WPI News | Worcester Polytechnic Institute Robotics Team Guides Unmanned Sailboat to Victory in SailBot '17 WPI News A Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) student team has won the 11th annual International Robotic Sailing Competition in a hard-fought contest that featured unmanned sailboats navigating a variety of challenges on Chesapeake Bay in Annapolis, Md. |
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MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) The Grand Strand Tech Council is reaching out to find mentors for students looking to pursue careers in robotics and engineering.
In March, Horry County students competed against kids across the nation in a regional robotics competition. The Grand Strand Tech Council said having a mentor in robotics and engineering is essential to making sure students can progress in their field of choice.
We can do a lot to teach the younger generation coming forward, but we have to get involved to do that, said Grand Strand Tech Council robotics chair Joe Boggs.
Give the kids confidence that it can be solved and that you can figure out a way.
The tech council said they also need companies to help sponsor students when building robots for competitions like the FIRST Robotics competition that was held in Myrtle Beach.
You need people to guide you and you need to see what theyve done before, said Carolina Forest High student Zachary Matt.
Having a mentor gives you the tools and the ability to expand upon what you already know and learn from the experience of people who have done it for years.
For information on how to get involved as a mentor, contact Joe Boggs with the Grand Strand Tech Council at robotics@gstechcouncil.org.
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General / How-to
To create a type of content, choose the appropriate type of content from the sidebar on the left. For this example, lets choose Posts, as these are the bulk of the content on our sites. Hovering over posts in the sidebar opens up a sub-menu, giving us options to view All Posts, Add New, as well as view the categories, tags, and slotting available to posts. Select Add New from this sub-menu.
This will open up a page with all of the options available to create this particular type of content. While the options may slightly change, the general layout will be the same across all types of content.
At the top of this screen is the Title, marked with Enter title here. This is the title of your content, as you would like it seen and promoted across the site.
Immediately below the title is a large area for the bulk of your content. A toolbar across the top provides options for formatting: links, bold text, bulleted list options, as well as several commonly used styles are available from this toolbar.
Also on the top, to the right, are two tabs: Visual and Text (HTML). The Visual tab allows you to edit your changes and see them reflected fairly closely to how they will be shown when the content is published and available to readers, while the Text (HTML) tab allows you to add specific HTML and styles to your content, as well as fine-tune any specific details you might need to tweak. In general, the Visual tab will handle most needs the Text (HTML) tab is available, but only necessary in very particular situations.
Within this content section, you are also free to insert images and videos.
To insert an image, located the Add Media button above the toolbar and click it. This will open up the media gallery, allowing you to select and upload an image. Once it is uploaded, some options will appear on the right-hand side of the screen, asking you for the images title, caption, alt-text, description, as well as several category and display options. The title and alt-text should accurately reflect the image, while the caption will usually appear near the image (the exact location will depend on what type of content and image it is). The description field is a useful, internal-to-EH field that can be used to describe the image in a way that helps other editors search for and re-use images. For example, ASIS 2015 Crowd Photo would allow other editors to search for and re-use this photo if they ever want to re-use it. Categories are also available, providing an easy way to organize and re-use images. The display options beneath include: alignment, link to, and size. Alignment allows you to decide if the image should be inserted within a sentence, mad-lib style, take up the full width of the article (creating whitespace on both sides if necessary), or align left / right and allow text to wrap around it. The link to option allows you to have the image link to something (a full-sized version of the image or a custom URL, for example). The size option allows editors to choose the size of the image to upload -in cases where a thumbnail or smaller size is more appropriate than the full-size image.
After selecting all of the appropriate options, choose insert into post and the image is now a part of your content. Should you wish to go back and change any of these options, click on the image and look for an edit pencil icon clicking on this will give you an opportunity to change these options.
After creating the content, formatting, and inserting any images that are needed, we can proceed to some of the other options available to us on this page.
Immediately below the content area is the Excerpt. This is the equivalent of the deck and summary from the old site, combined together. This is a short sentence or two about the content that will appear across the site; whenever content is listed out, the excerpt will be used as a brief description of what the story is about. This appears at the head of the article and is also passed to search engines, so it is important to spend some time and make a quality excerpt.
This is the equivalent of the old sites URL title, and is the unique web address for this particular content on the site. Please keep in mind that you should not change the slug after you have published content, as you may accidentally break links that have gone out in newsletters, social media, or have been shared by others. Editing slugs should be carefully considered before hitting the publish button!
The author is a dropdown list for the attributed author for a piece of content, made up of all editors, authors, and contributors that have been created for the website. Should a particular author be needed that isnt there, they can be set up and will be available from that point onward. Learn more about creating users.
These fields can be used to enhance your content.
The first available option, Breaking News, can be set for breaking news, and will flag content on the home page as such, bringing emphasis to the dynamic nature of the story. There are two options, Yes and No, but this can be ignored if you do not wish to declare this content as breaking news.
Content Feature is where large / hero graphics can be added, as well as videos. Click the Add Feature button, then select whether you would like a large image or a video. If you choose large image, some instructions will appear as well as an upload button, where you can choose the image you would like to use. If you would like to use a video as a hero graphic, select Video from the options and follow the instructions, providing the youtube or vimeo link, as well as a video caption.
