 and it didn’t factor in the most important offices on the ballot, but just because the broken machines and mistakes may not have affected the election, that’s no reason to shrug off the problem.

The electronic machines also led to confusion and longer waits and as former Councilmember Alan Gerson points out, they provide less privacy.

That’s why we completely understand why Gerson, a few poll workers, and voters told us that they’d like to stay with the machines rather than go back to the scanners.

They’re right. The scanners are worse.

But it’s more than a little discouraging that those in the know have been so beaten down by New York’s broken electoral system that they can’t imagine anyone in power coming up with a good option when faced with one of two bad choices.

When was the last time you remember seeing someone old or young, English-speaking or not, be confused at an ATM?

We can’t. It shouldn’t be hard to design machines that perform private and important transactions that almost everybody can use without confusion.

An ATM-like screen could end the unfair advantages of ballot name placement. Rotating the candidates so each one has an equal number of times in the most and least prominent positions on the ballot makes sense.

A screen could allow hard copy printouts which gives voters visual confirmation and could also be used in recounts.

That may not be the best system but it is certainly one that would be a huge improvement. Safeguards and protections the public can trust are of course requirements for any system. New York’s advantage of being behind in voting technology is it can look to other places to find the best way to vote.

With today’s technology, it is inexcusable that we have to wait days or weeks for accurate vote counts, or months to get a ballot ready for an election.

Pointing fingers at the culprits is far less important than fixing a problem that shakes the fundamentals of our democracy.

Spread the word:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

nine + 5 =
<|endoftext|>Sunday, February 7, 2010

Bacon and Veggie Quiche

8 oz. bag frozen hash browns, thawed and drained
3 eggs
1/2 cup half-and-half
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup diced red pepper
1/4 cup diced onion
1/4 cup chopped broccoli
8 slices turkey bacon, cooked and chopped
1/2 cup shredded cheese
pinch on cayenne pepper
pinch of salt
1. Preheat oven to 450. Spread defrosted hash browns in bottom and up sides of a buttered pie or quiche dish. Pat hash browns with a paper towel to remove extra moisture. Bake until potatoes are golden brown, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and lower the temperature to 350.
2. While crust bakes, whisk eggs, half-and-half and milk together. Add veggies, bacon, cheese and seasonings. Pour into potato crust and bake uncovered for 30-45 minutes at 350. (mine took almost an hour) Cool for 10 minutes before serving. Serves 6.

* For softer veggies, saute in a bit of olive oil for a few minutes before adding to quiche mix.

  1. Your stuff looks delish! I was googling for some advice on hersey kiss pretzel and that's how I found you.. Thanks and Happy blogging!

  2. This was so good! My husband loved it!!! It was amazing cuz there wasn't alot of meat in it :)<|endoftext|>Temukan audiobook favorit Anda selanjutnya

The Map of Salt and Stars

Tindakan Buku

Mulai Mendengarkan

Informasi Buku

The Map of Salt and Stars

Ditulis oleh Zeyn Joukhadar

Narasi oleh Lara Sawalha

Nilai: 4.5 dari 5 bintang4.5/5 (180 penilaian)
Panjangnya: 12 jam

This rich, moving, and lyrical debut novel is to Syria what The Kite Runner was to Afghanistan; the story of two girls living eight hundred years apart—a modern-day Syrian refugee seeking safety and a medieval adventurer apprenticed to a legendary mapmaker—places today's headlines in the sweep of history, where the pain of exile and the triumph of courage echo again and again.

It is the summer of 2011, and Nour has just lost her father to cancer. Her mother, a cartographer who creates unusual, hand-painted maps, decides to move Nour and her sisters from New York City back to Syria to be closer to their family. But the country Nour's mother once knew is changing, and it isn't long before protests and shelling threaten their quiet Homs neighborhood. When a shell destroys Nour's house and almost takes her life, she and her family are forced to choose: stay and risk more violence or flee as refugees across seven countries of the Middle East and North Africa in search of safety. As their journey becomes more and more challenging, Nour's idea of home becomes a dream she struggles to remember and a hope she cannot live without.

A deep immersion into the richly varied cultures of the Middle East and North Africa, The Map of Salt and Stars follows the journeys of Nour and Rawiya as they travel along identical paths across the region eight hundred years apart, braving the unknown beside their companions as they are pulled by the promise of reaching home at last.

Baca Selengkapnya<|endoftext|>State government sources said Travis' move was a direct result of the controversy over the Boudin parole decision.<|endoftext|>A passing glance at Chicken Rider will tell you basically all you need to know about it. It is bright and colourful, with a bizarre premise that only gets weirder as you play more of the game.

You are a baby polar bear who has escaped from captivity. On your bid for freedom, you also liberate a number of chickens who are also imprisoned. You leap onto the back of a chicken and it is your mission simply to flee.

Chicken Rider is an endless runner game, so the gameplay is easy enough to understand and the controls are very simple. The chicken runs on its own and all you need to do is jump to avoid crashing into anything or get caught by guards along the way.

Chicken Rider

As you run, you collect coins. At the end of each run, you can use your coins to buy power-ups that will give you a boost on your next attempt. You earn extra coins for completing any of three achievements per run, which are replaced by new ones that are randomly generated each time you get one. This might be jumping over a specific number of enemies or reaching a certain distance on your run. They’re rarely the kind of goals that you’d have to go out of your way to work into your run.

On your escape, you can also pick up items that give you a temporary boost. These are just as eclectic at everything else that goes into this game. You can ride a skateboard that makes you go faster as well as giving you the power to blast through the obstacles that would usually end your run. You can drink hot sauce that lets you fly for brief periods of time. You can set off a lawnmower that smashes through all the enemies in your way.

Chicken Rider

The sound effects feel like they have been specifically designed to annoy the parents of any children playing the game. Every power-up you collect has a unique noise and, whenever you jump, one of the fleeing animals cheers.

It is difficult not to like Chicken Rider. It’s certainly got a lot of strangeness to it, but it’s silly and playful in a way that is wonderfully childlike. It doesn’t have a terribly profound story and the gameplay itself doesn’t present the kind of challenge that will engage you for a huge amount of time. But it’s definitely enjoyable, especially for a game that costs next to nothing.

When it comes to just switching off and delighting in something simple and goofy, Chicken Rider has you covered.<|endoftext|>7 things men do before they say I do

7 Things Men Do Before They Say I Do

It’s very conflicting for men before they land on the path of ‘I DO’, or rather very adventurous. Men generally like to live ‘the life’. Gone are those days when a lady meets a guy for the first time and the man tells her he wants to settle down and really keeps to his words.

So what are the things men do before they say ‘I do’

1. Nowadays  a man will tell a lady on the first or second date that he wants to marry her just with the sole purpose of getting into her pants. aha. Men tell ladies the truth and stop the deceiving game. Most men don’t plan to get married, they plan to f*ck, right from the very day they set eyes on a lady…. If not all , then most of them.‘ladies beware.’

2. Men are scared of commitment, it’s a very long journey for them to get to ‘I Do’ land. Men want to party hard, drink, play like there’s no tomorrow, taste threesome. They want to be imaginative and constructive. Their minds need to feed on something appealing.

7

 in Battery Park City, voters were given incorrect paper ballots. That problem turned out to be low-scale and it didn’t factor in the most important offices on the ballot, but just because the broken machines and mistakes may not have affected the election, that’s no reason to shrug off the problem.

The electronic machines also led to confusion and longer waits and as former Councilmember Alan Gerson points out, they provide less privacy.

That’s why we completely understand why Gerson, a few poll workers, and voters told us that they’d like to stay with the machines rather than go back to the scanners.

They’re right. The scanners are worse.

But it’s more than a little discouraging that those in the know have been so beaten down by New York’s broken electoral system that they can’t imagine anyone in power coming up with a good option when faced with one of two bad choices.

When was the last time you remember seeing someone old or young, English-speaking or not, be confused at an ATM?

We can’t. It shouldn’t be hard to design machines that perform private and important transactions that almost everybody can use without confusion.

An ATM-like screen could end the unfair advantages of ballot name placement. Rotating the candidates so each one has an equal number of times in the most and least prominent positions on the ballot makes sense.

A screen could allow hard copy printouts which gives voters visual confirmation and could also be used in recounts.

That may not be the best system but it is certainly one that would be a huge improvement. Safeguards and protections the public can trust are of course requirements for any system. New York’s advantage of being behind in voting technology is it can look to other places to find the best way to vote.

With today’s technology, it is inexcusable that we have to wait days or weeks for accurate vote counts, or months to get a ballot ready for an election.

Pointing fingers at the culprits is far less important than fixing a problem that shakes the fundamentals of our democracy.

