to the tradition, which stems thousands of years. Wood-fired work brings the human and chance factor back to the process.

Title: Tea bowl.

Medium: Local cone 06 Earthenware

4 x 2.5 x 2.5”, 2010.

Private collection

Q: What kind of contribution do you think pottery makes to the world?

A: When I started to collect other potters’ works there was a subtle bond created between maker and user; this bond remains with every collected piece and resonates in my house.

Over 90 per cent of my home and its contents are made from artists. I am not being obsessive over art but I feel that living with it daily helps shape my family and me.

Joanna Carson Skead is manager of Handworks Gallery.


Cello part from A Simple Little Suite- Mvt.3

5 minutes
Modern classical music
Other parts

This final movement of the Suite is moderately fast with the strings using pizzicato for most of the piece. Syncopation is used in the lower strings and the melody is spread out over the violins and violas. This movement should make a lively ending to the suite.

Which method of viewing music should I use?

cloud scorch goes here

Licensing for this music

Sharing the file you download
When you buy the score - make multiple copies
When you buy parts - make multiple copies


Microsoft donates $1bn for student device scheme

Microsoft has announced that it will be donating $1 billion (£595 million, AU$1.08 billion) to a US school initiative to help provide low-cost devices to students.

The money will go towards providing under-$300 (£180, AU$325) Windows 8.1 laptops to children in K-12 schools across the US. They are all Common Core testing compliant.

Devices on offer will include the Acer Travelmate TMB113-E, ASUS Transformer Book T100, Dell Venue 11 Pro, Fujitsu Stylistic Q704, HP 210 Notebook PC and HP ElitePad 1000, Lenovo ThinkPad 11e, Toshiba Satellite NB15t, and an upcoming Panasonic student device, set to launch at ISTE 2014.

Hardware for learning

The move is part of Microsoft's YouthSpark initiative to improve access to vital technology in schools.

"To move students into the future, they need the skills and resources that can bring learning to life and prepare them for the workforce," said Margo Day, VP of US Education at Microsoft.

"Through Microsoft's commitment, we are helping bridge the technology skills gap that exists among many students today by providing tools and learning resources that give all students a world-class education and help teachers better use technology in the classroom. Working with our partners to lower costs and provide affordable devices is just one step in the process."

This latest initiative builds upon Microsoft's prior commitment to President Barack Obama's ConnectED goals. The company previously developed Office 365 Education, a teacher training and resource area in the Microsoft Educator Network, and ad-free search for Bing in the classroom.

Via CNet


39 Annual SSPC: What does culture mean? ... [ Zurück ]

19.04. - 21.04.2018
Tagungen Europa & Welt

Zusätzliche Infos

Call for Papers for 39th Annual Meeting  April 19-21, 2018 San Diego, California Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice University of San Diego  Abstract submission deadline: September 27, 2017 Click here for Abstract Submission Form   What does “culture” mean? Evolving definitions in mental health service, training, and research

The concept of culture has continued to evolve in mental health research and practice, in parallel with critiques of group-based definitions of culture in anthropology and other social sciences. Culture is often reduced to a principal group identity, usually an aspect of the person’s national or racial/ethnic background. In contrast, current definitions of culture in mental health – such as the one presented in the DSM-5 – conceptualize culture as processual, constituting a process of meaning-making that is under the influence of multiple collective influences that combine to constitute a person’s identity. These influences arise from diverse origins, including gender identity, sexual orientation, language, religion and spirituality, occupation, avocation, age, class, national and regional origin, and racialized and/or ethnic identity. Necessarily, every person’s “culture” is a kaleidoscopic mix of these influences, as they become more or less prominent at any given moment, in the presence of some interlocutors and not others, and in relation to what is at stake for the person at the time. This annual meeting critically explores the implicit (or explicit) definitions of culture that are being used in current mental health research and practice. To what extent are process-based definitions of culture replacing or coexisting alongside more static group background-based definitions? For example, is culture conceptualized uniformly in key components of DSM-5, such as in the Cultural Formulation Interview and the Culture-Related Diagnostic Issues sections of each disorder? How does serious engagement with process-based definitions affect our established practices, such as the usual medical identification of the patient on the basis of age, gender, and race/ethnicity (e.g. “23 year-old black female”)? How does the global spread of mental health interventions potentially perpetuate simplistic notions of culture, to the potential detriment of programs? What role does the family play in creating/recreating these cultural influences? Does it make sense anymore to speak of a person’s “culture” in the singular? For additional information, please visit the Annual Meeting page: www.psychiatryandculture.org If you have any questions, please contact Bonnie Kaiser, Chair of the Program Committee, at <bonnienicolekaiser[at]@gmail.com> or Liz Kramer, Executive Director, at <ekramer931[at]gmail.com>


OCBs is a sandwich bar and coffee shop in Dublin’s Clanwilliam Court on Lower Mount Street. OCBs offers a wide range of breakfast and lunch options, including eat-in, take-away and delivery. Established in January 1993, the firm employs 6 staff.  The company has recently re-branded and has a comprehensive online presence.

The owner, Mary O’Connor, was a participant on the ManagementWorks Business Growth programme.

Why participate in the programme

Mary had considered undertaking a programme but was precluded by the cost. Mary was attracted by the value of the offering from ManagementWorks and by the practical nature of the proposed programme as she felt that the business had potential to grow.

Experience of the programme to date

Mary has found that the course content is very comprehensive and focused on the needs of her business. She finds the interaction between the participants to be very important and has been surprised and delighted at the openness and willingness of participants to share their experiences. Advice can be sought and is willingly and constructively given. Mary finds that the opportunity to stand back from the business and to examine its operation in a regular and structured manner has given her new insights into what is possible for the business and herself.

Impact on their business

Mary has found that participating on the programme has given her a new level of energy for her business. The isolation which many small business owners feel had been reduced by participation in  a group of owners who face very similar issues although the specifics of their businesses are quite different. Mary has found the mentoring to be very useful and supportive, although she would prefer slightly longer mentoring sessions than are currently available. Mary now takes more control of the mentoring session in terms of what she would like to get from it and how she would like to use the time.

Message for other business owners

Mary is very positive about the programme and recommends it to her business acquaintances. Mary also appreciates that Government support is being made available to small business owners. Mary feels that taking the time away from the business to examine it in a more detached fashion is critically important as it takes the business owner out of their own vacuum or bubble and lets them see possibilities which would not otherwise arise.

ManagementWorks Programme

Mary O'Connor


Universal ancestor of life wasn’t so hot

A recent article in Nature magazine presents evidence that the last universal common ancestor (LUCA) of life on Earth was probably not a hyperthermophile after all. New molecular-genetics results show the cell type all living cells can trace their own origin back to in a clear genetic line – LUCA – was not a strong heat-loving microbe. Up until now, the accepted model in evolutionary genetics was that LUCA shared most of the same traits as other highly primitive microbes on the tree of life: that they proliferate in very hot water and that they rely on iron and sulfur to drive metabolism. By that logic LUCA should be very similar to the most primitive living microbes, which are highly heat-tolerant. But this new paper, by Bastien Boussau (University of Lyon, France) and coworkers,  shows that LUCA probably could not persist above about 50° C. That’s warm… but not very.