The last option is related post. This will allow you to select other content from the site and insert them into your own content. You may select up to three other pieces of content and decide, for each, how it should be aligned relative to the content. Within the instructions is a link that provides you with a shortcode, or a way of flagging where you would like these related posts to appear within your content. Simply pasting (the shortcode provided by the link) within your content will insert these related posts, in order, across your story wherever the code has been placed.
In addition to the related posts that editors can manually insert into their content, we programmatically choose related content that readers are likely to also be interested in. This is done similar to the primary tag method on the old site simply choose a related category or related tag that is most relevant to this content, and stories from this category or tag will be selected whenever related content is displayed. Please note that if you choose both a category and a tag, only the category will work you cannot combine both.
Beneath the Related Fields is the section for Slideshows.
Clicking Add Slide will provide you with two options: an image slide or a video slide, and you can create a slideshow with any number or combination of these.
Creating an Image Slide will prompt you to upload an image, via the add image button, as well as to specify the caption you would like for that slide.
Create a Video Slide will prompt you to select whether the video exists on YouTube or Vimeo. Once that is chosen, enter the video ID (examples of how to find this are provided in the slide instructions). Lastly, a field exists for the video caption.
These slides can be collapsed, expanded, and rearranged to make them easier for you to edit. Clicking on the Slide Video or Slide Image header will allow you to collapse / expand, and clicking & dragging will allow you to rearrange the order in which they appear.
Now, we will scroll back up to the top of the edit page, where options are available to choose a featured image. This is required for all posts, and you will not be able to publish your content until one has been selected. The Featured Image is generally used, with the exception of on the feature section of the home page and newsletters, where a hero image will be used if available. Setting a Featured Image is similar to uploading / selecting an image clicking the set featured image option will open the media gallery and allow you to add, select, or customize your image.
Slotting allows editors to specify whether a particular piece of content should be particularly emphasized on the home page. The home page will look for the latest content selected as Primary Feature, and use that as the largest, most obvious story. The additional stories below this are the latest content items selected as Secondary Features. If a piece of content is categorized as both, it will not appear in both sections the Primary Feature will take precedence.
Below slotting is a list of the sites categories, where you can check any boxes that apply. As an internal process, if a selected category belongs to another category, please also select the parent category.
After selecting multiple categories, a primary category option will appear. This is how content can be assigned to particular contextuals or ad-targeting. If there is a contextual on news and your content is categorized news, consider whether this should be set as the primary category.
Tags are the topics that the content is about, that arent covered by categories. Begin typing a topic and, if there is currently a similar tag on the site, it will provide the option to use that tag. If the tag doesnt exist, clicking add or hitting the enter key will create it and assign it to this content.
Company tags are ways of associated content with particular companies, and are how the site decides what content is associated with a particular content. If your content contains mention of a company that this content is about or heavily emphasized in, this should be a company tag.
After assigning any company tags, scroll back up to the top of the page where a Publish box appears.
This box contains options to Save Draft, aka save your work so far and come back to this later, without publishing on the site. Likewise, you can preview the content, seeing what the article page looks like without publishing yet. Status is similar to the old site, where Draft and Pending Review mean this content is not visible on the site yet. A status of Publish means it is live and visible on the site.
Visibility can be safely ignored this is not used in the site.
Below visibility is a link to publish immediately, with an edit link next to it. By default, clicking the blue Publish button will set the content live immediately, however you can schedule posts by clicking this edit link and choose the date and time you would like the content to go live. Choosing anything will change the blue publish button the schedule, and you are free to select this the content will appear live on the site only at the scheduled date.
This process is repeated across all of the other types of content while some of the particular options may change (and are explained below), the overall process is the same.
Company Pages are a dedicated section of the site where information about particular companies are collected. These come in two flavors: basic and premium, with the basic variant containing a simple latest news roll-up of content given a particular company tag, as well as some demographic information. Premium allows for a section dedicated to press releases, social links, custom HTML sections and similar up-sells.
Company Fields contains a collection of basic information needed for a company page. Address, Phone, Website, Logo, and similar fields are explained but are fairly straightforward. Social Networks can be added simply paste the location of the companys social profile, and the site will automatically link to it.
This is how a company is flagged as Basic or Premium. Some information, even if filled out in this company page, will not appear unless the company is flagged as a Premium company page.
Downloads are for lead-gen items and links TO lead gen items, depending on whether they are on-site or off-site. PDFs can be uploaded provided as a free reader resource or used to collect information. Likewise, offsite URLs provide a link to a particular resource while still providing a central, SEO rich environment for this download.
This section allows you to specify the type and location of downloads / lead-gen items. Clicking Add Download will provide four options: Free PDF, Locked PDF, Locked Offsite URL, and Offsite URL.
A Free PDF is something that we post on our site, entirely free, and collect no information on.. A Locked PDF will prompt readers for an email address before providing them with a link to the PDF. A Locked, Offsite URL will prompt people for an email address, before sending them to an off-site URL, such as a digital edition link. An Offsite URL will simply direct readers to a particular URL, such as a funnel link.
Please keep in mind that Locked PDFs and Locked Offsite PDFs will ask for a KM Pub Code and KM Cat Code these are available from Elizabeth Crews group, and allow us to sync with our reader database.