Spread the word:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

nine + 5 =
<|endoftext|>Sunday, February 7, 2010

Bacon and Veggie Quiche

8 oz. bag frozen hash browns, thawed and drained
3 eggs
1/2 cup half-and-half
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup diced red pepper
1/4 cup diced onion
1/4 cup chopped broccoli
8 slices turkey bacon, cooked and chopped
1/2 cup shredded cheese
pinch on cayenne pepper
pinch of salt
1. Preheat oven to 450. Spread defrosted hash browns in bottom and up sides of a buttered pie or quiche dish. Pat hash browns with a paper towel to remove extra moisture. Bake until potatoes are golden brown, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and lower the temperature to 350.
2. While crust bakes, whisk eggs, half-and-half and milk together. Add veggies, bacon, cheese and seasonings. Pour into potato crust and bake uncovered for 30-45 minutes at 350. (mine took almost an hour) Cool for 10 minutes before serving. Serves 6.

* For softer veggies, saute in a bit of olive oil for a few minutes before adding to quiche mix.

  1. Your stuff looks delish! I was googling for some advice on hersey kiss pretzel and that's how I found you.. Thanks and Happy blogging!

  2. This was so good! My husband loved it!!! It was amazing cuz there wasn't alot of meat in it :)<|endoftext|>Temukan audiobook favorit Anda selanjutnya

The Map of Salt and Stars

Tindakan Buku

Mulai Mendengarkan

Informasi Buku

The Map of Salt and Stars

Ditulis oleh Zeyn Joukhadar

Narasi oleh Lara Sawalha

Nilai: 4.5 dari 5 bintang4.5/5 (180 penilaian)
Panjangnya: 12 jam

This rich, moving, and lyrical debut novel is to Syria what The Kite Runner was to Afghanistan; the story of two girls living eight hundred years apart—a modern-day Syrian refugee seeking safety and a medieval adventurer apprenticed to a legendary mapmaker—places today's headlines in the sweep of history, where the pain of exile and the triumph of courage echo again and again.

It is the summer of 2011, and Nour has just lost her father to cancer. Her mother, a cartographer who creates unusual, hand-painted maps, decides to move Nour and her sisters from New York City back to Syria to be closer to their family. But the country Nour's mother once knew is changing, and it isn't long before protests and shelling threaten their quiet Homs neighborhood. When a shell destroys Nour's house and almost takes her life, she and her family are forced to choose: stay and risk more violence or flee as refugees across seven countries of the Middle East and North Africa in search of safety. As their journey becomes more and more challenging, Nour's idea of home becomes a dream she struggles to remember and a hope she cannot live without.

A deep immersion into the richly varied cultures of the Middle East and North Africa, The Map of Salt and Stars follows the journeys of Nour and Rawiya as they travel along identical paths across the region eight hundred years apart, braving the unknown beside their companions as they are pulled by the promise of reaching home at last.

Baca Selengkapnya<|endoftext|>A passing glance at Chicken Rider will tell you basically all you need to know about it. It is bright and colourful, with a bizarre premise that only gets weirder as you play more of the game.

You are a baby polar bear who has escaped from captivity. On your bid for freedom, you also liberate a number of chickens who are also imprisoned. You leap onto the back of a chicken and it is your mission simply to flee.

Chicken Rider is an endless runner game, so the gameplay is easy enough to understand and the controls are very simple. The chicken runs on its own and all you need to do is jump to avoid crashing into anything or get caught by guards along the way.

Chicken Rider

As you run, you collect coins. At the end of each run, you can use your coins to buy power-ups that will give you a boost on your next attempt. You earn extra coins for completing any of three achievements per run, which are replaced by new ones that are randomly generated each time you get one. This might be jumping over a specific number of enemies or reaching a certain distance on your run. They’re rarely the kind of goals that you’d have to go out of your way to work into your run.

On your escape, you can also pick up items that give you a temporary boost. These are just as eclectic at everything else that goes into this game. You can ride a skateboard that makes you go faster as well as giving you the power to blast through the obstacles that would usually end your run. You can drink hot sauce that lets you fly for brief periods of time. You can set off a lawnmower that smashes through all the enemies in your way.

Chicken Rider

The sound effects feel like they have been specifically designed to annoy the parents of any children playing the game. Every power-up you collect has a unique noise and, whenever you jump, one of the fleeing animals cheers.

It is difficult not to like Chicken Rider. It’s certainly got a lot of strangeness to it, but it’s silly and playful in a way that is wonderfully childlike. It doesn’t have a terribly profound story and the gameplay itself doesn’t present the kind of challenge that will engage you for a huge amount of time. But it’s definitely enjoyable, especially for a game that costs next to nothing.

When it comes to just switching off and delighting in something simple and goofy, Chicken Rider has you covered.<|endoftext|>7 things men do before they say I do

7 Things Men Do Before They Say I Do

It’s very conflicting for men before they land on the path of ‘I DO’, or rather very adventurous. Men generally like to live ‘the life’. Gone are those days when a lady meets a guy for the first time and the man tells her he wants to settle down and really keeps to his words.

So what are the things men do before they say ‘I do’

1. Nowadays  a man will tell a lady on the first or second date that he wants to marry her just with the sole purpose of getting into her pants. aha. Men tell ladies the truth and stop the deceiving game. Most men don’t plan to get married, they plan to f*ck, right from the very day they set eyes on a lady…. If not all , then most of them.‘ladies beware.’

2. Men are scared of commitment, it’s a very long journey for them to get to ‘I Do’ land. Men want to party hard, drink, play like there’s no tomorrow, taste threesome. They want to be imaginative and constructive. Their minds need to feed on something appealing.

7 things men


 day, and left them open. This was the first customer.
  4. Further, as a cellist, I understand that the tension or pressure created by the spike/endpin is not all that great. It basically serves to a) stop the cello from slinding across the stage and allow the player greater freedom of movement. With the cello body resting on the players chest, the tension delivered to the spike is a variable, less tension resting or soft playing, and greater tension during aggressive, loud playing. The extra endbutton would eliminate this variable. The tension from the tailpiece would be constant, the endpin variable would not effect the tailpiece, and therefore not
  5. Sorry, no. What I meant was that perhaps the extra endbutton would relieve, or distribute along the block, the tension created by the tailpiece and endpin. That is, the endbutton bears the tailpiece tension, the endpin bears the tension created by supporting the cello while playing. Speculation, and I don't know what benefit that would have structuraly or sound-wise. The cello I saw this on sounds spectacular, by the way.
  6. Get busy! That (Mathew) was the sort of thing I was wondering about. I don't know if I could stand the appearance of an off-centered end-pin. I can see a player noticing and assuming poor workmanship rather than a deliberate effort. Is your off-set very noticeable? I think keeping the end-pin centered in important, but moving it up or down along the center line.? The pressure from the tailpiece tension combined with the pressure of the endpin supporting the cello while playing pulls the outside of the endpin up, and at the same time pushes the inside of the endpin down, so I suppose
  7. Hi all, I'm getting ready to drill a new endpin hole, and then I started thinking. I've always centered them dead in the middle. Awhile back, I saw a cello by a very well known maker with an interesting set-up down there. There was an end button and an endpin. The end button was cello sized, and placed approx. 1/3 down from the top, and the endpin 1/3 up from the bottom. Has anyone also done this? What might be the benefit? So, does anyone out there place the endpin anywhere else besides in the center? And if so, why? Thanks! These pictures are the best I
  8. Thanks Jeffery! I also leave a gap on either side of the saddle. I further round off the corners of the saddle, leaving a little hole at each corner. I then melt black crayon into the holes and on either side, so it looks nice and tight, but isn't.
  9. A grafting block is roughly 34cm x 15cm x 55mm. That should leave you plenty of room, and be easy enough to find.
  10. So, here's what I went and did: The routed channel was then widened and cleaned by hand, the cf rod glued in, a thin strip of maple veneer then glued over that. All of which I neglected to photograph. I'll try to remember to take a picture of it when I remove the f.b. for varnishing. Thoughts?
  11. It seems like a lot of work for not a lot of benefit. The scroll graft is pretty conventional, but the rest not so much. Aesthetically, I personally would find the four piece heel distracting and ugly. As far as saving wood, there is lots of plain maple to be had, which is what you really want for the grafted neck. Any lumber yard should have something suitable. As far as stability, Melvin's method is great, but there are better ways to stabilize the heel then glueing together four pieces. Ideas here.
  12. Roger, are you using sandpaper to keep the ribs from slipping? If so, huzzah! That's a great idea. If not...
  13. You can find them here, apparently. I'll contact them about price. This thing coupled with two dowels in the heel and that sucker isn't going anywhere,ever!!!
  14. I'll second (third?fourth?) everything said so far. Second hand is the way to go. It will be cheaper and the steel will be better. Also don't go overboard with the quantity. Read Rogers post again. However, since you are interested in making a violin, not necessarily spending your time hunting for nice old gouges, you might want to just buy a few to start. For that purpose I recommend the pfeil Swiss made brand. Woodcraft has them in spades. They are not the best by any means, (and not much liked on maestronet )but they are a good starting point. You should be able to get 5 or so for un
  15. Please allow me to revive this thread, as I am about to finish a cello neck and would like to employ some (or all!!!) of the methods described here. A basic question: where is the best place to buy the carbon fiber rods we are talking about, and what dimensions am I looking for? So, what I understand is that there are two different problems that these methods (carbon rod and "the Burgess solution" ) address. The carbon rod primarily addresses warping of the neck, which can result in a drop in projection, but not always, and an overall warping/twisting, whether left and right along th
  16. I found it to be sharp right out of the box. As mentioned, there is a video out there demonstrating how to sharpen it. Think ice skate blades. The cutting edge is concave.
  17. Hi all, I just got this scraper. Well, a few weeks ago. I got the mini, and found it too aggressive for spruce and maple. However, it is brilliant on ebony. In particular hollowing the underside. Worth the money if only just for that purpose. I assume everyone already has something they use, but hey. Change is good sometimes. Just letting you good people know.
  18. At this point, a bit of going in circles? I understand what you mean, but I don't see it that way. What I respond to is not the underlying geometry. What I respond to is the manifestation of that geometry, which resonates with me not as a geometric example, but as a representation of the natural form. The mathematical explanation of that form is inconsequential. Curious, but inconsequential. And yes, certainly by observation. When you observe a thing of geometric beauty, you know it. When you attempt to re-create it, whether through geometry, or meticulous planning, or trial and error, or fr
  19. A further thought: Geometry. H.P. Lovecraft. At the Mountains of Madness. He describes the ruins as (paraphrase) possessing an alien or otherworldly geometry that was incomprehensible to men. The simple observation of such a geometry would drive you MAD! As a kid I would try as hard as I could to envision that kind of "geometry". It is, of course, impossible. For the most part, we are beholden to the geometry we daily observe. Even the most surreal of artists are trapped within the confines of our observable universe. Which is to say, geometry (our version) permeates our very existen
  20. I would argue that they are elegant because the scroll, and other spiral forms, stir in humans a primal recognition. Upon observing an unfurling fern or the spinning of a galaxy the reaction, if any, is one of emotional awe and gut level recognition. There is a resonance that we feel, for what ever reason. The underlying geometry came after this resonance and recognition, as a result of trying to understand the feelings. The scroll/spiral is a primal, basic form. It was obviously here long before we created the geometry to quantify it, and the thrall of it stems from that primacy, not the quan
  21. I take your meaning (I think), but I was not talking about the interior of the pegbox as the reference point, but the entirety of it. Meaning the pegbox walls. Here's how I look at it. The back of the scroll (and really the scroll itself) is ornamentation and not crucial to the function and playability of the instrument. The important part is having a pegbox opening wide enough to accept the strings at a reasonable spacing and allow access to the pegs, and pegbox walls thick enough to support the pegs without cracking. Once those criteria are met, the design can move on from there. That is
  22. I agree. There was a discussion here awhile back about the pegbox being the first aspect established and carved in the whole process. Once the "front" is set, the "back" flows from that, out of necessity.
  23. After they are rich and successful? After they have married a rich and successful spouse?<|endoftext|>On health care, the NDP says there will be no privatization and no health-care premiums.<|endoftext|>Next: Exclusive-Mode Prefetching Up: Coherence Misses Previous: Predicting Coherence Misses