Most modern origins-of-life research has focused on examining deep sea hydrothermal vents as the most likely foci for abiogenesis. Deep sea vents are populated by the most primitive, heat-loving microbes on Earth… tiny clockwork packages of whirling mechanized RNA that can hold themselves together at up to 114° C (and probably higher), efficiently fueling their molecular nano-engines by oxidizing sulfide to sulfate, or otherwise utilizing the chemical energy in deep volcanic gases to drive their nucleic cogs. Read More

Just Add Water (and Volcanoes)

A new study by Martin A. Nowak and Hisashi Ohtsuki at Harvard University offers some interesting new perspectives on how life emerged on Earth, by examining the transition from chemistry to biology… what some might think of as the ‘primal gap’ leading from goopy organic chemistry to true Darwinian selection and evolution.

Emergence of life (EOL) research is actually a pretty big field of research, and has been since the Miller-Urey experiments decades ago. Many people in the field call it ‘emergence’ of life instead of ‘origins’ of life, because realistically the onset of life probably wasn’t a one-off event, but an emergent phenomenon that occurred in many spots around the globe in the late Hadean (about 4 billion years ago). It actually very likely that life started in many places on Earth, in different seafloor hydrothermal vent systems, and might have included several different molecular profiles using different amino acids to build different RNA variants. Read More

Heavy metal planet found: twice as dense as lead and heavier than 20 Jupiters

The European Space Agency’s COROT planet-hunter mission has identified a super-massive, high-density planet that is unlike any other exoplanet yet found. The newly discovered world COROT-exo-3b is a hot giant that circles its star once every four days, making it similar to many other ‘hot Jupiter’ giant planets already found in other star systems. What makes this one unique is its density. Based on its estimated size and mass, COROT-exo-3b would have to be over twice the density of lead. Nothing like this has ever been found before.

Gas giant planets more massive than Jupiter are common, and can range up to about 15 Jupiter masses before they begin to sluggishly fuse hydrogen in their cores to make helium – at which point they are considered brown dwarf stars. Brown dwarfs scale up from there, all the way to red dwarf stars and then ‘normal’ stars. COROT-exo-3b is different. This planet is above the mass threshold for a brown dwarf, but it’s ridiculously small for its mass – about the physical size of Jupiter. Read More

Bad thermodynamics: Entropy

Usually my blog entries comment on some specific news item, but in other cases I’m motivated not by a particular current event or pseudoscience eruption, but by student questions or offhand comments I hear that demonstrate and remind me of some example of common bad thinking. One such example is the dramatically wrong way thermodynamics – specifically the concept of entropy – is often depicted in the popular media, in particular by opponents of evolution by natural selection.

Opponents of evolution are motivated by ignorance, and it shows. When they talk about thermodynamics and entropy, the supporters of creationism or “intelligent design” like to pretend they know something about the subject. This is really frustrating, as someone who has spent the better part of the last twenty years using thermodynamics to understand how rocks, water and bacteria interact with each other in nature. Thermo courses are almost universally feared by undergraduates and graduate students alike because of their difficulty. Even professional scientists who don’t devote sufficient attention and study can make profoundly basic mistakes when they talk about the topic. Like statistics, thermodynamics is difficult, complex, and should be used with care by the untrained. Read More

No more theories: Evolution is a fact

I just read a depressing article on LiveScience.com by Robert Roy Britt, discussing the limitations and flaws inherent in most public surveys about “belief” in evolution. I have to use quotation marks there, because “belief” is absolutely irrelevant. The proper term should be acceptance, as in “Do you accept the evidence of biological evolution, or are you sufficiently ignorant and narcissistic to reject an entire branch of science even though you don’t have an advanced degree in the topic?”

Sustained in vitro RNA self-replication achieved

Schismatic loons

Drill baby drill! …doesn’t appear to be working

Expectedly, the Alaskan Department of Revenue predicts further ongoing declines in proceeds from Alaskan oil. According to ADR figures,

This news isn’t surprising to those of us who study geology, because Alaskan oil production has been sliding steadily downward for more than a decade already. The reason has nothing to do with hippies. Alaskan oil, just like every other petroleum deposit on our planet, is finite in volume and can only be brought to the surface at a finite rate. The typical sequence of events at any oil field follows from discovery to exploratory drilling, then to extraction on an increasingly efficient and massive scale, then to maximization of delivery rate, then to decline as the subsurface stocks dwindle. Politics are irrelevant to this process; pull up oil for long enough in one place and eventually you start to hear a giant sucking sound. Pull up oil for long enough on one planet and a similar result ensues. Read More

Happy Zombie Day!

Here’s wishing everyone a good time today, but remember that even though zombies can be fun, they can also be dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing. So they can be very scary and make you pee on yourself, and if you do, you better go to the urologist to check what is going on. Always have an adult present when attempting to raise the dead, in case something goes wrong and instead of a harmless dancing skeleton you accidentally summon up a horde of terrifying revenants bent on consuming the life force of all humanity. Please be courteous to others and always dispel your zombies when you’re done with them. It only takes a few moments to clean up your mess by filling the mouth with salt and sewing it shut, then cutting off the head before disposing of your zombie safely in an approved container.


Текст песни Amorphis – The White Swan

Тексты песен Amorphis The White Swan

The White Swan текст песни

I set out on a longest road
to seek the answers from Death
I set out to the black sacred stream
to seek out and shoot a white swan

On desolate and stony paths
from a mountain to a vale
I reached the shore and saw it come
into my view, the swan

I took the arrow and raised my bow
I aimed below the graceful neck
under the white of its breast
inside the red of its heart

The surface of the river calm and black
reflects the sky, the pale moon
and there a glimpse caught of myself
I'm shattered, the vision is ruined

An arrow from the water
a serpent rips my mind
into the black river of Death
with a slash across my heart

My last sight a white swan
behind the swan a starless sky
under the sky a coal black river
reflected a bone white moon


Purchase Wholesale Tazers in Middle Pt OH

Exactly how do Stun Guns Work?

The pulse models are created to reduce a topic even if they are using body shield.

Who Makes use of the Self Defense Gadgets in Ohio?

Tazer guns are utilized mainly by police divisions and regulation enforcement officers in an initiative to reduce the number of lethal firearm-related fatalities. Several cops departments report a decrease in the number of police officer-involved capturings as an outcome of making use of the police tazer guns.

Dispute over Safety

There is expanding debate regarding the usage, or misuse of the electronic guns, especially concerning using authorities tazers. While they are not technically taken into consideration deadly weapons, lots of question the security and charity of the tools. Lots of people feel using authorities tazer guns is abused. A variety of constitutional freedom teams want to see them outlawed completely. Amnesty International has actually documented over 150 fatalities relevant to the usage of electric weapons.

Stun Gun Devices 45863

Many spy tools shops additionally market tazer holsters,, stun batons, and belts. Holsters are normally unnecessary for the typical specific, as many private citizens wish to conceal their tool. Cops as well as safety and security professionals could put on a holster as a component of their standard attire.

Laws and Constraints in Ohio

These kinds of security tools are restricted in the following states. Because state laws are frequently changing, guarantee to check your state as well as neighborhood tool legislations prior to making a purchase: Illinois, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Wisconsin


COPY-Japanese Hamburg

An adapted version of the Hamburger introduced to Japan after World War 2.  It is created with both beef and pork and has a sauce made of
ketchup and Worcester.  It has become Japan's favorite way to eat hamburger and is know through out Japan as hamburg.

3 tbsp butter
1/2 medium yellow onion (peeled, finely chopped)
1 clove garlic(finely chopped)
1/2 cup panko (japanese style bread crumbs)
1/2 cup milk
8 ounces ground beef
8 ounces ground pork
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp soy sauce
1 egg
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup sake
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 Worcester

Heat a large skillet on medium high heat. Melt 1 tbsp of butter into the skillet and add onions and garlic.  Cook until the onions become translucent, make sure not to burn the onions you want the onions to remain sweet.  Place cooked onions and garlic aside to cool.