If a particular download has been sponsored, you may enter sponsor information here. A logo, URL, custom HTML, and/or company page can be selected and the sponsor information automatically included in the download page.
Events are central hubs for information about particular events, where event information and related content can be aggregated, providing a one-stop shop for a reader interested in a particular event. These pages can be used to showcase our coverage of an event, as slideshows, hero graphics, and related content can be used to create an SEO rich resource for readers.
Start Date, End Date, Start Time, and End Time all refer to the events actual, physical dates. Start and End Times can be omitted, as can an End Date if the event is a one-day event.
The Event URL represents the URL of the event itself, such as http://www.infocomm.org.
The Event Location uses Google Maps and can take an address or location name.
The Event Logo is where you can place a logo specific to this event.
The Event Tag is where you choose a tag that can be associated with this event. All recent content with this tag will appear on this event page.
Podcasts are for audio files where you would like an audio player to exist.
There is a single podcast field, the attached file, where an MP3 file can be uploaded. Once uploaded, an audio player will automatically appear on the page.
If a particular podcast has been sponsored, you may enter sponsor information here. A logo, URL, custom HTML, and/or company page can be selected and the sponsor information automatically included in the podcast page.
Webcast URL is the location of the registration or archive link, while Webcast Date is the date and time of the webcast, in Eastern time.
If a particular webcast has been sponsored, you may enter sponsor information here. A logo, URL, custom HTML, and/or company page can be selected and the sponsor information automatically included in the webcast page.
Pages are for static, site pages. They do not roll up into any news feeds, but are where we store pages specific to About Us or subscriptions.
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Today, well be taking a look at all the packages that Fiberlink offers. Fiberlink is the fastest broadband service in the Pakistan.
Internet quality and prices in Pakistan are always the hot topics. There are a number of ISPs providing their services in Pakistan like the PTCL and StormFiber. But as we know, PTCL is known for its frequent disconnections and unreliability but it is present in most areas of Pakistan while other ISPs are only available in big cities. 3G/4G Internet has also solved the issues for some users but due to limited data it prevents users from downloading big files.
Fiberlink is one of the major ISPs of Pakistan and provides the fastest Internet connections in Pakistan. It provides up to 400 Mbps download and upload speed. No other ISP is even close to this speed. Thats not all, the connection speed on all Fiberlink packages doubles at night, which makes it even more interesting. Just like the StormFiber, Fiberlink provides equal speed for uploading and downloading.
There is one big known issue with the Fiberlink. The service installation is a time-taking process and usually, requires a month. So you just have to be patient after ordering your connection.
You might also want to check:
Fiberlink offers high-speed internet packages at amazing price rates. We will be having a look on each one of them so that you can choose the package which suits you the most.
This package includes a 12 Mbps internet connection for a price of PKR 1,500 only. The internet speeds doubles to 24 Mbps at night (2:30 am to 9:00 am). One time installation charges of PKR 5,000 applies.
This package includes a 20 Mbps internet connection for a price of PKR 2,000 only. The internet speeds doubles to 40 Mbps at night (2:30 am to 9:00 am). One time installation charges of PKR 5,000 applies.
This package includes a 40 Mbps internet connection for a price of PKR 2,500 only. The internet speeds doubles to 80 Mbps at night (2:30 am to 9:00 am). One time installation charges of PKR 5,000 applies.
This package includes a 100 Mbps internet connection for a price of PKR 4,000 only. The internet speeds doubles to 200 Mbps at night (2:30 am to 9:00 am). One time installation charges of PKR 5,000 applies.
This package includes a 150 Mbps internet connection for a price of PKR 4,500 only. The internet speeds doubles to 300 Mbps at night (2:30 am to 9:00 am). One time installation charges of PKR 5,000 applies.
This package includes a 200 Mbps internet connection for a price of PKR 4,800 only. The internet speeds doubles to 400 Mbps at night (2:30 am to 9:00 am). One time installation charges of PKR 5,000 applies.
Keep in mind that all of the above-mentioned packages come with same upload and download speed.
You can get the Fiberlink connection by visiting their official website and signing up there. Or you can call and place your order on UAN: 111-456-123.
Make sure to check before applying that you are in the coverage area. The officials will also tell you if you are in the coverage area or not.
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Original post:
Fiberlink Internet Packages & Prices 2017 - TechJuice (press release) (blog)
Our new reality may be a virtual one. In the past few years, the technology behind virtual and augmented reality has exploded, prompting innovations in fields from gaming to real estate, theater to fine art, with companies as diverse as Samsung, Chairish, and Wayfair incorporating it in various ways. In the latest juxtaposition of VR and design, Brooklyn creative space A/D/O today announced that New Reality Co. will serve as its second artist-in-residence.
Norman restaurant in A/D/O.
Photo: Matthew Carbone
A/D/O, the Mini-backed collaborative creative space that opened last winter to much fanfare, has become a hotbed for design innovation, hosting panels and exhibitions celebrating envelope-pushing design and fostering communal creativity in its nARCHITECTS-designed space on Greenpoint's Norman Avenue (which includes a shop and a Claus Meyer and Fredrik Berselius restaurant). The appointment of New Reality Co. to succeed inaugural artist-in-residence Stephen Burks marks a look to the future.
Milica Zec (L) and Winslow Turner Porter of New Reality Co.