An Example

To make our approach more concrete, consider the example code in Figure . Matrix A is partitioned such that each processor modifies its own row based on a value (myVal) which is computed over the entire A matrix. This computation is repeated over several timesteps. Barriers are used to synchronize the processors between computing their copy of myVal and applying it to the row they own.

If the compiler

. Opened the doors to the shop for the day, and left them open. This was the first customer.
  4. Further, as a cellist, I understand that the tension or pressure created by the spike/endpin is not all that great. It basically serves to a) stop the cello from slinding across the stage and allow the player greater freedom of movement. With the cello body resting on the players chest, the tension delivered to the spike is a variable, less tension resting or soft playing, and greater tension during aggressive, loud playing. The extra endbutton would eliminate this variable. The tension from the tailpiece would be constant, the endpin variable would not effect the tailpiece, and therefore not
  5. Sorry, no. What I meant was that perhaps the extra endbutton would relieve, or distribute along the block, the tension created by the tailpiece and endpin. That is, the endbutton bears the tailpiece tension, the endpin bears the tension created by supporting the cello while playing. Speculation, and I don't know what benefit that would have structuraly or sound-wise. The cello I saw this on sounds spectacular, by the way.
  6. Get busy! That (Mathew) was the sort of thing I was wondering about. I don't know if I could stand the appearance of an off-centered end-pin. I can see a player noticing and assuming poor workmanship rather than a deliberate effort. Is your off-set very noticeable? I think keeping the end-pin centered in important, but moving it up or down along the center line.? The pressure from the tailpiece tension combined with the pressure of the endpin supporting the cello while playing pulls the outside of the endpin up, and at the same time pushes the inside of the endpin down, so I suppose
  7. Hi all, I'm getting ready to drill a new endpin hole, and then I started thinking. I've always centered them dead in the middle. Awhile back, I saw a cello by a very well known maker with an interesting set-up down there. There was an end button and an endpin. The end button was cello sized, and placed approx. 1/3 down from the top, and the endpin 1/3 up from the bottom. Has anyone also done this? What might be the benefit? So, does anyone out there place the endpin anywhere else besides in the center? And if so, why? Thanks! These pictures are the best I
  8. Thanks Jeffery! I also leave a gap on either side of the saddle. I further round off the corners of the saddle, leaving a little hole at each corner. I then melt black crayon into the holes and on either side, so it looks nice and tight, but isn't.
  9. A grafting block is roughly 34cm x 15cm x 55mm. That should leave you plenty of room, and be easy enough to find.
  10. So, here's what I went and did: The routed channel was then widened and cleaned by hand, the cf rod glued in, a thin strip of maple veneer then glued over that. All of which I neglected to photograph. I'll try to remember to take a picture of it when I remove the f.b. for varnishing. Thoughts?
  11. It seems like a lot of work for not a lot of benefit. The scroll graft is pretty conventional, but the rest not so much. Aesthetically, I personally would find the four piece heel distracting and ugly. As far as saving wood, there is lots of plain maple to be had, which is what you really want for the grafted neck. Any lumber yard should have something suitable. As far as stability, Melvin's method is great, but there are better ways to stabilize the heel then glueing together four pieces. Ideas here.
  12. Roger, are you using sandpaper to keep the ribs from slipping? If so, huzzah! That's a great idea. If not...
  13. You can find them here, apparently. I'll contact them about price. This thing coupled with two dowels in the heel and that sucker isn't going anywhere,ever!!!
  14. I'll second (third?fourth?) everything said so far. Second hand is the way to go. It will be cheaper and the steel will be better. Also don't go overboard with the quantity. Read Rogers post again. However, since you are interested in making a violin, not necessarily spending your time hunting for nice old gouges, you might want to just buy a few to start. For that purpose I recommend the pfeil Swiss made brand. Woodcraft has them in spades. They are not the best by any means, (and not much liked on maestronet )but they are a good starting point. You should be able to get 5 or so for un
  15. Please allow me to revive this thread, as I am about to finish a cello neck and would like to employ some (or all!!!) of the methods described here. A basic question: where is the best place to buy the carbon fiber rods we are talking about, and what dimensions am I looking for? So, what I understand is that there are two different problems that these methods (carbon rod and "the Burgess solution" ) address. The carbon rod primarily addresses warping of the neck, which can result in a drop in projection, but not always, and an overall warping/twisting, whether left and right along th
  16. I found it to be sharp right out of the box. As mentioned, there is a video out there demonstrating how to sharpen it. Think ice skate blades. The cutting edge is concave.
  17. Hi all, I just got this scraper. Well, a few weeks ago. I got the mini, and found it too aggressive for spruce and maple. However, it is brilliant on ebony. In particular hollowing the underside. Worth the money if only just for that purpose. I assume everyone already has something they use, but hey. Change is good sometimes. Just letting you good people know.
  18. At this point, a bit of going in circles? I understand what you mean, but I don't see it that way. What I respond to is not the underlying geometry. What I respond to is the manifestation of that geometry, which resonates with me not as a geometric example, but as a representation of the natural form. The mathematical explanation of that form is inconsequential. Curious, but inconsequential. And yes, certainly by observation. When you observe a thing of geometric beauty, you know it. When you attempt to re-create it, whether through geometry, or meticulous planning, or trial and error, or fr
  19. A further thought: Geometry. H.P. Lovecraft. At the Mountains of Madness. He describes the ruins as (paraphrase) possessing an alien or otherworldly geometry that was incomprehensible to men. The simple observation of such a geometry would drive you MAD! As a kid I would try as hard as I could to envision that kind of "geometry". It is, of course, impossible. For the most part, we are beholden to the geometry we daily observe. Even the most surreal of artists are trapped within the confines of our observable universe. Which is to say, geometry (our version) permeates our very existen
  20. I would argue that they are elegant because the scroll, and other spiral forms, stir in humans a primal recognition. Upon observing an unfurling fern or the spinning of a galaxy the reaction, if any, is one of emotional awe and gut level recognition. There is a resonance that we feel, for what ever reason. The underlying geometry came after this resonance and recognition, as a result of trying to understand the feelings. The scroll/spiral is a primal, basic form. It was obviously here long before we created the geometry to quantify it, and the thrall of it stems from that primacy, not the quan
  21. I take your meaning (I think), but I was not talking about the interior of the pegbox as the reference point, but the entirety of it. Meaning the pegbox walls. Here's how I look at it. The back of the scroll (and really the scroll itself) is ornamentation and not crucial to the function and playability of the instrument. The important part is having a pegbox opening wide enough to accept the strings at a reasonable spacing and allow access to the pegs, and pegbox walls thick enough to support the pegs without cracking. Once those criteria are met, the design can move on from there. That is
  22. I agree. There was a discussion here awhile back about the pegbox being the first aspect established and carved in the whole process. Once the "front" is set, the "back" flows from that, out of necessity.
  23. After they are rich and successful? After they have married a rich and successful spouse?<|endoftext|>Next: Exclusive-Mode Prefetching Up: Coherence Misses Previous: Predicting Coherence Misses