In a medium sized bowl mix milk and panko together and allow to sit for 5 minutes until the bread crumbs completely absorb the milk.

In a large bowl add beef, pork, salt, soy sauce, egg, cooked onion/garlic mixture and panko and mix together until all ingredients are uniform and slightly sticky.

Divide meat into 4 equal portions.  Lightly dab hands with vegetable oil so the meat doesn't stick to your hands.  Press patties into 1 inch thick patties, create a slight indentation in the center of each patty.  This will all the hamburg to not puff up while cooking.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and melt 2 tbsp of butter.  Once butter is melted place patties into skillet to cook about 12 minutes flipping once to cook all the way through.  Move to serving plates to await sauce. Keep skillet over heat and add sake to deglaze your hamburg pan.  Add the ketchup and worcester sauce to create your sauce.  Heat for 2 minutes and place over the hamburg and serve!


TouchscreenModel of “Virtual Bumps” Could Lead to Feeling a Keyboard in a Touchscreen

Carnegie Mellon University and Northwestern University researchers have made a discovery that provides insight into how the brain makes sense of data from fingers.

In a study of people drawing their fingers over a flat surface that has two “virtual bumps,” the research team is the first to find that, under certain circumstances, the subjects feel only one bump when there really are two. Better yet, the researchers can explain why the brain comes to this conclusion. Read more….


Be agile and win:

Agility More thoughts from Chet Richards on agility, sensing yourself and the world around you as you interact and accord with adversarial changes. In the mental and physical dimensions of conflict, understanding the principle of agility when leveraged can have profound effects on outcomes on the street. Ones whole body must act as his eyes and ears. This is where experience and the intuitive fingertip feel for the situation and tactical judgment comes into play in helping you shape and reshape the unfolding situation.

“The essence of conflict is a struggle between two hostile, independent, and irreconcilable wills, trying to impose itself on the other. Conflict is fundamentally an interactive social process. Conflict is thus a process of continuous mutual adaptation, of give and take, move and counter move. It is critical to keep in mind that the adversary is not an inanimate object to be acted upon but an independent and animate force with its own objectives and plans. While we try to impose our will on the adversary, he resists us and seeks to impose his own will on us. Appreciating this dynamic interplay between opposing human wills is essential to understanding the fundamental nature of conflict.” ~Warfighting, USMC

Be agile and win

So let’s start with physical agility, which is what most people mean by the word: a running back dodging a block and jumping a tackler; a point guard threading a way to the net. As far as I know, the use of the term in modern military strategy began with the analysis of air-to-air fighters in the 1960s (I could be wrong, but it’s not important to Boyd’s ultimate concept), which Boyd encapsulated as:

The ability to shift or transition from one maneuver to another more rapidly than an adversary enables one to win in air-to-air combat. (Strategic Game, 42)

A “maneuver” is a change in airspeed, altitude, or direction in any combination. Climbing, diving, accelerating, decelerating, turning, turning-while-climbing, diving-and-accelerating-while-turning, and Boyd’s favorite: climbing-or-turning-while-(rapidly)-decelerating. These are all maneuvers. “Agility,” then, is the ability of the aircraft to change from doing one of these to doing another. Boyd claimed in the quote just above that such agility is the key to winning dogfights.

Well, that, plus be able to make such changes more rapidly than an opponent. Physical agility implies a time element. It is not the same as “flexibility” or “maneuverability.”  It is possible, in fact, to be more maneuverable but less agile, like the MiG-15 compared to the F-86.

If we’re talking about machines, say, the types of fighter aircraft that Boyd flew, we can give a mathematical description of agility that depends on such factors as the responsiveness of the aircraft’s control system, the area of the wing, power of the engine, size of the control surfaces, stability, and other purely physical factors.

Physical agility can provide a huge advantage if the pilot is able to use it. When we talk about the aircraft transitioning from one maneuver to another, it is because the human in the cockpit made the decision to change maneuvers, which includes what maneuver to change to and when to start the transition.

You can start to see the original idea for the OODA loop taking shape: the pilot observed what was going on, figured this into the understanding of how the situation was unfolding, selected a new maneuver (made a decision), and attempted to execute it.

Read the rest of Chet’s analysis here:


My space in the world

Code is poetry

Posted by Sayak
November - 10 - 2008

Open source office suite needs some decent open and royalty-free cliparts. This tutorial presents valuable clipart repositories and an extension which enables direct downloading of graphics into the documents.

Direct downloading of cliparts is possible thanks to addon. You will find it here. The addon provides integration with online clipart to The cliparts you choose and save to your clipart basket, will appear in the extension window inside Almost all cliparts are available in ODG format, SVG and PNG files. addon is available to download here. It has to be installed via the extension manager.

You may also visit the website. It contains a massive collection of royalty-free cliparts, available to download as ODG ( Draw), SVG and PNG formats.

If you prefer browsing cliparts via the internet browser, downloading them to disk, and then loading graphics inside the applications, then you definitely should visit homepages of these clipart collections:

Open Clip Art Library

The royalty-free clipart library.

The Open Clip Art Library contains vast collections of cliparts (7,000 images), divided into categories, and submitted / uploaded / remixed by users. You may download all cliparts packed in a single ZIP file or gzipped tarball.

WP Clipart

The royalty-free clipart library.

Nearly all graphics are in lossless, PNG format. Currently WP Clipart archive offers about 25,000 images. User/Gallery and Clipart

Small but valuable clipart repository. Some files are available in ODG ( Draw) format, others as SVG and GIF files.

The gallery also contains various original artwork submitted to the OOo Competition. It includes 3d Chinese Tea Set, 3d Vase with Flowers, and others.

The royalty-free clipart library.

And, if you wish to find more royalty-free cliparts, visit The site contains more links to clipart libraries.

Posted by Sayak
November - 10 - 2008

First of all start with some basic background explanation about how CPython works, an of overview how python programs run and the operation of the python virtual machine. Then I’ll touch on bytecode and disassembler and an overview of difficulties in the design decisions that were made for CPython. Afterwards, I’ll touch how other implementations different from CPython. I’ll start with Jython, IronPython, then JIT (Just In Time) compilation and the psyco module. I’ll briefly review Shed skin, which is a Python-to-C++ compiler and also touch on Parrot virtual machine. Finally, I’ll talk about stackless Python and after all that will be PyPy that incorporate all the best ideas from all another implementations of python’s VM’s.

As you probably already know, there is a growing number of Python distribution to choose from. Some major implementations includes not only original implementation called CPython which is wide spread in mature but also younger implementations like Jython and IronPyton and perhaps the newest implementation is PyPy. PyPy is specially interesting because incorporates many great ideas that have come up over the years in other Python implementations. PyPy version 1.1 just came out in September 2008 (1.0 in March 2007) and given this milestone, it seems like a good time to take look back at the history major Python implementations, to appreciate how they evaluate and build on each others ideas and also how they will continue.