Photo: Maarten de Boer
Helmed by Winslow Porter and Milica Zec, New Reality Co. is a New Yorkbased creative studio that uses mixed and augmented reality to explore perception. Its vision fits neatly with the theme of A/D/O's second season, Common Sense. During their tenure in Greenpoint, Porter and Zec will be creating Breathe, a multisensory, experiential story written by Luke Davies, screenwriter behind this year's Oscar-nominated Lion. The project is the final in a trilogy whose first two parts, Giant and Tree, landed New Reality Co. on Adweeks Creative 100 list.
"Our goal is to inspire positive change through interdisciplinary and multisensory artistry," said Zec in a statement. "This residency will provide us with a vibrant and communal workspace, a home for Giant and Tree, and a network of artists and potential collaborators who understand and appreciate shared human experience." New Reality Co. plans to unveil Breathe in September of this year. We're waiting with bated breath.
Read the original post:
How Virtual Reality Is Redefining Storytelling at A/D/O - Architectural Digest
Virtual reality is much more than just a new form of entertainment, it is increasingly being used in a wide range of medical applications, from treatments to training. Here are a few of them.
There is good scientific evidence that virtual reality (VR) can help relieve pain. The parts of the brain that are linked to pain the somatosensory cortex and the insula are less active when a patient is immersed in virtual reality. In some instances, it can even help people tolerate medical procedures that are usually very painful.
Other studies have shown that amputees can benefit from VR therapy. Amputees often feel severe pain in their missing limb, which can be hard to treat with conventional methods, and often doesnt respond well to strong painkillers like codeine and morphine. However, a technique called virtual mirror therapy, which involves putting on a VR headset and controlling a virtual version of the absent limb seems to help some patients cope better with this phantom pain.
VR can be used to track body movements, allowing patients to use the movements of their therapy exercises as interactions in a VR game. For example, they may need to lift an arm above their head in order to catch a virtual ball.
Its more fun doing exercises in virtual reality than it is in a gym, so people are more motivated to exercise. It can help in other ways too. For example, we found that for patients who are anxious about walking, we can control their virtual environment so that it looks as though they are moving much slower than they actually are. When we do this, they naturally speed up their walking, but they dont realise they are doing it and so it isnt associated with pain or anxiety.
Studying how people perceive and interact with VR systems helps us design better rehabilitation applications.
If you have an irrational fear of something, you might think the last thing you need is to see it in virtual reality, however, this is one of most established forms of medical VR treatment. Phobias are often treated with something called graded-exposure therapy, where patients are slowly introduced to their fear by a therapist. Virtual reality is perfect for this as it can be adjusted precisely for the needs of each patient, and can be done in the doctors office or even at home. This is being used to treat phobias such as fear of heights and fear of spiders, but also to help people recover from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Patients with brain injury from trauma or illness, such as stroke, often struggle with the everyday tasks that we take for granted, such as shopping or making plans for the weekend. Recreating these tasks within virtual environments and allowing patients to practise them at increasing levels of complexity can speed up recovery and help patients regain a higher level of cognitive function.
Doctors can also use these same virtual environments as an assessment tool, observing patients carrying out a variety of real-world complex tasks and identifying areas of memory loss, reduced attention or difficulty with decision-making.
Virtual reality is, of course, not just for patients. It also offers benefits to healthcare professionals. Training doctors and nurses to carry out routine procedures is time consuming, and training generally needs to be delivered by a busy and expensive professional. But virtual reality is increasingly being used to learn anatomy, practise operations and teach infection control.
Being immersed in a realistic simulation of a procedure and practising the steps and techniques is far better training than watching a video, or even standing in a crowded room watching an expert. With low-cost VR equipment, controllable, repeatable scenarios and instant feedback, we have a powerful new teaching tool that reaches well beyond the classroom.
Read more:
Five ways virtual reality is improving healthcare - The Conversation UK
Wall Street Journal (subscription) | What Virtual Reality Needs to Get Real Wall Street Journal (subscription) The hit mobile game Pokmon Go will reach its first birthday next month having defied the odds. It has stayed popular enough past its fad-like initial launch to build a strong business that generated revenue about $1.3 billion to date, according to ... |
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What Virtual Reality Needs to Get Real - Wall Street Journal (subscription)
A first-of-its-kind cartoon is being made in Winnipeg using exclusively virtual reality technology.
Super Secret Science Island has two characters failed experiments abandoned on an island by their creator that are brought to life by BUCKO Comedy's Aaron Merke and Lauren Cochrane.
The entire show is acted, shot and edited in real-time.
"Someone could be in Winnipeg, somebody else could be on the other side of the world. They can meet up in VR, create a show together and output that right away," said Rachael Hosein, the chief creative at Campfire Union, the virtual reality development house that created the software for the show.
Merke and Cochrane go to different rooms, put on headsets, grab a set of hand controls and improvise an episode.
"It's like putting a headset on and you're Homer Simpson," said Campfire Union's John Luxford.
While they act, Luxford and Hosein switch camera angles and make sure everything in the virtual world runs smoothly.
"What we're doing is making a virtual TV studio. It's using off-the-shelf virtual reality hardware that we hook into an app that we created, and it's kind of two parts. It allows people to watch content in VR using a VR headset, and it also allows content creators to use a VR setup to live-animate an animated show," said Hosein.