An Example

To make our approach more concrete, consider the example code in Figure . Matrix A is partitioned such that each processor modifies its own row based on a value (myVal) which is computed over the entire A matrix. This computation is repeated over several timesteps. Barriers are used to synchronize the processors between computing their copy of myVal and applying it to the row they own.

If the compiler did not take communication into account, then if NumProcs


Sen. Richard Shelby, a Republican from Alabama, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, wasn't rushing to endorse the legislation, said committee spokesman Andrew Gray.<|endoftext|> both. You don’t want to lose clients because they got lost. It has to be clear to the user. You can have the logo as a link to your home and a “home” tab as well.

Ajay: Maxine What’s your top 3 tips for business owners in terms of marketing and advertising?

Maxine: I think that #1 its very important to brand yourself.

Because in branding your showing and displaying your personality and telling clients what you’re all about. You’re creating a culture and uniformity. Right now people more than anything else people want to be part of a something: a lifestyle. You want to make sure you are cohesive in your branding. Brand everything that’s possible.

You don’t need a huge budget. You don’t need thousands of dollars to do this. Just make sure the colors match and everything matches. Don’t mix and match colors. Consumers can get confused and they won’t know if they are actually buying from you.

I definitely think branding is very important for creating the culture.

You can do it small and do everything on your own. Make sure it’s cohesive and clear. If it’s modern stick to modern in terms of your business cards and everything else. Don’t confuse your customers. Make sure the logo, business cards, colors and everything else are cohesive.

Branding is very important, especially when it comes to creating a culture.

Ajay: How important is the name for a business?

 Maxine  :  The name is very important. Make sure its catchy

Theres a lot of aspects of a company name we can talk about.

Zankou Chicken is a great name. It’s catchy (smiles). It’s short and to the point Also its not a generic name you hear everywhere. Repetitive names are also catchy. A lot of names use

Sometimes you can use names where the first letter of the name is the same. Like Chuk E Cheese.  Dikran do you know a company like that?

Dikran: I think its called homophonic. Chuk E Cheese is a great example we have one across the street from our location here in Burbank. Great place.

Do it with intention. I know somebody that started a business. He had his brand all mixed: it involved medical, gifts, and aromatherapy. The name he chose was Infinity. People that wanted cars or insurance kept calling him. You don’t want that to happen.

Make sure the name you choose is not taken by another company. People were calling him for the car company or insurance. He was so annoyed and he had to change his number multiple times. Infinity by itself doesn’t mean anything.

Dikran: Hmmmmmm. That’s a good point

Maxine: Like with a name like Zankou…it could be anything. It could be a supermarket. Zankou is being branded as a famous place with chicken and garlic.

Ajay: Isn’t it two names: Zankou Chicken? Perhaps if he used two names it could have helped.

With Infinity it was just one name.  You also don’t want to choose a name where it can be outdated.

Maxine: That would be a shame. Imagine spending many years and thousands of dollars on a name and then you can’t use it anymore because it’s outdated. Imagine after all that work making people familiar with your name and now you have to start all over again.

Ajay: Sometimes people use info graphics and templates that cost tens of thousands of dollars!

Maxine: Well, organizations use info graphics because they are very useful and fun to look at.

Templates are good for simple and to the point information with only 2-3 variables, like cause and effect. Most info graphics use complicated information with many variables that simply can’t be done with a template.

Dikran: So Maxine we want to ask you how do we create a logo? Imagine someone that wants to open a new restaurant, bar or café. A lot of people often ask us how to create the best logo. How do they create the logo and how do they choose the colors?

Maxine: Well the first question that I ask business owners and people starting a new business is: What direction are they headed? What kind of industry is it going to be? Is it for a restaurant or bar, is it a spa? Is it where children are involved? Is it with food?

That is important to decide the design and colors of the logo. For example if it was for a spa I would use blues and greens, pastel colors. These colors promote tranquility and relaxation.

If its for restaurants I would use a lot of red and yellow.  Think Like McDonald’s: They use a lot of red because subconsciously  it makes you hungry. This is probably why Zankou Chicken uses a lot of red in its logo and interior design.

When business owners come to me I often ask them about the background of the business. What’s their story? I feel that incorporating the likings of the business owner is very important. At the end of the day its their baby. They need to think about how they see themselves in a reflection.

If it wasn’t for entrepreneurs these businesses would be dead. How do they see themselves in the business?

What is going to keep you going through the ups and downs is your passion.  It gets you through the most challenging times. What defines your passion? That should be in your logo! You have to incorporate your passion into the brand, into the passion.

It’s kind of like school. In school I hated finance, but in order to finish my degree I had to take finance.  In school you don’t like every class but you have to take them to move forward.

If the customer is vibrant you can use a vibrant red. If they are conservative you can use a more subdued red like a burgundy.

I would create a fusion of the client’s tastes and likes. It should have marketing appeal. You don’t want to put red in a spa logo or blue in a restaurant logo. The color itself won’t really draw attention; its usually a combination of everything.

Ajay: What about the customers? Shouldn’t the customers be factored into the creation of the logo?

Maxine: I always ask clients who is your target market?

For example Ross doesn’t cater to the luxury market like Nordstrom’s and Bloomingdales does.  I would definitely ask the client what is their target audience?

Dikran: What are some elements you think of when designing a logo?

Maxine: Another thing I consider in designing a logo is to make it universal and as simple as possible.

Why? Because nowadays you use your logo on the web, online, all over social media platforms, on business cards and posters. You want something that you can use on everything without having to change your logo.

A good example of this is Apple. On the devices itself its black.  On the computers its opaque but I’ve also seen the rainbow, red, blue, and other colors.  But people still don’t get confused or think it’s a different brand.

Dikran: Ajay and I were talking earlier about how sometimes corporations are so big that they can purchase an entire color. Coke was known to put red chairs on American Idol as a sponsor a few years ago and they didn’t even have to say anything. They just had the judges like Simon Cowell drinking coke on a huge red, sof-like chair in the shape of a bottle.

Coke has trademarked that bottle shape that resembles a slim 8 figure.  But to many people coke owns the entire color red. When they see red and beverages, they think “Coca-Cola”.  If you really think about it Coke owns red. Apple owns white and opaque. The VW Beetle used that kind of “white, clean” backdrop for their commercials in the 1970’s so Apple wasn’t the first to do it.

CPK uses black and yellow.

Maxine:  It depends on how much money you are investing in your brand. To the point where these brands have become a culture and lifestyle for so many people.

It’s not just a name. Some people no longer say the products they just use the brand. You often hear people say ,” Do you have a  Kleenex?” They don’t ask if you have a tissue. So that’s powerful.

Dikran: At our restaurants sometimes people ask to “have a Coke.” They don’t ask for soda they ask for a Coke.

Or for another example if you see someone drinking coffee with a green straw you automatically assume they’re drinking Starbucks. It’s product placement and brand marketing that companies do that entrench them into our conscious and subconscious minds.

Maxine you don’t just do web sites you also help with brand creation and social media. What would you say is your top three advices you would have?

Maxine:  #1 Brand as much as possible. Have a plan and incorporate branding into everything out there. Define your

 both. You don’t want to lose clients because they got lost. It has to be clear to the user. You can have the logo as a link to your home and a “home” tab as well.

Ajay: Maxine What’s your top 3 tips for business owners in terms of marketing and advertising?

Maxine: I think that #1 its very important to brand yourself.

Because in branding your showing and displaying your personality and telling clients what you’re all about. You’re creating a culture and uniformity. Right now people more than anything else people want to be part of a something: a lifestyle. You want to make sure you are cohesive in your branding. Brand everything that’s possible.

You don’t need a huge budget. You don’t need thousands of dollars to do this. Just make sure the colors match and everything matches. Don’t mix and match colors. Consumers can get confused and they won’t know if they are actually buying from you.

I definitely think branding is very important for creating the culture.