CPython is a basic

So lets go over some basics about how python program runs. Don’t panic, I like to be clear. If you are already aware how Python runs code, than you can skip next few lines. Let’s start with CPython. As I said earlier, CPython is the reference implementation of Python language, you can get it from First release of it was in 1991 and current version is 2.6. It is named CPython because interpreter itself is written in pure C by Guido van Rossum. So when you running a python program, you are actually runs a C program which interprets your python program. Your python source code is first compiled into intermediate form called bytecode and then that code is then interpreted by what’s called Python virtual machine. If you are familiar with Java that you can see the similarity with Java byte code and Java virtual machine. Is not exactly the same byte code, but very similar. Why are bytecodes used? Well using bytecode speeds up execution, since bytecode is more compact and easier to interpret and manipulate than the original Python source code. But bytecode is not to be confused with machine code, like machine code for x86 processors. Bytecode is a higher level code that is specific to Python VM. So now we have a bytecode that is feeding the virtual machine. And basically a VM is a big loop. It gets the bytecode that has been sent to it and examines the bytecode to determine which C function has to be executed to implement the instruction for the bytecode. Each bytecode represents the operation on internal Python virtual machine data structures at the C code level. Pretty abstract isn’t it? You can watch what the VM is doing with python disassembler module dis.

Here is a short example, first I define a new simple function:

>>> def double(x):
... return x*x

And this is the result:

>>> import dis
>>> dis.dis(double)
2 0 LOAD_FAST 0 (x)
3 LOAD_FAST 0 (x)

So we can say that CPython is a stack based language. It looks very similar to CPU language for processors. Enough with bytecode. Let’s summarize bytecode:

  1. Python bytecode is instructions that manipulates objects not values. No LOADs, PUTs, JUMPs etc.
  2. Python is a dynamic language, so no C equivalent for some bytecode instructions like build class (class) or make function (def). These two instructions tell the interpreter make these objects on the fly while the program is running.

Next, although CPython supports all the flexibility of the Python language, the internal design is not as flexible as it could be. In the design phase, a few decisions had to be made that are fixed to all version of CPython code. For example, garbage collection (is not easy to implement new memory management algorithms), threading model (CPython use what is called Global Interpreter Lock – GIL, that makes internal data structures coherent when multiple threads were running simultaneously), etc.

Note: GIL is the reason why CPython can’t use the potential of todays multi-core processors for multi-threaded applications.

Rewriting this C code base is, well, impossible because the code is old, huge and tricky to maintain. Let’s ask ourselves a question: “Can we ever create a new distribution to address the weaknesses with CPython?”.

The others

Well the short answer is: “Yes”. We have tried and many have succeeded. We’ll talk about the distributions next.

Jython is a python implementation that allows you to run python programs within a Java environment. It was originally created by Jim Hugunin in late 1997. He explored that Java could be as fast as C for simple numerical benchmarks, and he also discovered that it was easy to translate Python to Java by hand.

What exactly is Jython? Jython is a set of Java classes that allows Python bytecode to run on a Java Virtual Machine. Using Java Virtual Machine for Python has many advantages.

  1. Since Python and Java are using the same virtual machine, is very easy to import and use Java classes in Python.
  2. Using the JVM allows Jython to utilize all the work that has gone into improving and tuning Java VM. For example, Jython can use java’s garbage collector, JVM has existing threading library, no GIL and multi-core processors restriction.
  3. Is not necessary to reimplement processes like exception handling, libraries and other things that JVM provides.
  4. You can also use HotSpot optimizations.

So, Jython is more natural for Python that CPython, because Java is a fully object oriented language, whereas C is not. But there are some disadvantages to using Jython. Jython runs slightly slower than CPython. At this time, it is recommended to use version 2.2.1 (even if 2.5a3 is available), 2.2.1 is approximately equal to CPython 2.2. Unfortunately, Java is not directly fully compatible with C based extension modules in CPython.

Most people argue that because Java was designed for non dynamic language, the dynamic language of P
ython does not work well in it. This is only slightly true, obviously Jython works, but Sun Microsystems also says that they are working to extend JVM to provide stronger support for dynamic languages. In fact, in the last approximately two years they have included the new JSR 292 (adding new bytecode invokedynamic), which deals with Dynamic Language Support to the JVM. For more information see this. One great example of Java’s dynamic language support is Groovy.

Lets take a short look to Java HotSpot VM options which speeds up Java execution. It is Java’s combination of JIT (Just In Time) compilation and adaptive optimization. These two techniques are very useful for dynamic languages like Python.

How it works: by interpreting the bytecode, the Java VM watches for “hotspots”; that is frequently executed sections of bytecode. These hot segments are compiled “just in time” by the compiler into machine code, where the program is running. This code is cached, so next time it isn’t requiered to recompile it. Could we used this technique also for Python (Jython)? Yes, we can with the module called Psyco.

In 2001, two years after Java HotSpot technology came about, a team lead by Armin Rigo started the project called Psyco. It is an open-source project with a goal to add JIT into CPython. What it does is emit machine code on the fly instead of interpreting the Python program step-by-step. Once the machine code is generated, the code is cached and run dynamically rather than as interpreted bytecode. The benefit here is that the program runs faster – between 2x and 100x depends on what you doing. The typical acceleration is 4x. The 100x increase is seen more in algorithmic applications, like tiny loops. The only disadvantag is large memory usage and that Psyco runs only on i386 compatible processors.

If you are interested look at the Psyco homepage.

If you are interested in Jython please visit the homepage.

Jim Hugunin, yes the same person who created Jython, then moved on to Microsoft. There, he is using his experiences with Jython to create another Python distribution called IronPython. IronPython allows Python code to run on Microsoft VM, which is a CLR (Common Language Runtime). It is similar to JVM, but not exactly the same. It provides common services for all languages that it hosts. For example memory management, exception handling, threading support, security etc.

Also, Microsoft decided to add special features for dynamic languages called dynamic method class.

If you are interested for IronPython you can check the homepage.

Shed Skin

As I mentioned above, Shed Shed is a Python-to-C++ compiler. But, it’s hard to deal with the dynamic runtime information after the program is compiled. For example, Python doesn’t declare variables, C++ does. So Shed Skin uses a type inferencing algorithm to guess variables types. Other disadvantages are that Python can’t retype variables after compilation, and not all Python features are supported.

Although it is an experimental project, it shows that it is possible to run Python programs more than 2x – 40x faster over Psycho and more than 2x – 220x over CPython. Its also interesting know how much “just in time” optimization is possible.

If you are interested go to the homepage.

This project started out in the Perl community as a joke – Larry Wall and Guido van Rossum would merge Perl and Python together. The merge language would be called Parrot. Of course since it was a joke, the merge was never happend. This virtual machine is currently a Perl6 Virtual Machine written in C. This VM can host more then Perl6 with support for Tcl, Python, Ruby, JavaScript and Scheme, among others. So what this means is that many languages can be interpreted by same VM. This means that like in Jython, the languages can cooperate.

Homepage is located here.

Stackless Python

This python distribution is adjusted to handle massive concurrency; it can run thousands of threads simultaneously. This is very useful for simulations and games as an example. Stackless is used extensively in the implementation of the EVE Online multiplayer game to provide for concurrency, Civilization IV, as well as in IronPort’s mail platform. Second Life is also beginning to use it.

If you are interested check homepage.

Wouldn’t it be great if there was a single distribution that can provide everything of all the mentioned distributions above, and more? Well, we need an interpreter which can run on every mentioned interpreter and is easier to maintain than interpreters written in C. You can probably guess that I’m hinting towards what PyPy does today.

PyPy is an open-source project which was started back in 2003 by Armin Rigo (creator of Psyco) and Christian Tismer (creator of stackless Python). PyPy is constructed from various components:

  • Python interpreter – written in Python.
  • Set of tools also written in Python. This set allows using different VM’s

One of goals of PyPy if very fast execution, JIT is also included. It also fairly compatible with CPython, up to version 2.4.1. It still isn’t mature enough yet for daily use, even thought it passes around 98% of CPythons core language regression tests.