Merke has a simpler way of describing it: "It's just making an animation using your body, instantly."
Merke plays 2B, a cranky guy who lives in a test tube and Cochrane plays Genefur, a kind of "dumb" Mary Poppins-type character that looks like a bear.
"I've done traditional cell animation and that takes forever. This is instant. It's absolutely the quickest. The turnaround on it is insane," said Merke.
Episodes are about three minutes long and can be watched in 2D on YouTube or in 3D on VR headsets.
The episodes can even be livestreamed, and actors can be across the world from each other.
Merke and Cochrane are just in different rooms a few feet away,or in Cochrane's case, a hallway in a shared tech space.
"When we're improvising together that's our life that's what we do. When we're doing it here, we've found a way now to connect. We give high fives in space even though you can't feel it, but you can see it," said Merke. "It's almost like teaching yourself to puppeteer."
The software that makes it possible is called Flipside. It was developed by Campfire Union after they were experimenting with virtual reality drawing apps.
"We were playing around with ways to stream those drawings out to other people, and it kind of got us thinking about content creators in VR," said Hosein. "There's a lot of ways that people can create content and share content and be social within a virtual reality app, so the idea just kind of grew from there."
In the show, characters can draw their own props (like a hat or a pair of glasses) and then use them.
"We knew there were going to be a lot of bugs. Something we didn't expect was how intimate a VR space can be. You're acting with somebody who is on the other side of the world but it really feels like they're honestly there," said Hosein.
"That kind of creates a really organic experience out of a lot of tech and a lot of hardware and a lot of distance between two people."
Merke and Cochrane want to use it to develop interstitials (short segments between TV shows) for kids' networks.
"We're going down to VidCon, which is a YouTube convention in Anaheim. So we're going to be pitching to some people. We have some meetings lined up," said Merke.
Meanwhile, Campfire Union is also working with a San Francisco-based comedian who delivers a takedown of current news as an alien floating behind a desk.
The team says they aren't aware of any other virtual reality development studios using the tech to create cartoons or shows, but they're actively looking for more content creators to make more shows.
New episodes of Super Secret Science Island launch every Thursday.
Original post:
Virtual reality TV show created in Winnipeg on way to international convention - CBC.ca
Jun 20 ARTSY SMARTSY, FEATURE SIDEBAR, Film No Comments on FILMING IMMORTALITY: Independent filmmaker Tanya Fermin brings unreal life to Wilmingtons film industry
FERMIN ON THE JOB: Writer and director of HAON films newest series in Wilmington, NC. Courtesy photo
The shoot ends and its director, Tanya Fermin, addresses crewmembers who were trying to find her. Its like a maze in here, she sighs, as she makes her way to the exit. Her current TV series, HAON, is a supernatural drama she will pitch to Netflix. The story centers around a small girl who begins to exhibit strange abilities, and those who want to protect her from being exploited. Some characters have a range of special abilities, like telepathy and clairvoyance, while the haons display longevity that borders on immortality.
The main villain has been taking advantage of clairvoyants to attain wealth this entire time, Fermin explains, but now that he knows haons exist, he thinks they hold the key to eternal life.
This isnt Fermins first foray as a writer-director. Her short film, The Arrangements, made the rounds in 2016, and aired on over 90 stations across the United States. Its a true story, Fermin explains. It deals with the passing of a loved one seen through the eyes of the family. The film was written for her grandmother, Ophelia M. Pridgen, shortly after her passing. Shes my inspiration, Fermin declares with pride. Ive never had writers block after I wrote The Arrangements for her.
Pridgen inspired the main concept of HAON when she looked at Fermins adopted daughter and exclaimed, I think youve been here before. Upon hearing it, Fermin took the mysterious statement and ran with it.
You never know an adopted childs medical history, she notes. So youre warned about not knowing what kind of medical conditions could come up years later. But what if something comes up that isnt medical? What if its something you cant understand?
Fermin also was moved by her grandmothers clear recollection of Southern history throughout life. It was like having an historian right there with you, she recalls. She could tell you about things the history books never covered.
To keep these memories alive, Fermin places characters in HAON throughout different eras in time. We cannot accurately go further than the 1860s in the historical record, due to our heritage, Fermin explains, but thats not going to stop me from showing some things that history tried to hide.
The shows theme of paranormal longevity affords Fermin the ability to explore these concepts, adding substance to the series supernatural elements.
Local sites are chosen for their conceptual similarities to the script: plantations, replicas of Christopher Columbus ships, and in particular, the Octagon House in Swansboro. It became a perfect location for filming the pilot episode.
A drowning took place there, Fermin explains, and the first episode opens with a girl drowning. The girls name on the tombstone is the same as the character who drowned.
The scripts supernatural theme often requires Fermin to shoot in unpleasant locations, such as fetid swamps and abandoned graveyards, but she refuses to back down. Im not afraid, she exclaims. Ill pray the ghosts away. Ill pray the snakes away.
HOAN is far from a one-woman ordeal. The shows producer, Carol Stephans, has worked with Fermin for years. Shes always ready to go, according to Stephans. Fermin attributes successes of HAON and The Arrangements to Wilmingtons willingness to help independent filmmakers. It is what keeps bringing her back to the Cape Fear when other states offer better film incentives than NC.