You can do it small and do everything on your own. Make sure it’s cohesive and clear. If it’s modern stick to modern in terms of your business cards and everything else. Don’t confuse your customers. Make sure the logo, business cards, colors and everything else are cohesive.

Branding is very important, especially when it comes to creating a culture.

Ajay: How important is the name for a business?

 Maxine  :  The name is very important. Make sure its catchy

Theres a lot of aspects of a company name we can talk about.

Zankou Chicken is a great name. It’s catchy (smiles). It’s short and to the point Also its not a generic name you hear everywhere. Repetitive names are also catchy. A lot of names use

Sometimes you can use names where the first letter of the name is the same. Like Chuk E Cheese.  Dikran do you know a company like that?

Dikran: I think its called homophonic. Chuk E Cheese is a great example we have one across the street from our location here in Burbank. Great place.

Do it with intention. I know somebody that started a business. He had his brand all mixed: it involved medical, gifts, and aromatherapy. The name he chose was Infinity. People that wanted cars or insurance kept calling him. You don’t want that to happen.

Make sure the name you choose is not taken by another company. People were calling him for the car company or insurance. He was so annoyed and he had to change his number multiple times. Infinity by itself doesn’t mean anything.

Dikran: Hmmmmmm. That’s a good point

Maxine: Like with a name like Zankou…it could be anything. It could be a supermarket. Zankou is being branded as a famous place with chicken and garlic.

Ajay: Isn’t it two names: Zankou Chicken? Perhaps if he used two names it could have helped.

With Infinity it was just one name.  You also don’t want to choose a name where it can be outdated.

Maxine: That would be a shame. Imagine spending many years and thousands of dollars on a name and then you can’t use it anymore because it’s outdated. Imagine after all that work making people familiar with your name and now you have to start all over again.

Ajay: Sometimes people use info graphics and templates that cost tens of thousands of dollars!

Maxine: Well, organizations use info graphics because they are very useful and fun to look at.

Templates are good for simple and to the point information with only 2-3 variables, like cause and effect. Most info graphics use complicated information with many variables that simply can’t be done with a template.

Dikran: So Maxine we want to ask you how do we create a logo? Imagine someone that wants to open a new restaurant, bar or café. A lot of people often ask us how to create the best logo. How do they create the logo and how do they choose the colors?

Maxine: Well the first question that I ask business owners and people starting a new business is: What direction are they headed? What kind of industry is it going to be? Is it for a restaurant or bar, is it a spa? Is it where children are involved? Is it with food?

That is important to decide the design and colors of the logo. For example if it was for a spa I would use blues and greens, pastel colors. These colors promote tranquility and relaxation.

If its for restaurants I would use a lot of red and yellow.  Think Like McDonald’s: They use a lot of red because subconsciously  it makes you hungry. This is probably why Zankou Chicken uses a lot of red in its logo and interior design.

When business owners come to me I often ask them about the background of the business. What’s their story? I feel that incorporating the likings of the business owner is very important. At the end of the day its their baby. They need to think about how they see themselves in a reflection.

If it wasn’t for entrepreneurs these businesses would be dead. How do they see themselves in the business?

What is going to keep you going through the ups and downs is your passion.  It gets you through the most challenging times. What defines your passion? That should be in your logo! You have to incorporate your passion into the brand, into the passion.

It’s kind of like school. In school I hated finance, but in order to finish my degree I had to take finance.  In school you don’t like every class but you have to take them to move forward.

If the customer is vibrant you can use a vibrant red. If they are conservative you can use a more subdued red like a burgundy.

I would create a fusion of the client’s tastes and likes. It should have marketing appeal. You don’t want to put red in a spa logo or blue in a restaurant logo. The color itself won’t really draw attention; its usually a combination of everything.

Ajay: What about the customers? Shouldn’t the customers be factored into the creation of the logo?

Maxine: I always ask clients who is your target market?

For example Ross doesn’t cater to the luxury market like Nordstrom’s and Bloomingdales does.  I would definitely ask the client what is their target audience?

Dikran: What are some elements you think of when designing a logo?

Maxine: Another thing I consider in designing a logo is to make it universal and as simple as possible.

Why? Because nowadays you use your logo on the web, online, all over social media platforms, on business cards and posters. You want something that you can use on everything without having to change your logo.

A good example of this is Apple. On the devices itself its black.  On the computers its opaque but I’ve also seen the rainbow, red, blue, and other colors.  But people still don’t get confused or think it’s a different brand.

Dikran: Ajay and I were talking earlier about how sometimes corporations are so big that they can purchase an entire color. Coke was known to put red chairs on American Idol as a sponsor a few years ago and they didn’t even have to say anything. They just had the judges like Simon Cowell drinking coke on a huge red, sof-like chair in the shape of a bottle.

Coke has trademarked that bottle shape that resembles a slim 8 figure.  But to many people coke owns the entire color red. When they see red and beverages, they think “Coca-Cola”.  If you really think about it Coke owns red. Apple owns white and opaque. The VW Beetle used that kind of “white, clean” backdrop for their commercials in the 1970’s so Apple wasn’t the first to do it.

CPK uses black and yellow.

Maxine:  It depends on how much money you are investing in your brand. To the point where these brands have become a culture and lifestyle for so many people.

It’s not just a name. Some people no longer say the products they just use the brand. You often hear people say ,” Do you have a  Kleenex?” They don’t ask if you have a tissue. So that’s powerful.

Dikran: At our restaurants sometimes people ask to “have a Coke.” They don’t ask for soda they ask for a Coke.

Or for another example if you see someone drinking coffee with a green straw you automatically assume they’re drinking Starbucks. It’s product placement and brand marketing that companies do that entrench them into our conscious and subconscious minds.

Maxine you don’t just do web sites you also help with brand creation and social media. What would you say is your top three advices you would have?

Maxine:  #1 Brand as much as possible. Have a plan and incorporate branding into everything out there. Define your businesses’ personality. Get it out everywhere: Online, in print, on business cards, everywhere. Make sure you use the same type (modern versus traditional and stick


In a regulatory filing, EDS said the SEC had asked for information related to its troubled IT outsourcing contract with the US Navy.<|endoftext|> the realisation of one’s ideas. A glance backwards to allow my comrades to see who I am is reabsorbed by looking forward together into a future in which we build our common project. In other words, we decide to intervene in specific struggles and see what we are capable of. These two moments, the first, let us say, of the knowledge of the individual, and the second, the projectual one of the knowledge of the group intertwine and constitute affinity, allowing the group to be considered to all effects an ‘affinity group’.

The resulting condition is not fixed in time once and for all. It moves, develops, regresses and modifies during the course of the various struggles, drawing from them so as to grow both theoretically and practically. It is not a monolithic entity. Decisions are not made vertically. There is no faith to be sworn upon nor commandments to believe in, in times of doubt or fear. Everything is discussed within the group throughout the course of the struggle, everything is reconsidered from the start, even if solid, eternal points might seem to exist already.

The affinity group’s task is to elaborate a particular project, the best place to study and examine the conditions one decides to operate in. It might seem that organisations of synthesis are better instruments for intervening in struggles than affinity groups, but the vast range of interests held by anarchist structures of synthesis is only apparent. In fact, in an organisation of synthesis, groups are allocated tasks at congresses, and although they are free to interest themselves in all the problems that characterise this society divided into classes, basically only operate according to what has been dictated by the congress. Moreover, being linked to programmes and principles that have been accepted once and for all, they are unable to make independent decisions and end up complying to the rigid limitations fixed by the organisation in congress. The latter’s role is to safeguard the organisation itself, in other words to ‘disturb’ power as little as possible and avoid being ‘outlawed’. The affinity group avoids such limitations, sometimes easily, sometimes only thanks to the courage and decision of the comrades that make it up. Of course, such structures cannot give courage to those who lack it. It cannot suggest attack unless each individual is already a rebel in his or her soul. It cannot go into action if people are only prepared to think at the level of an afternoon chat.

Once the problems concerning what is to be acted upon have been gone into, the necessary documentation has been found and analyses worked out, the affinity group goes into action. This is one of the fundamental characteristics of this kind of anarchist structure. It does not wait for problems to appear like a spider in the middle of a web. It looks for them and seeks a solution, which must obviously be accepted by the excluded who are bearing the brunt of the problem. But in order to make a proposition to a social reality that is suffering some specific form of aggression by power in a given area, it is necessary to be physically present among the excluded of that area and have a real awareness of the problems involved.

The affinity group therefore moves in the direction of local intervention, facing one particular problem and creating all the necessary psychological and practical conditions, both individually and collectively. The problem can then be faced with the characteristics and methods of insurrectionalism which are self-organisation, permanent conflictuality and attack.

One single affinity group cannot necessarily carry out such an intervention on its own. Often, at least according to the (few and controversial) experiences to date, the nature of the problem and complexity of intervention, including the extent of the area as well as the means required to develop the project and the ideas and needs of the people involved, require something more. Hence the need to keep in contact with other affinity groups so as to increase the number of comrades and find the means and ideas suited to the complexity and dimension of the problem that is being faced. That is how informal organisation originates.