In my opinion, it is a very interesting fact that interpreter is written in same language that interprets. This sounds pretty weird, doesn’t it? You can run Python interpreter on Python interpreter 🙂 But it is an approved technique for large projects. PyPy can be run on all python interpreters, that I mentioned, but its very slooow.

I have to mention a few other interesting features that PyPy have. Except JIT and stackless features (core routines, see stackless homepage for more info), PyPy provides sandboxing. Sandboxing features are very useful to increase security of applications. The application can run fully virtualized. Or you can define proxy objects, and create something like an internal application firewall. You can also use the PyPy translators, that can translate bytecode to C, Java or Prolog for example:)

If you are inter
esting in PyPy, head over to the homepage for more information. They have great documentation I must say.

Posted by Sayak
November - 10 - 2008

This isn’t an unusual repair process for a Windows system. Even for Vista there are plenty of examples of command window (cmd.exe) and regedit repair instructions in Microsoft’s support pages. You can ignore all the myths floating around the Internet about never having to use Unixy command lines when administering Windows systems because of the wonderful graphical tools. On Windows there are many tasks that are impossible to perform with graphical tools or are just a lot easier from a command window. The only way to avoid command line tools or regedit entirely is to write a custom graphical tool that handles those specific situations (similar to “compiling a kernel” comments from Microsoft fanboys). The fanboys will point out that regedit is a graphical tool but the reality is that it isn’t much more of a “tool” than Notepad (which was used in the pre-registry days with win.ini and system.ini). An IT manager that hires an admin that doesn’t know how to use regedit or command-line tools should themselves be replaced. When screening job applicants I’ve encountered many “certified” admins that didn’t know anything about maintenance outside of the graphical tools (or even basic hardware troubleshooting for that matter). Surprisingly, I’ve also worked with software engineers that had a paranoid fear of even regedit. It’s like they’ve been brainwashed into thinking that the only “proper” way to work with the registry is to use an API and approved function calls. Apparently they haven’t experienced the “fun” of trying to remove auto-starting malware entries from it.

Graphical configuration tools like regedit are not unique to Windows. Gconf-editor provides a similar interface to the Gnome GConf settings database. But the terminal isn’t going away anytime soon as it’s too powerful and even on Windows the DOS-derived command window is still present. Windows admins have learned to live with its limitations, switched to higher-level programming languages, or extended it with third-party utilities like KiXtart (which I’ve used). The Windows PowerShell is Microsoft’s attempt to replace this last remnant of the DOS era and it’s legacy syntax. This may be their admission of the limitations of a GUI or just be a response to the popularity of headless systems in data centers and the need for a replacement to a 20 year old shell. I haven’t tried PowerShell myself as I moved away from the Windows platform before it was released. With the availability of virtualization I now just use Windows as a bloated runtime for legacy applications and I don’t need to do scripting anymore (although I’ll admit to playing with batch files in FreeDOS once in a while).

Posted by Sayak
November - 10 - 2008

“Google’s actions in this case appear to fly in the face of what Android is all about. Android is open source. It is available to anyone who chooses to download it. Doesn’t that mean tinkering with the code is welcome, nay, expected? It turns out, it isn’t.”

Complete Story

Posted by Sayak
November - 10 - 2008

Wibrain UMPC – The B1L runs on Ubuntu. It has a 1.2GHz VIA C7M ULV processor, 60GB HDD, 1GB DDR2 RAM and a 1024 x 600 pixel resolution with a 4.8-inch LCD display. Plus, not to mention the qwerty keyboard and direction keys for gaming.

About Me

A Word About KDE


Why Your Psychic Reading Should Include a Side of Surgery

If you've ever had a psychic reading you might have walked away feeling less than satisfied.  Even if the reading was great you might have felt overwhelmed by all the information shared and weren't sure what to do next.  Sometimes psychic readings are just that, an intuitive gives you a reading on your energy in present time and attempts to give you information about certain areas of your life.  Those are all well and good and may be exactly what the doctor ordered from time to time.  However, if you want to really move the needle and take your experience to the next level, you should ensure you psychic reading comes with a side of psychic surgery.

What is Psychic Surgery?

Psychic surgery doesn't involve any knives and no blood is shed, however, the experience can often be just as palpable.  In a psychic surgery the healer will go into your energetic body and clear away traumas, programs or blockages in your space.  Depending on how sensitive you are to energy work you may even feel a physical sensation in your body.  Often times symptoms like anxiety or emotional distress will also be eased.  Clients should treat a session involving psychic surgery just like a real surgery.  Extra care and recovery time should be taken post session to allow all the energetic changes to integrate fully into the body and psyche.

Receiving a reading without the healing portion is like going to a dentist and finding out you have a cavity but the dentist doesn't do fillings.  What's the point?  Real healing comes from the inside out and awareness may only be half the battle.  In my soul song reading and healing sessions I deliver targeted information about various areas of your life and then we work together to clear any blocking energies out of your space.  I guide you through all the actions I am taking so you can be aware of what's happening during the process.  My clients in turn experience huge shifts in their lives from just one session.  If you are ready to take your psychic reading experience to the next level click the link below.  I'd love to work with you.  I am also offering $10 off your first session with me, just because you took the time to read this article.

With Love, Light and Authentic Connection,

What my Clients are Saying:

"Incredible! Remarkable! Insightful! JUST WOW! I got some insight about my situation that I didn't realize and some assurance from someone special. Got some extra special healing that had me floating on air for days! It gave me some things to work on in my life in areas that were in question. Amazing session!"  Amy N

"One thing I love about BEING a Healer is getting to meet so many Healers with such different abilities and techniques. You quickly learn the difference between powerful and fraudulent. Katie is certainly the former; she sees things other people had only glimpsed, and she freed me and made me aware of things I didn't even know were going on.  I highly recommend her services to those, specifically, who feel as though they are getting blocked at every turn. I look forward to working with her again and healing even more completely." Anna Marie R

"I thoroughly enjoyed working with Katie. She helped me work through a lot of barriers that were keeping me from moving forward in both my personal and professional life. She makes you feel comfortable and is open and honest. I would highly recommend her programs. She is an amazing person."  Susan D


Project 1

Due: Wednesday, February 3
Objectives: Digital Annotation & Close Reading
Grade: 10% of final

Your first formal assignment will require you to use Poetry Genius to annotate a poem. Begin by familiarizing yourself with the website. Sign up for an account and explore. Pay attention to how the website organizes different texts, how users comment on and discuss annotations, and how or why annotations accrue value (IQ points) within the social network of users. The next step will be finding a poem that has not yet been posted to Poetry Genius. Visit the library to look for a book of poems; find one that captures your attention. If it’s a very long poem, pick an excerpt that can stand alone (fewer than 100 lines is prudent).

As you transcribe the poem, note any lines that stand out to you. When you close read, you observe facts and details about the poem. For most of the poems, this will require you to look up allusions and references to other works of art or to unfamiliar names. Your aim will be to notice some of the formal techniques that the author uses to convey and heighten the poem’s significance. Be sure to keep an eye toward the overall meaning of the poem as well.

Working in groups, you will annotate your own poem as well as someone else’s. You should add at least three annotations to your own poem, then add another annotation to a poem posted by someone else in your group. Use hyperlinks to add basic information, photos, videos or links that help explain words, phrases and lines. Once you have strong annotations, you’ll be in a good position to write a more holistic interpretation—what literary critics call a close reading.