A dire side effect of NCs nulled film tax credit program (axed by former-governor Pat McCrory in 2015), is the lack of jobs for all positions in film, like actors of all stripes in Wilmington. Its hard to find older actors because their roles are diminishing, Fermin tells. To help fill this void, she writes characters of all ages, genders, races, and sexualities. Once written, she casts them appropriately.
Its not stereotypical, and theyre not written to conform to stereotypes, Fermin tells. Theyre actual people who happen to be who they are. And I always have some tough, fierce women characters. Its just a part of life.
Pat Gallaher, who plays the main villain in HOAN, affirms Wilmingtons value for independent filmmakers. Gallaher met Fermin when they both played police officers in Sleepy Hollow and Two-Eleven, both of which were filmed in Wilmington. You dont have to train someone from scratch to get the job done here, he says. Gallaher doubles as HAONs assistant director when not on screen. We all switch roles, he says.
Plenty of students from Cape Fear Community College assist the crew, but the level of professionality displayed on set is equal among them. Professionals may run the cameras, while students assist them.
Fermin also called in a special favor from local cinematographer Joe Dunton, who has worked with cinematic luminaries like Stanley Kubrick. Dunton consulted with Fermin on her debut film and encouraged her to use certain angles to provoke emotion. I think thats one reason the film did so well, she explains. I called him for another favor [for HAON.] Pivotal scenes in HAON have been filmed at Duntons camera shop to honor him.
HAON is still in development, but you can follow its progress at http://www.facebook.com/findthehaon.
HAONThe Arrangements Two-ElevenArt in Bloom GalleryCape Fear Community CollegeCarol StephansChristopher Columbusencore magazineJames McCreaJoe DuntonNetflixOphelia M. PridgenPat GallaherPat McCrorysleepy hollowTanya FerminWilmington NC
DEADLY STENCH: The Mummy is worse than hot garbage PONDERING RAINBOW COMPLEXITIES: Artist Evalyn Boyd Hines debuts new works in Aurora at New Elements Gallery
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Hamilton Spectator | Alternative medicine practitioner charged with sexual assault in Burlington Hamilton Spectator BURLINGTON Halton police have charged a 42-year-old alternative medicine practitioner with sexually assaulting a patient. Police were contacted in May following an alleged sexual assault at an unnamed Burlington clinic. The alleged victim is an ... |
See more here:
Alternative medicine practitioner charged with sexual assault in Burlington - Hamilton Spectator
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FDA urges caution about bodybuilding supplements
Its beach season and, while some might turn to bodybuilding supplements to get their body sand-and-sun-ready, experts said not all of these products are safe.
According to a consumer safety release from U.S. Food and Drug Administration, bodybuilding products that contain steroids or steroid-like substances are associated with potentially serious health risks, including liver injury. Some of the liver injuries were life-threatening, said Mark S. Miller, FDA regulatory review officer, in the statement.
In addition to liver injury, anabolic steroids have been associated with serious reactions such as severe acne, hair loss, altered mood, irritability, increased aggression, and depression. They have also been associated with life-threatening reactions such as kidney damage, heart attack, stroke, pulmonary embolism (blood clots in the lungs), and deep vein thrombosis (blood clots that occur in veins deep in the body).
These bodybuilding products are promoted as hormone products and/or as alternatives to anabolic steroids for increasing muscle mass and strength. Many of these products make claims about the ability of the active ingredients to enhance or diminish androgen, estrogen, or progestin-like effects in the body, but actually contain anabolic steroids or steroid-like substances, synthetic hormones related to the male hormone testosterone.
Some who use bodybuilding products engage in stacking, using multiple products (including stimulants or products providing false assurances of liver protection) to enhance results or gains. These combinations may put consumers at greater risk for serious and life-threatening reactions.
If youre taking any body building products that claim to contain steroids or steroid-like substances, the FDA recommends that you stop taking them immediately because of the potentially serious health risks associated with using them. The agency also recommends that you talk to your health care professional about any body building products and/or ingredients you have taken or are planning to take, particularly if you are uncertain about those ingredients. You should also talk to your health care professional if you are experiencing symptoms possibly associated with these products, particularly nausea, weakness or fatigue, fever, abdominal pain, chest pain, shortness of breath, jaundice (yellowing of the skin or whites of the eyes), or brown or discolored urine.
The FDA encourages consumers and health care professionals to report adverse events or serious side effects related to the use of these products to the FDAs MedWatch Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program.
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Maggie O'Neill, HealthSource 2:02 p.m. PT June 20, 2017
Bowel movements can tell a variety of details about the eating habits of a person, including the type of food consumed, the diet that is generally followed and even whether supplements or medications are taken.(Photo: gpointstudio/Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Like religion, politics and taxes, bowel movements fall into that realm of not-to-be-talked-about topics. However, bowel movements can tell a variety of details about the eating habits of a person, including the type of food consumed, the diet that is generally followed and even whether supplements or medications are taken.
"Bowel movements are part of our overall health," said Tiffany Barnett, M.D., a doctor in family medicine with Renown Health Premier Care. "Every person has a unique bowel habit and timing, and what is normal for one person may not be normal for their spouse or neighbor."