Various anarchist affinity groups can come together to give life to an informal organisation aimed at facing a problem that is too complex for one group alone. Of course, all the groups participating in the informal organisation must more or less agree with the intervention and participate in both the actions and ideas.

Affinity groups often develop informal relations that become constant as they meet regularly to prepare for specific struggles or — better still — during the course of these struggles. This facilitates the circulation of information about the latter and the projects that are in preparation, as well as signs from certain areas of the world of the excluded.

An informal organisation ‘functions’ quite simply. It has no name as it does not aim to grow numerically. There are no fixed structures (apart from the single affinity groups, each one of which operates quite autonomously), otherwise the term ‘informal’ would be meaningless. It is not formally ‘constituted’, there are no congresses but only simple meetings from time to time (preferably during the course of the struggles themselves). There are no programmes, only the common experience of insurrectional struggles and the methods that distinguish them: self-organisation, permanent conflictuality and attack.

The aims of the informal organisation are conferred on it by the individual affinity groups that make it up. In the few experiences that have materialised it has been a question of one specific objective, for example the destruction of the Cruise missile base in Comiso in 1982–1983. But there could also be more than one intervention and the informal organisation would make it possible for single groups to intervene in these different situations. For example they could alternate when it became necessary to be in one place for a considerable length of time (in Comiso groups stayed in the area for two years). Another aim could be to provide both analytical and practical means, and provide the financial support that the individual group might require.

The primary function of the informal organisation is to make known the various affinity groups and the comrades that make them up. If you think about it, this is still a question of a search for affinity, this time at a different level. Here the search for affinity is intensified by the project — which does not exclude the ever-increasing knowledge of the single individual — and comes about at the level of more than one group. One deduces from this that the informal organisation is also an affinity group, based on all the affinity groups that make it up.

The above considerations, which we have been developing over the past fifteen years, should have been of some use to comrades in their understanding the nature of informal organisation. This does not seem to be the case. In my opinion, the most serious misunderstanding comes from the latent desire of many of us to flex our muscles. We want to give ourselves a strong organisational structure because that seems to be the only way to fight a power structure that is strong and muscular. According to these comrades the first characteristic that such a structure should have is that it be specific and robust, must last in time and be clearly visible so as to constitute a kind of light amidst the struggles of the excluded — a light, a guide, a point of reference.

Alas! We do not share this opinion. All the economic and social analyses of post-industrial capitalism show how power would swallow up such a strong, visible structure in one gulp. The disappearance of the centrality of the working class (at least what was once considered such) means that an attack carried out by a rigid, visible structure would be impracticable. If such structures are not simply destroyed on impact, they would just be co-opted into the ambit of power in order to recuperate and recycle the most irreducible elements.

So long as the affinity group continues to look inwards, it will be no more than a few comrades giving themselves their own rules and respecting them. By looking inwards I do not just mean staying inside one’s anarchist place, limiting oneself to the usual discussions among the initiated, but also responding to the various deadlines of power and repression with declarations and documents. In that case the affinity group would only differ from other anarchist groups superficially: ‘political’ choices, ways of interpreting the various responses to the power structure’s claim to regulate our lives and those of all the excluded.

The profound sense of being a ‘different’ structure, i.e. one based on a way of organising that is quite different to all other anarchist groups — in a word, on affinity — only becomes operative when it sets out a project of specific struggle. And what characterises this project more than anything is the presence of a considerable number of excluded, of people — in a word, the mass — bearing the brunt of repression that the project is addressing with recourse to insurrectionalist methods.

The essential element in the insurrectional project is therefore mass participation. And, as we started off from the condition of affinity among the single anarchist groups participating in it, it is also an essential element of this affinity itself. It would be no more than mere camaraderie d’elite if it were to remain circumscribed to the reciprocal search for deeper personal knowledge between comrades.

But it would be nonsense to consider trying to make other people become anarchists and suggest that they enter our groups during the struggle. Not only would it be nonsense, it would be a horrible ideological forcing of things that would upturn the whole meaning of affinity groups and the eventual informal organisation that might ensue in order to face the specific repressive attack. But here we are faced with the need to create organisational structures that are capable of regrouping the excluded in such a way as to begin the attack on repression. So we come to the need to give life to autonomous base nuclei, which can obviously give themselves any other name that indicates the

 the realisation of one’s ideas. A glance backwards to allow my comrades to see who I am is reabsorbed by looking forward together into a future in which we build our common project. In other words, we decide to intervene in specific struggles and see what we are capable of. These two moments, the first, let us say, of the knowledge of the individual, and the second, the projectual one of the knowledge of the group intertwine and constitute affinity, allowing the group to be considered to all effects an ‘affinity group’.

The resulting condition is not fixed in time once and for all. It moves, develops, regresses and modifies during the course of the various struggles, drawing from them so as to grow both theoretically and practically. It is not a monolithic entity. Decisions are not made vertically. There is no faith to be sworn upon nor commandments to believe in, in times of doubt or fear. Everything is discussed within the group throughout the course of the struggle, everything is reconsidered from the start, even if solid, eternal points might seem to exist already.

The affinity group’s task is to elaborate a particular project, the best place to study and examine the conditions one decides to operate in. It might seem that organisations of synthesis are better instruments for intervening in struggles than affinity groups, but the vast range of interests held by anarchist structures of synthesis is only apparent. In fact, in an organisation of synthesis, groups are allocated tasks at congresses, and although they are free to interest themselves in all the problems that characterise this society divided into classes, basically only operate according to what has been dictated by the congress. Moreover, being linked to programmes and principles that have been accepted once and for all, they are unable to make independent decisions and end up complying to the rigid limitations fixed by the organisation in congress. The latter’s role is to safeguard the organisation itself, in other words to ‘disturb’ power as little as possible and avoid being ‘outlawed’. The affinity group avoids such limitations, sometimes easily, sometimes only thanks to the courage and decision of the comrades that make it up. Of course, such structures cannot give courage to those who lack it. It cannot suggest attack unless each individual is already a rebel in his or her soul. It cannot go into action if people are only prepared to think at the level of an afternoon chat.

Once the problems concerning what is to be acted upon have been gone into, the necessary documentation has been found and analyses worked out, the affinity group goes into action. This is one of the fundamental characteristics of this kind of anarchist structure. It does not wait for problems to appear like a spider in the middle of a web. It looks for them and seeks a solution, which must obviously be accepted by the excluded who are bearing the brunt of the problem. But in order to make a proposition to a social reality that is suffering some specific form of aggression by power in a given area, it is necessary to be physically present among the excluded of that area and have a real awareness of the problems involved.

The affinity group therefore moves in the direction of local intervention, facing one particular problem and creating all the necessary psychological and practical conditions, both individually and collectively. The problem can then be faced with the characteristics and methods of insurrectionalism which are self-organisation, permanent conflictuality and attack.

One single affinity group cannot necessarily carry out such an intervention on its own. Often, at least according to the (few and controversial) experiences to date, the nature of the problem and complexity of intervention, including the extent of the area as well as the means required to develop the project and the ideas and needs of the people involved, require something more. Hence the need to keep in contact with other affinity groups so as to increase the number of comrades and find the means and ideas suited to the complexity and dimension of the problem that is being faced. That is how informal organisation originates.

Various anarchist affinity groups can come together to give life to an informal organisation aimed at facing a problem that is too complex for one group alone. Of course, all the groups participating in the informal organisation must more or less agree with the intervention and participate in both the actions and ideas.

Affinity groups often develop informal relations that become constant as they meet regularly to prepare for specific struggles or — better still — during the course of these struggles. This facilitates the circulation of information about the latter and the projects that are in preparation, as well as signs from certain areas of the world of the excluded.

An informal organisation ‘functions’ quite simply. It has no name as it does not aim to grow numerically. There are no fixed structures (apart from the single affinity groups, each one of which operates quite autonomously), otherwise the term ‘informal’ would be meaningless. It is not formally ‘constituted’, there are no congresses but only simple meetings from time to time (preferably during the course of the struggles themselves). There are no programmes, only the common experience of insurrectional struggles and the methods that distinguish them: self-organisation, permanent conflictuality and attack.

The aims of the informal organisation are conferred on it by the individual affinity groups that make it up. In the few experiences that have materialised it has been a question of one specific objective, for example the destruction of the Cruise missile base in Comiso in 1982–1983. But there could also be more than one intervention and the informal organisation would make it possible for single groups to intervene in these different situations. For example they could alternate when it became necessary to be in one place for a considerable length of time (in Comiso groups stayed in the area for two years). Another aim could be to provide both analytical and practical means, and provide the financial support that the individual group might require.

The primary function of the informal organisation is to make known the various affinity groups and the comrades that make them up. If you think about it, this is still a question of a search for affinity, this time at a different level. Here the search for affinity is intensified by the project — which does not exclude the ever-increasing knowledge of the single individual — and comes about at the level of more than one group. One deduces from this that the informal organisation is also an affinity group, based on all the affinity groups that make it up.