Explain patterns that you’ve noted in the annotations. Are there any repetitions, contradictions, or similarities? How does the author use character, point of view, setting, imagery, symbolism or style to convey meaning? The final draft of your close reading should be 2-3 pages (500 to 750 words). Submit it typed with twelve-point font (Times New Roman or Cambria) with your Poetry Genius username in the heading. Do not cite secondary sources for this paper. Your interpretation should reflect a unique reading of a single text and should demonstrate careful engagement with what happens on the page.

Check out this page for an example.


Student Incomplete Contract

What is this resource about?

As students navigate a self-directed learning program, sometimes they need further supports to stay on track. This document is an example of an incomplete contract to help ensure that the student, mentor, and parents are aware what needs to happen in order for the student to successfully finish the course. Each school should consider what values they want to message to students and families as they consider using an incomplete contract.

Link to the resource: Example Student Incomplete Contract Template

Was this article helpful?
1 out of 4 found this helpful
Have more questions? Submit a request.

Please sign in to leave a comment.


Renal oncocytomatosis in a long-term hemodialysis patient treated by laparoscopic surgery.

A 50-year-old female, who had been on maintenance hemodialysis for 22 years, consulted our clinic because of a left renal mass detected incidentally by ultrasonography. Computed tomography (CT) demonstrated a solid hypervascular mass, suggesting a renal cell carcinoma (RCC), in the left atrophic kidney. Left hand-assisted laparoscopic nephrectomy (HALN) was… (More)

Figures and Tables

Slides referencing similar topics


Phonology is the study of the rule system that governs how particular speech sounds are used to produce meaningful words. It investigates the systematic organization of sounds in a particular language. It describes the basic units of speech in any language and examines how speech sounds change when they are combined. In particular, it is concerned with phonemes – the simplest speech sounds that are capable of creating distinctions in meaning between words.

Phonological simplifying processes

Typically developing children below the age of about 5;00 years may not have developed sufficiently to fully co‑ordinate the movement of their vocal apparatus to realize speech sounds, and combinations of speech sounds, consistently as the mature adult form. Consequently, certain sounds, sound combinations, or transitions from one sound to another, may be too difficult for the child to perform at a particular age. For example, we know that, purely on aerodynamic and anatomical grounds, it is more difficult to produce a voiced plosive consonant than a voiceless one. Similarly, it is more difficult to produce a voiced velar plosive than a voiced alveolar plosive, with the voiced bilabial plosive being easiest of all (Dziubalska-Kolaczyk, 2007). A developing child may, therefore, use another sound that is in some way simpler to produce, or restructure the word so that certain transitions are easier. These reformulations are not activated randomly, however. There appears to be a set of subconscious rules that children use to formulate words. These rules influence which (currently) simpler sounds or sound combinations to use. According to Dziubalska-Kolaczyk, these so-called phonological simplifying processes are natural responses of the human vocal system to the difficulties encountered in the production of speech. Several processes have been identified, each one operating at a single sound or syllabic level in words.

The main aim of this series of articles entitled PHONOLOGY 101 is to provide a description of the major processes used to reformulate words in child language. Two major ways in which this is achieved are described and exemplified. They are (1) alterations to the syllable structure of words (structural simplifications), and (2) systematic changes (systemic simplifications), such as the substitution of one speech sound by another. We will also demonstrate that phonological processes are not mutually exclusive but may co-occur in the speech of any one individual. [For a more detailed outline of the processes to be discussed, see Contents.]

Scope and terminology

The particular world language at the heart of this book is English. There are, of course, many varieties of English: American English, Australian English, Caribbean English, Nigerian English, and so on. In order to standardize our approach, and make valid comparisons between speech sounds, we will be mostly referring to Standard British English with a few examples from General American. If you speak a different variety of English to this, you will still find this series of articles extremely valuable because the principles governing the phonological processes described here are applicable to a wide variety of spoken English. On occasion, when it makes understanding clearer, we may provide an example from American English.

Citing ages

Ages are cited in years and months, separated by a semi-colon. For example, for a person aged two years and five months this would be written as 2;05 years. For a person aged three years and eleven months it would be cited as 3;11 years.

Period of development

The phonological simplifying processes described are predominantly operative during the important period of phonological development from about 1;06-4;06 years. However, a few processes may continue a little beyond the upper age limit.

Adult model

The phonological processes described here are common in child language but not in the adult form of the language. Whenever reliable data is available, we will provide an indication of the age at which a typically developing child would cease to use a process that is not a general feature of the adult language. We will draw on the reader’s intuitive grasp of the adult model to claim that certain speech sounds, sound combinations or words are articulated ‘correctly’ (or, conversely, ‘incorrectly’). By this we mean that they are articulated as one would expect them to be articulated in the adult, standard form of the language.

We use example words throughout to demonstrate particular processes. As our focus is on phonology – and not language development per se – we are making no claim that any particular example word is representative of a child’s vocabulary at any particular age. The examples are chosen because they can usefully illustrate some particular argument – not necessarily because they are age-appropriate. For example, the word bathe is used to exemplify a phonological process known as labialization, in which bathe /beɪð/ is realized as /beɪv/. Now, we are not claiming that bathe occurs with any particular frequency as part of a young child’s active vocabulary. It is used only to demonstrate the operation of the phonological process. As there are few English words with /ð/ in syllable-final position (lathe, bathescathe, sunbathe and swathe are others), the available options for illustrating labialization of syllable-final /ð/ are extremely limited.

Underpinning knowledge

PHONOLOGY 101 assumes an introductory level understanding of the following.

Articulatory phonetics

The study of how the vocal tract is used to produce (articulate) speech sounds is known as articulatory phonetics. It studies how speech sounds are combined in words and in connected speech. In addition, it investigates how speech sounds vary their place of articulation in the vocal tract, their manner of articulation, the voicing, and so on. It examines the two main categories of human speech sounds: vowels and consonants.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) symbols

IPA is a widely-used notational system for transcribing speech in order to create a written record that can be re-read and analyzed. With this system, there is an unambiguous one-to-one relationship between a speech sound and the written symbol used to represent that sound. For example, bass (meaning ‘a low-pitched sound or tone’) is transcribed as /beɪs/, whereas bass (meaning ‘a type of fish’) is transcribed as /bæs/. IPA symbols are used extensively in PHONOLOGY 101 and the reader should, therefore, have some insight into how each of the English consonants and vowels are transcribed [see International Phonetic Alphabet].

Preparatory work

If you are in any doubt about your ability to understand the series of articles that make up PHONOLOGY 101, we strongly recommend that you first read the three companion series of introductory level articles in the following order:

In addition, it is highly recommended that you read and study the following articles in the order presented:

  1. Phonological Organization
  2. Syllables and Clusters
  3.  Syllabic Consonants
  4.  Word Structure
  5. Stressed and Unstressed Syllables
  6.  Speech Disorder

Dziubalska-Kolaczyk, K. (2007). Natural phonology: Universal principles for the study of language (insiders meet outsiders). 16th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (pp. 71-75). Saarbrücken: ICPhS.

NEXT>> Contents


Skip to main content

You are here

Who We Are

GA resolution 46/182 assigns a clear leadership and coordination role to the ERC for international humanitarian assistance to respond to the needs of affected people. This mandate extends to affected people in internally displaced persons (IDPs) situations and was reinforced by related GA resolutions (including GA resolution 70/165). This was also formally recognized in the Secretary-General’s 1997 reform agenda, which assigned the ERC with responsibility for the overall coordination of assistance to IDPs. The GA expressed support for the reform agenda, and in subsequent resolutions it has emphasized ‘the central role of the ERC’ for coordinating the protection of and assistance to IDPs.