While it may be typical for one person to have a bowel movement up to three times a day, another person could have a bowel movement every two to three days, she said. However, a 'typical' bowel movement should be shaped and also be brown in color. It also should have a consistency much like soft serve ice cream, according to Barnett.
Nearly everyone knows the results and unpleasant effects of stools that are not regularly consistent. When stools become too loose, diarrhea occurs, but when stools become too hard constipation is the result, Barnett said. Many causes for constipation exist and not just inadequate fiber intake. Other factors include changes in the diet, dehydration, decreased mobility, pregnancy, travel and narcotics, she said.
It is when stools change from their typical appearance or when they cause discomfort during a bowel movement that it may be time to see a doctor.
"Most people do not think much about [bowel movements] too much and that is how it should be," said Erik DeJonghe, an M.D. at Digestive Health Reno. "A change is always important from previous habits and should be looked at."
Changes in stool can occur for a variety of reasons. One cause is medication, particularly medication that has been prescribed for cholesterol, depression, chronic pain or hypertension, said DeJonghe, who also has a master's degree in public health. Another cause for a change is a viral or bacterial infection. Additionally, a chronic illness like diabetes or even a thyroid malfunction, can lead to changes in stool. Alcohol, chewing gum, caffeine, nicotine and soda also can have effects on stools.
"Certain medications, supplements and food items can cause harmless changes in bowel movement color and consistency," Barnett said.
The color of stools can change day to day, depending on what was consumed. Consider that iron supplements and Pepto-Bismol can turn stools gray or black in color, as can medications and supplements,DeJonghe said.
Stools that are yellow-ish in color can be a reflection of excessive fat in consumed foods. Red-colored stools can be the result of eating beets, cranberries, Jell-O or red juices. Green-colored stools, along with diarrhea, indicate that the bile in the body has not had enough time to do its job, which isto break down food,DeJonghe said. Clay-colored stools signal that the bile in the body is not flowing properly, he said.
One of the best ways to stay regular is to consume 20-35 grams of fiber-rich foods daily, Barnett said. Not sure which foods fall into this category? Beans, fresh fruit, vegetables and whole grains are among the fiber-rich options. And, of course, there are lower-fiber foods that should be avoided, particularly when the aim is to become more regular. Items on this list include cheese, ice cream, meat and processed foods. High sugar foods also should be avoided, she said.
Water is an essential component to good digestion and good bowel movements, too.
"You should also drink at least 64 ounces of water each day, reduce stress, exercise daily, avoid reliance on laxatives and do not ignore the urge to have a bowel movement," Barnett said.
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'Normal' bowel movements vary from person to person - Reno Gazette Journal
The Arkansans Food Bank's Free Summer Meals forChildren has added a new opportunity for participants this year. Children are given "backpacks" of food for the weekend after they finish theirFridaysupper. Pictured in front of the trailer of 100 bags of weekend food are James White, assistant director; Haley Mora, park assistant; Queen Ester, Lake View site supervisor; Shirley Jimmerson, Lake View assistant; and Levetrius Thomas, cook. The Arkansas Food Bank and its Phillips County Partner, Waves of Prayer, are equal opportunity providers.
The Arkansans Food Bank's Free Summer Meals forChildren has added a new opportunity for participants this year. Children are given "backpacks" of food for the weekend after they finish theirFridaysupper. Pictured in front of the trailer of 100 bags of weekend food are James White, assistant director; Haley Mora, park assistant; Queen Ester, Lake View site supervisor; Shirley Jimmerson, Lake View assistant; and Levetrius Thomas, cook. The Arkansas Food Bank and its Phillips County Partner, Waves of Prayer, are equal opportunity providers.
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The Centre of Awareness (COA), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) and a medicine manufacturing firm, has dismissed claims that it advertises and promotes its COA FS food supplement as a cure for HIV and AIDS.
According to the centre, the product is registered with the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) as a food supplement that boosts the immune system and not a therapy for HIV and AIDS or a replacement for anti-retroviral drugs (ARTs).
It has, therefore, cautioned the public to desist from spreading false information about the centre and its products.
Reactions
A few months ago, the Eastern Regional Coordinating Council (ERCC) and the Regional AIDS Committee ordered the COA to halt all adverts in the media about the supplement being a substitute for ARTs.
At a press conference in Accra yesterday, however, the Executive President of the centre, Dr Samuel Ato Duncan, said the company had not run any adverts to that effect.
There is only one advertisement approved by the FDA, which is played on two programmes; namely, The Miser shown on GTV and the R&L Show on Joy Prime TV, featuring Kwame Djokoto, an actor, and a lady.
The COA FS is described only as an immune booster and not a cure for HIV and AIDS in that advertisement. So it is wrong for anyone or an institution to allude that the centre has put out adverts to deceive the public, he said.
Dr Ducan said he believed some people were out to tarnish the hard-earned image of the company, but that would not wash since the product had been globally accepted.
The centre also gave opportunities to some users of COA FS, including rapper OJ Blaq, to give testimonies about how it had improved their general wellbeing since they started using it.
About COA FS
COA FS is a plant extract which supports the immune system to fight chronic diseases such as HIV and AIDS, hepatitis, liver disorders, cancers, hypertension, diabetes, and other blood-related diseases.