The above considerations, which we have been developing over the past fifteen years, should have been of some use to comrades in their understanding the nature of informal organisation. This does not seem to be the case. In my opinion, the most serious misunderstanding comes from the latent desire of many of us to flex our muscles. We want to give ourselves a strong organisational structure because that seems to be the only way to fight a power structure that is strong and muscular. According to these comrades the first characteristic that such a structure should have is that it be specific and robust, must last in time and be clearly visible so as to constitute a kind of light amidst the struggles of the excluded — a light, a guide, a point of reference.

Alas! We do not share this opinion. All the economic and social analyses of post-industrial capitalism show how power would swallow up such a strong, visible structure in one gulp. The disappearance of the centrality of the working class (at least what was once considered such) means that an attack carried out by a rigid, visible structure would be impracticable. If such structures are not simply destroyed on impact, they would just be co-opted into the ambit of power in order to recuperate and recycle the most irreducible elements.

So long as the affinity group continues to look inwards, it will be no more than a few comrades giving themselves their own rules and respecting them. By looking inwards I do not just mean staying inside one’s anarchist place, limiting oneself to the usual discussions among the initiated, but also responding to the various deadlines of power and repression with declarations and documents. In that case the affinity group would only differ from other anarchist groups superficially: ‘political’ choices, ways of interpreting the various responses to the power structure’s claim to regulate our lives and those of all the excluded.

The profound sense of being a ‘different’ structure, i.e. one based on a way of organising that is quite different to all other anarchist groups — in a word, on affinity — only becomes operative when it sets out a project of specific struggle. And what characterises this project more than anything is the presence of a considerable number of excluded, of people — in a word, the mass — bearing the brunt of repression that the project is addressing with recourse to insurrectionalist methods.

The essential element in the insurrectional project is therefore mass participation. And, as we started off from the condition of affinity among the single anarchist groups participating in it, it is also an essential element of this affinity itself. It would be no more than mere camaraderie d’elite if it were to remain circumscribed to the reciprocal search for deeper personal knowledge between comrades.

But it would be nonsense to consider trying to make other people become anarchists and suggest that they enter our groups during the struggle. Not only would it be nonsense, it would be a horrible ideological forcing of things that would upturn the whole meaning of affinity groups and the eventual informal organisation that might ensue in order to face the specific repressive attack. But here we are faced with the need to create organisational structures that are capable of regrouping the excluded in such a way as to begin the attack on repression. So we come to the need to give life to autonomous base nuclei, which can obviously give themselves any other name that indicates the concept of self-organisation.

We have now reached the crucial point of the insurrectional project: the constitution of autonomous base


The Turkish troops also could be targets for attack, the ambassador acknowledged.<|endoftext|>Leicester City Are Playing Like League Champions Again

Since sacking Claudio Ranieri, the Foxes have taken off, peaking with Tuesday's 2-0 victory over Sevilla, which pushed them through to the Champions League quarterfinals.

Since their controversial sacking of Claudio Ranieri, the manager who guided the club to last season's historic Premier League title, Leicester City have been a completely different -- and much better -- team.

The bold move to fire Ranieri sure seems like it's paying off right now as Leicester just shocked the soccer world (again) by beating Sevilla 2-0 (3-2 on aggregate) on Tuesday to advance to the Champions League quarterfinals.

That's right -- Leicester City is in the last eight of the top club competition on the planet. What is life?

It's been a quick turnaround this season. After struggling through the first two-thirds of the campaign, flirting with relegation in the process, the Foxes have gotten back to the form that carried them to the top of the league a year ago.

Sure, we only have a three-match sample without Ranieri, but the team's improved performance has been staggering (statistics courtesy of WhoScored).

Split Matches Losses Goals Goals Allowed Shots Shots Allowed
2015-16 38 3 1.78 0.95 13.7 13.6
2016-17 With Ranieri 25 14 0.96 1.72 10.9 14.4
2016-17 Without Ranieri 3 0 2.67 0.67 14.7 12.7

Under newly-appointed Craig Shakespeare, the Foxes have ripped off successive 3-1 league wins over Liverpool and Hull City before topping Sevilla by a 2-0 score in the second leg of their Champions League Round of 16 tie.

As we mentioned at the time of Ranieri's firing, Leicester were in very bad shape as recently as three weeks ago. It wasn't a run of hard luck that had the Foxes nearing the drop zone; they were legitimately one of the worst teams in the Premier League, ranking among the bottom in nearly every meaningful statistic.

Maybe the most impressive thing about this recent run of excellent form is that the victories have come against some pretty stout competition aside from Hull. Liverpool and Sevilla are both currently in the top four of their domestic leagues. Heck, Sevilla is a mere three points behind giants Barcelona in La Liga.

Can Leicester maintain this form and keep up their Champions League magic? Well, those are two different questions.

Advancing to the semifinals of the Champions League is going to be a tall order, and a lot of it will depend on who the Foxes draw for their quarterfinal tie. While they're going to face a top-notch foe regardless, a matchup with Barcelona, Bayern Munich or Real Madrid would almost certainly spell doom. But as the Foxes taught us last year, they're capable of anything.

As for continuing this form, it's certainly possible. Losing Kante has left a gaping hole in front of their back four, but the way they've played of late is pretty much the way they played for 38 matches last year on their way to glory.

Even if their Champions League run flames out in a big way in the quarterfinals -- which is a distinct possibility if they are pitted against Barca, Bayern or Real Madrid -- the Foxes have rekindled what worked so well for them a year ago. They've been organized defensively, dangerous on set pieces and ready to pounce on the counter.

If they can carry this form over to the 2017-18 Premier League season, Leicester could find themselves back in the top half of the EPL table.<|endoftext|>On Point: China Prepares for Hot War and Long Struggle

by Austin Bay
October 31, 2018

In retrospect, the June 1989 massacre in Beijing's Tiananmen Square signaled that China's rise would not be peaceful. In Tiananmen, the Communist government's security forces slaughtered more than 2,000 demonstrators.

Let's stipulate that China's four-decade rise from a hunger-plagued developing country to a great power with global clout ranks as one of history's more striking political-economic achievements.

As China's economy modernized, the U.S. bet political liberalization would follow. International integration would moderate China's Communists and a democracy focused on internal development and peaceful economic competition would emerge.

So much for optimism. The Communist dictatorship opted for imperial territorial expansion, most overtly in the South China Sea. However, its territorial aspirations in the Himalayas and the East China Sea are also aggressive.

Instead of liberalizing on the home front, Beijing bullied the neighbors it could not buy, with the goal of gaining regional supremacy in East and Southeast Asia.

Chinese offshore oil exploration rigs have violated Vietnamese waters. In the South China Sea, the Philippines has lost territory to "dredge and barge" invasions. Chinese maritime construction task forces, using dredges and lots of concrete, have turned what geographers call features (rocks, shoals, et cetera) into man-made islands. If the final product looks something like a stationary aircraft carrier surrounded by a strip of sand, that isn't a glitch, it's a feature.

China then claims full sovereignty and its diplomats and admirals argue that foreign ships need permission to enter the "territorial waters" of these fakes.

The U.S. is a fervent advocate of freedom of navigation and China's South China Sea shenanigans restrict that freedom. Thus, Beijing's bullying explicitly tests American resolve to support the post-WW2 international order. It implicitly attacks America's goal of preventing the emergence of a regional hegemon in East Asia.

As a result, we are witnessing the emergence of a great power competition, complete with military buildups, diplomatic maneuvering and -- this year -- a war.

So far, it's just a U.S.-China trade war, not a hot, shooting war. Beijing, however, is preparing for "hot war" with the U.S.

For the last 15 years the dictatorship has spent hundreds of billions on military modernization. China's navy is acquiring advanced nuclear submarines. The air force is buying stealthy supersonic jet fighters. China's strategic rocket forces have acquired anti-ship ballistic missiles with precision warheads that can allegedly hit a moving U.S. carrier. The subs, fighters and missiles support China's anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) military strategy.

Who is being denied access? The U.S. Navy.

A2/AD has a coercive political goal: Seeding doubts in Asia that the mighty U.S. will come to the rescue should China decide to launch an offensive to grab more territory -- like the Strait of Malacca, which connects the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Doubting U.S. resolve makes Asian countries susceptible to diplomatic intimidation.

China is also acquiring its own aircraft carriers, which can project power through the Straits of Malacca and into the Indian Ocean. But as the Pentagon noted in 2017, China's artificial islands (in Filipino territory) have air bases and Chinese military aircraft can already "operate over nearly the entire South China Sea."

But China isn't ready to go hot, not yet. Presenting America with a peer-level military challenge is 10 to 15 years away.

So Beijing wants to continue the quiet struggle, avoiding high-risk confrontations with Washington while increasing its economic power. These operations include cyber attacks and intellectual property theft. Chinese spies steal intellectual property and Chinese corporations use the filched technology to make money.

The military and diplomatic dimensions of 21st-century Chinese Communist imperial bullying rely on an expanding economy, continued productivity and relatively unfettered access to markets -- especially the American market.