The ERC is the global champion for people affected by emergencies and the principal adviser to the Secretary-General on all humanitarian issues. Through the ERC, OCHA amplifies the voices of affected people, champions humanitarian principles and action, and promotes solutions to reduce humanitarian need, risk and vulnerability. At the global, regional and country levels, OCHA convenes humanitarian partners for the coordinated, strategic and accountable delivery of humanitarian action. At the country level, the ERC maintains close contact with and provides leadership to United Nations Resident Coordinators/Humanitarian Coordinators (RCs/HCs) on matters related to humanitarian assistance.

OCHA coordinates humanitarian action to ensure crisis-affected people receive the assistance and protection they need. It works to overcome obstacles that impede humanitarian assistance from reaching people affected by crises, and it provides leadership in mobilizing assistance and resources on behalf of the humanitarian system. OCHA is not an operational agency directly engaged in the delivery of humanitarian programmes, and its added value is as an honest broker, facilitator, thought leader and global advocate, providing support to the humanitarian system. In fulfilling its coordination mandate, OCHA is guided by the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence. OCHA is also guided by the principles of:

Diversity. OCHA believes that the diversity of humanitarian actors is a key asset, and that all stakeholders have a role in saving and protecting lives and alleviating human suffering. OCHA promotes coordination mechanisms and processes that are open for participation to all relevant local and global humanitarian actors. OCHA also respects the distinct mandates and operational independence of a diverse set of humanitarian organizations, while encouraging them to work together through coordinatio
n mechanisms.

Trust. In a humanitarian system based on voluntary coordination, OCHA believes that mutual trust is he foundation for successful partnerships. OCHA’s non-programmatic coordination role enables it to fulfil its unique function as an honest broker in the humanitarian sector, and to promote trust among all humanitarian actors. OCHA’s mandate and role OCHA is the humanitarian arm of the United Nations Secretariat.

National and local ownership. OCHA works in full recognition that Member States retain the primary responsibility for the provision and coordination of humanitarian aid to affected populations. OCHA’s role is to augment national and local coordination capacities, and to promote coordination structures that are complementary to established national mechanisms and capacities. Accountability to affected people OCHA’s primary partners include affected people, Member States, IASC organizations, and national and international NGOs. However, it is guided foremost by the interests of people who need humanitarian assistance. OCHA promotes humanitarian action that is accountable to affected people, and it facilitates coordination approaches that integrate gender, age, disability and other vulnerability considerations into all aspects of humanitarian response.

Gender equality. Gender equality and the full participation of women and girls are fundamental to effective humanitarian action. Recognizing and addressing the differing needs, priorities and capacities of women, girls, boys and men of different ages and abilities are critical to ensuring gender equality in humanitarian action.

Strategic Plan

History of OCHA

In December 1991, the General Assembly adopted resolution 46/182. It was designed to strengthen the United Nations response to complex emergencies and natural disasters, while improving the overall effectiveness of humanitarian operations in the field.

The resolution also created the high-level position of Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC).  This new function would combine into a single United Nations focal point the functions carried out by the Secretary-General's representatives for major and complex emergencies, as well as the United Nations' natural disaster functions carried out by the United Nations Disaster Relief Organization.

Soon after the resolution was adopted, the Secretary-General established the Department of Humanitarian Affairs (DHA). He also assigned the ERC the status of Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, with offices in New York and Geneva to provide institutional support.

Resolution 46/182 also created the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), the Consolidated Appeals Process and the Central Emergency Revolving Fund as key coordination mechanisms and tools of the ERC.

In 1998, as part of the Secretary-General's programme of reform, DHA was reorganized into the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Its mandate was expanded to include the coordination of humanitarian response, policy development and humanitarian advocacy.

OCHA carries out its coordination function primarily through the IASC, which is chaired by the ERC. Participants include all humanitarian partners, from United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, to the Red Cross movement and NGOs. The IASC ensures inter-agency decision-making in response to complex emergencies. These responses include needs assessments, consolidated appeals, field coordination arrangements and the development of humanitarian policies.

Core Publications


Mocha Takeshita-dori: Tokyo Harajuku

This second Harajuku outlet of the popular cat-cafe chain is one of the only branches that allows young children, so it tends to be popular with younger visitors and their families as well as the usual crowd of cat fanciers. It has a very relaxed atmosphere and relaxed cats that seem to at least tolerate children, although as in tourist-zone cafes the cats can seem a bit jaded by all the attention they get.

There are two large playrooms with a long corridor between them, and like other Mocha branches they're well furnished with plenty of perches and artificial trees for the twenty resident cats as well as comfortable sofas and for visitors. The spacious back playroom is done up in bright primary colors, much like a nursery school, while the front playroom is a bit sunnier during the day, looking out onto the tourist-packed entrance to Takeshita-dori. The background music is bouncy vocal jazz.

The admission fee starts with a thirty-minute minimum, with increments of ten minutes after that. You have to keep track of the time yourself. There are open-bar options for soft drinks, and cat treats are a rather pricey Y500. Children must be at least three years old, and those 13 years old and under must be accompanied by an adult guardian.

Click on photos below to see larger versions
Mocha Takeshita-dori
Tokyo Harajuku / Cat cafe
Admission is Y200 for every ten minutes
Average visit time: 30 minutes
Shibuya-ku, Jingumae 1-19-9, Prime Harajuku 2F.


"Beauty?" by Avery P.

What makes something beautiful in our society? Magazines are covered with images of women with long legs, "beach" bodies, and perfect hair. The truth is that most of us strive to be these long-legged, toned-bodied, coifed, women. This is because the media has trained us to believe that happiness comes along with looking like these people. In the image, the word "goddess" is placed over the woman's eyes, which represents how we have become blind to reality because we are obsessed with the idea of physical perfection. The different bright colors are a reference to the excessive number of things we strive to perfect about our selves (e.g. nails, hair, and lips). As seen throughout this blog, physical beauty has remained a dominating concern for centuries.

"School of Athens" by Raphael (1510-11)

The School of Athens was painted by Raphael in 1501 during the Renaissance period. Meaning "rebirth", (academic.brooklyn.cuny) the word, "Renaissance" refers to the entire social rebirth of Europe during the sixteenth century. The Renaissance was a time of philosophical, artistic, social, and educational reformation. The School of Athens references the idea of a "Renaissance man", someone who excels in various areas of study and embodies Renaissance values: philosophy, humanism, service and involvement with the state, a balance of religion and secularism, and education (academic.brooklyn.cuny). Humanism was a Renaissance concept which emphasized leading an active life rather than solely depending on religious devotion for the hopes of an after-life. Also, humanism supports individual involvement in order to improve participation and on whole, unify the state (Hale).

Plato, Aristotle, and many other well-known Greek philosophers are present in the fresco, touching on the importance of philosophy and classicism (arthistoryguide). Some people are positioned as if they appear to be thinking, highlighting the constant longing for discovery and thought. The importance of education is obvious, due to the mass references towards possessing and attaining knowledge. With books in hand, people are sitting on the steps of the majestically-lit setting. The books represent the yearning for self-improvement. The lighting of the painting, with the light source being from the small remnants of a sky at the top of the painting that you vaguely see through a window, suggests a religious reference. Religion was not excluded from this period, but rather Renaissance people strived to integrate religion and secularism in a more realistic fashion (arthistoryguide). It is notable that only men are present in the painting. Women were excluded from this educational reformation, because at this time, they were still considered unimportant and unintelligent.

During the Renaissance, having an education and exposure to philosophical ideals was important, and it was impressive to be knowledgeable. The School of Athens shows how valued education really was. If you were educated, you had power. Specifically for men, it was beautiful to be knowledgeable, and your physical appearance was unimportant. Marriage, for example, pretty much depended on your income and business success; you would attract potential partners by your social and professional status. And you could become successful socially and business-wise by receiving an education. Attractiveness was determined by the knowledge you possessed.

Hale, J. R.The Civilization of Europe in the Renaissance. 1994. Print.
"'The School of Athens' by Raphael - Characters, Figues, and Significant People."Art History & Periods, Artist Biographies, Art Galleries, & Art Schools. Web. <"http://www.arthistoryguide.com/The_School_of_Athens.aspx">.

"Queen Marie Antoinette" by Adolf Ulrich Wertmüller (1785)

Queen Marie Antoinette, painted by Adolf Ulrich Wertmüller in the 1780s, is a portrait of the queen and her children. Marie Antoinette reigned over France with her husband, Louis, during the eighteenth century. Marie Antoinette lacked support from the French people (PBS). She suffered from harsh accusations, and the French often criticized her because they believed she was spending too much time away from the palace with her children in Versailles, and in doing so, neglecting her duties as Queen (PBS). Ultimately, she was beheaded during the French revolution because she was so identified as a rich, unfitting monarch who cared little for her people (PBS).

This portrait exemplifies stereotypical royal lifestyle. The queen and her children are each dressed in layers of expensive, fashionable clothing. Both children are holding onto their mother’s hands; her daughter is carrying flowers, while her son holds his hat. It is obvious that they are wealthy people because of their outfits, attitude, and poise. They have contented facial expressions, not showing much emotion, but rather emitting a sense of confidence. By their positioning, it seems like they are supposed to be walking through their garden. Striding with attitude, the family is obviously aware of the great power and influence they hold above everyone else. The daughter is looking towards the son for direction, which is a small demonstration of gender roles and the authority men held over women.

Wertmüller’s Queen Marie Antoinette perfectly depicts the idea of beauty in eighteenth-century French society (PBS). Beauty was measured by material means; wealth, clothing, looks, and social class. Much like today in the United States, when women constantly try to morph their appearances into that of a model, women strived to look like Marie Antoinette. She was the height of fashion, and everything about her was perfect: her hair, her clothes, her things (Fraser). She was dressed by her servants every morning, and treated with the utmost of care and attention to detail (Fraser). Wealthy women copied her every look and mannerism. Being educated was unimportant. But instead, a woman’s image, family history, and social class dictated how successful she would become (PBS). Beauty and importance depended solely on one’s physical features, elegance, and social status.

Fraser, Antonia. Marie Antoinette: the Journey. New York: N.A. Talese/Doubleday, 2001. Print.
"Marie Antoinette and the French Revolution . Timeline . A Revolution: 1789-1790 | PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Web. <"http://www.pbs.org/marieantoinette/timeline/revolution.html">.

"Daughters of Edward Darley Boit" by John Singer Sargent (1882)

As described by Kimberly M. Radek, women of the nineteenth century were stereotypically “passive”, “timid”, “pure”, and “content” (Radek). Men had lawful rights over their wives, and women were expected to be solely dependent on their husbands (Radek). During the 1800s, it was fashionable for women to have tiny waists, so in order to do so, they would wear corsets. Eventually, it was discovered that corsets deformed a women’s waste line and lungs, making it harder to breathe (Radek). Uncomfortable sacrifices like this were made to become "beautiful". Daughters of Edward Darley Boit was painted by John Singer Sargent during this era of feminine plainness and physical beauty. The subject, Edward Darley Boit, was an impressionist artist, himself, and Sargent and Boit were good friends. Evan Charteris described Sargent to possess "such authority, such anxious sincerity...so much humor and finesse" (Charteris). Women were treated the same and expected to act with a certain feminine poise in accordance to the commands of this kind of male 'authority' (Charteris) in their lives (Radek).

In the painting, Boit’s four daughters are all neatly dressed in similar plainly colored dresses. This idea of wearing matching, similar clothing demonstrates the lack of individuality. Because the clothing is so plain and bland, it also references the idea of the female being 'pure' and not having or fulfilling any sexual desires (Radek). The daughters are all motionless, and with the exception of one, blankly staring towards the audience. It is obvious that the daughters are discontent by their dissatisfied facial expressions. Emotionless and bored, the daughters seem tired of their routine activities. Even the youngest daughter, whom is playing on the ground with a doll, doesn’t show any traces of a smile. Also demonstrated by the youngest daughter, girls were expected to only do very specific, acceptable things (Radek). Playing with dolls was acceptable because it was considered feminine (Radek) and normal, and did not cause them to exercise their thinking. For a woman in the nineteenth century, physical beauty and attractiveness definitely stood superior to the substance of their character. The daughters were taught to act and dress similarly, not revealing any sense of personality or individuality (Radek). They concealed their emotions and opinions within them to avoid controversial thoughts and exploration of their individual self (Radek). The gray and dark color scheme adds to the plain and emotionless mood of the painting.

An ideal woman acted in accordance to the values set in place by society; to be respectful, to please one’s family/husband, to listen and not challenge anything, and to do what they were told (Radek). Boit's daughter's were unable to say anything about their discontent because it would interrupt their duty to become an ideal, “beautiful” woman. A beautiful woman was one who embodied these nineteenth-century values and behaved obediently, like the daughters, at the same time as maintaining an attractive body and favorable disposition. Since these women were not encouraged to let their personalities shine through, there was not much more to judge them by then their looks. Success came to women based on attractiveness, and accordingly, good-looking, obedient women were the ones who became successful and married into wealthy families. One's attractiveness was only determined by physical beauty and cooperation.

Charteris, Evan. John Sargent. Whitefish, MT: Kessinger, 2010. Print.
Lee, Vernon. "John Singer Sargent's Daughters of Edward Darley Boit." John Singer Sargent Virtual Gallery. Web. < "http://www.jssgallery.org/Paintings/Daughters_of_Edward_Darley_Boit.htm">.
Radek., Kimberly M. "Women in the Nineteenth Century." IVCC » Home Page Transition Page. 2001. Web. <"http://www2.ivcc.edu/gen2002/Women_in_the_Nineteenth_Century.htm">.

"ABCD" by Raoul Hausmann

"Elizabeth Taylor" by Andy Warhol (1963)


--- title: Chris Warburton's Homepage extra_head: postprocessor: stripTitle packages: [ 'file2img', 'showPosts', 'stripTitle' ] dependencies: [ 'static/code.png', 'rants' ] ---
```{.unwrap pipe="sh | pandoc -t json"} file2img "Code" < root/static/code.png ```
I'm a Free Software advocate, Physicist, Computer Scientist and metal head. I'm currently a PhD student in Computer Science at the [University of Dundee](https://www.computing.dundee.ac.uk/about/staff/124). This is a place for me to collect thoughts and experiments, mostly around programming languages and artificial intelligence. Pages are organised into the following overlapping categories: ## [Blog](/blog.html) A [FINO](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FINO) stack of rants, hacks, opinions, etc. Updated frequently but rarely revised. ```{.unwrap pipe="bash | pandoc -t json"} export BASE_DIR='blog' export STRIP_PREFIX="$blogPages/" find "$blogPages" -type f -o -type l | grep -v "index.html" | sort -r | head | showPosts ``` [More...](/blog.html) ## [Projects](/projects.html) A collection of thought-out, carefully managed articles and demos. Infrequently updated, but hopefully accurate. [More...](/projects.html)