Perhaps the U.S. trade war with China is the beginning of a strategic counter-attack on the cash cow that the Beijing dictatorship knows is its long-term route to global power. If it is, then the American response is long overdue.

On Point Archives:

Help Us Keep Our Heads Above Water!

Subscribe   Contribute   Close<|endoftext|>Surviving. The explicit significance of this word can be interpreted in various ways. To some, it could mean ‘surviving’ a long week at work. To others, it could be ‘surviving’ an intense run or workout. And still others, ‘surviving’ could mean living amidst vivid memories of pain and trauma.

To four year old, Rachel, ‘surviving’ means being locked inside of a mud hut for the past three and a half years devoid of attention, love and  interaction with her family.

Rachel concocted Malaria at six months of age. Her condition was never properly treated with medication and therefore the infectious disease spread to her brain. Consequently, she lives with muscle tightness, blindness, low muscle tone and being drastically misunderstood.

Upon reaching Rachel’s mud hut, her mother went inside and brought out this pale and beautiful little girl.

Upon seeing Rachel, the neighbors remarked in shock,

‘I thought that girl was dead.

As the crowds gathered to look upon Rachel, we proceeded to gather relevant past medical history and perform simple therapeutic exercises with her. My eyes were brought to

 sound

Encyclopedia: Clop<|endoftext|>Leicester City Are Playing Like League Champions Again

Since sacking Claudio Ranieri, the Foxes have taken off, peaking with Tuesday's 2-0 victory over Sevilla, which pushed them through to the Champions League quarterfinals.

Since their controversial sacking of Claudio Ranieri, the manager who guided the club to last season's historic Premier League title, Leicester City have been a completely different -- and much better -- team.

The bold move to fire Ranieri sure seems like it's paying off right now as Leicester just shocked the soccer world (again) by beating Sevilla 2-0 (3-2 on aggregate) on Tuesday to advance to the Champions League quarterfinals.

That's right -- Leicester City is in the last eight of the top club competition on the planet. What is life?

It's been a quick turnaround this season. After struggling through the first two-thirds of the campaign, flirting with relegation in the process, the Foxes have gotten back to the form that carried them to the top of the league a year ago.

Sure, we only have a three-match sample without Ranieri, but the team's improved performance has been staggering (statistics courtesy of WhoScored).

Split Matches Losses Goals Goals Allowed Shots Shots Allowed
2015-16 38 3 1.78 0.95 13.7 13.6
2016-17 With Ranieri 25 14 0.96 1.72 10.9 14.4
2016-17 Without Ranieri 3 0 2.67 0.67 14.7 12.7

Under newly-appointed Craig Shakespeare, the Foxes have ripped off successive 3-1 league wins over Liverpool and Hull City before topping Sevilla by a 2-0 score in the second leg of their Champions League Round of 16 tie.

As we mentioned at the time of Ranieri's firing, Leicester were in very bad shape as recently as three weeks ago. It wasn't a run of hard luck that had the Foxes nearing the drop zone; they were legitimately one of the worst teams in the Premier League, ranking among the bottom in nearly every meaningful statistic.

Maybe the most impressive thing about this recent run of excellent form is that the victories have come against some pretty stout competition aside from Hull. Liverpool and Sevilla are both currently in the top four of their domestic leagues. Heck, Sevilla is a mere three points behind giants Barcelona in La Liga.

Can Leicester maintain this form and keep up their Champions League magic? Well, those are two different questions.

Advancing to the semifinals of the Champions League is going to be a tall order, and a lot of it will depend on who the Foxes draw for their quarterfinal tie. While they're going to face a top-notch foe regardless, a matchup with Barcelona, Bayern Munich or Real Madrid would almost certainly spell doom. But as the Foxes taught us last year, they're capable of anything.

As for continuing this form, it's certainly possible. Losing Kante has left a gaping hole in front of their back four, but the way they've played of late is pretty much the way they played for 38 matches last year on their way to glory.

Even if their Champions League run flames out in a big way in the quarterfinals -- which is a distinct possibility if they are pitted against Barca, Bayern or Real Madrid -- the Foxes have rekindled what worked so well for them a year ago. They've been organized defensively, dangerous on set pieces and ready to pounce on the counter.

If they can carry this form over to the 2017-18 Premier League season, Leicester could find themselves back in the top half of the EPL table.<|endoftext|>On Point: China Prepares for Hot War and Long Struggle

by Austin Bay
October 31, 2018

In retrospect, the June 1989 massacre in Beijing's Tiananmen Square signaled that China's rise would not be peaceful. In Tiananmen, the Communist government's security forces slaughtered more than 2,000 demonstrators.

Let's stipulate that China's four-decade rise from a hunger-plagued developing country to a great power with global clout ranks as one of history's more striking political-economic achievements.

As China's economy modernized, the U.S. bet political liberalization would follow. International integration would moderate China's Communists and a democracy focused on internal development and peaceful economic competition would emerge.

So much for optimism. The Communist dictatorship opted for imperial territorial expansion, most overtly in the South China Sea. However, its territorial aspirations in the Himalayas and the East China Sea are also aggressive.

Instead of liberalizing on the home front, Beijing bullied the neighbors it could not buy, with the goal of gaining regional supremacy in East and Southeast Asia.

Chinese offshore oil exploration rigs have violated Vietnamese waters. In the South China Sea, the Philippines has lost territory to "dredge and barge" invasions. Chinese maritime construction task forces, using dredges and lots of concrete, have turned what geographers call features (rocks, shoals, et cetera) into man-made islands. If the final product looks something like a stationary aircraft carrier surrounded by a strip of sand, that isn't a glitch, it's a feature.

China then claims full sovereignty and its diplomats and admirals argue that foreign ships need permission to enter the "territorial waters" of these fakes.

The U.S. is a fervent advocate of freedom of navigation and China's South China Sea shenanigans restrict that freedom. Thus, Beijing's bullying explicitly tests American resolve to support the post-WW2 international order. It implicitly attacks America's goal of preventing the emergence of a regional hegemon in East Asia.

As a result, we are witnessing the emergence of a great power competition, complete with military buildups, diplomatic maneuvering and -- this year -- a war.

So far, it's just a U.S.-China trade war, not a hot, shooting war. Beijing, however, is preparing for "hot war" with the U.S.

For the last 15 years the dictatorship has spent hundreds of billions on military modernization. China's navy is acquiring advanced nuclear submarines. The air force is buying stealthy supersonic jet fighters. China's strategic rocket forces have acquired anti-ship ballistic missiles with precision warheads that can allegedly hit a moving U.S. carrier. The subs, fighters and missiles support China's anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) military strategy.

Who is being denied access? The U.S. Navy.

A2/AD has a coercive political goal: Seeding doubts in Asia that the mighty U.S. will come to the rescue should China decide to launch an offensive to grab more territory -- like the Strait of Malacca, which connects the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Doubting U.S. resolve makes Asian countries susceptible to diplomatic intimidation.

China is also acquiring its own aircraft carriers, which can project power through the Straits of Malacca and into the Indian Ocean. But as the Pentagon noted in 2017, China's artificial islands (in Filipino territory) have air bases and Chinese military aircraft can already "operate over nearly the entire South China Sea."

But China isn't ready to go hot, not yet. Presenting America with a peer-level military challenge is 10 to 15 years away.

So Beijing wants to continue the quiet struggle, avoiding high-risk confrontations with Washington while increasing its economic power. These operations include cyber attacks and intellectual property theft. Chinese spies steal intellectual property and Chinese corporations use the filched technology to make money.

The military and diplomatic dimensions of 21st-century Chinese Communist imperial bullying rely on an expanding economy, continued productivity and relatively unfettered access to markets -- especially the American market.

Perhaps the U.S. trade war with China is the beginning of a strategic counter-attack on the cash cow that the Beijing dictatorship knows is its long-term route to global power. If it is, then the American response is long overdue.

On Point Archives:

Help Us Keep Our Heads Above Water!

Subscribe   Contribute   Close<|endoftext|>Surviving. The explicit significance of this word can be interpreted in various ways. To some, it could mean ‘surviving’ a long week at work. To others, it could be ‘surviving’ an intense run or workout. And still others, ‘surviving’ could mean living amidst vivid memories of pain and trauma.

To four year old, Rachel, ‘surviving’ means being locked inside of a mud hut for the past three and a half years devoid of attention, love and  interaction with her family.

Rachel concocted Malaria at six months of age. Her condition was never properly treated with medication and therefore the infectious disease spread to her brain. Consequently, she lives with muscle tightness, blindness, low muscle tone and being drastically misunderstood.

Upon reaching Rachel’s mud hut, her mother went inside and brought out this pale and beautiful little girl.

Upon seeing Rachel, the neighbors remarked in shock,

‘I thought that girl was dead.

As the crowds gathered to look upon Rachel, we proceeded to gather relevant past medical history and perform simple therapeutic exercises with her. My eyes were brought to tears as the mother explained Rachel