It has been scientifically tested by the Centre for Plant Medicine at Akuapem Mampong and the Nugochi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, Legon, as well as other international bodies as an immune booster.
Though Dr Duncan emphasised that the COA FS was not a remedy for HIV and AIDS, it was likely that due to its efficacy, some dealers and suppliers of the food supplement were misinforming the public in that regard.
Aims of the centre
Dr Duncan reaffirmed the centres resolve to produce medicines that would help to treat diseases and ailments.
One of the aims of the centre is to research and develop medicines that can treat diseases that affect the wellbeing of humanity, he said.
Dr Duncan also cautioned the public not to rely on chemical-based food supplements as that could be harmful to ones health, the reason for which we developed the COA FS.
He stated that the product was already available in countries such as Germany, United Kingdom,South Africa, Sierra Leone, Canada, the United States, Spain and Belgium.
We, therefore, urge the general public, especially our clients, to disregard the erroneous impression being created by some people that the product is not safe and should not be taken by anybody, he added.
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Ghana news: Centre of Awareness clears air about food supplement ... - Graphic Online
by State House News Service
Gov. Charlie Baker's proposed $500 million extension of the life sciences initiative put in place by his predecessor in 2008 will put a greater emphasis, according to the governor, on workforce building to support industries that have taken root in Massachusetts.
Baker on Monday put forward a plan to spend heavily over the next five years on capital grants and tax incentives tied to private sector job creation. The proposal re-ups the 10-year, $1 billion program put in place early in Gov. Deval Patrick's first term that is largely due to expire after next year.
"We are going to focus a lot more on what I would call the workforce development piece this time and a little less on the brick and mortar. A lot of the money that went into the first set of investments associated with this really built a lot of capacity. This is going to be a lot more about more targeted pursuit of enhancing the workforce here in Massachusetts, working with colleges and universities and other skill-building organizations."
That doesn't mean the administration is turning its back on infrastructure or corporate recruitment.
"We will continue to make smart investments in the expansion or the relocation of companies to Massachusetts as long as we think they work for us," Baker said. The governor also said that the nature of the life sciences industry made the five-year commitment, as opposed to another 10 years, more attractive.
"Five years these days in this industry is plenty long enough. Ten years is probably too long," he said.
The governor will fly to California on Tuesday to take part in the 2017 International BIO Conference.
"BIO is a big opportunity for us to talk about the great stuff that's going here, but also to make the case to a lot of folks that there's a tremendous ecosystem here across all kinds of technology and innovative sectors and I would like to take that opportunity to make that case to people," Baker said.
And the governor isn't the only state worker headed west this week to attend the life sciences convention in San Diego.
Massachusetts Life Sciences Center President and CEO Travis McCready, House and Economic Development Assistant Secretary for Business Growth Mike Kennealy, senior advisor and Chief Secretary Tim Buckley and Deputy Chief of Staff Mike Vallarelli are joining Baker on his trip to California.
According to McCready, the life sciences center is sending director of business development and regional strategy chief Ben Bradford, senior business development associate Sandhya Iyer, senior associate for industry programs Monica Anc and director of government affairs Colin Donnelly.
Thousands of industry insiders will be in attendance and Baker plans to address the conference on Wednesday. The convention will move to Boston in 2018.
In an interview from San Diego, McCready said he plans to promote Baker's new investment proposal, meet with people considering business development opportunities in Massachusetts and tout the Bay State as a place where companies can meet manufacturing needs as well as research and development.
McCready said he's often been asked about the Baker administration's commitment to the investment initiative launched under Patrick. "This bill filing answers that question very succinctly," he said, shortly before the House referred the bill to the Economic Development and Emerging Technologies Committee.
While McCready said "everyone knows Massachusetts" from a life sciences standpoint, continued public investments are needed to compete with states that are putting taxpayer dollars on the line to attract companies, he said. New York's $1.1 billion program is a "case in point," according to McCready.
"That's just 200 miles to the south of us," he said.
McCready described a five-year commitment as "properly prudent," saying the state's revenue, borrowing and overall picture "is not exactly clear right now."
Baker also plans to visit Vertex Pharmaceutical's research and development site in San Diego on Tuesday, followed by evening receptions at the convention, including one hosted by MassBIO. On Thursday Baker will meet in San Jose with executives from Cisco, a multi-national information technology corporation that also has a presence in Boston.
The governor initially told reporters Monday that he had no fundraisers planned while in California, but political advisor Jim Conroy, who is not traveling with Baker, later clarified that Baker would have one fundraising event on Wednesday, but declined to provide further details.
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Baker proposes $500M life sciences extension - Worcester Business Journal
Zeitgeist: The Movie is a documentary film with two sequels: Zeitgeist: Addendum and Zeitgeist: Moving Forward, presenting a number of conspiracy theories and proposals for broad social and economic changes. Peter Joseph created all three films.[1]
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Zeitgeist: The Movie is a 2007 documentary-style film by Peter Joseph presenting a number of conspiracy theories.[2] The film disputes the historicity of Jesus (the Christ myth theory) and claims that the September 11 attacks in 2001 were pre-arranged by New World Order forces,[3] and claims that bankers manipulate world events.[4] In Zeitgeist, it is claimed that the Federal Reserve was behind several wars and manipulates the American public for a One World Government or New World Order.[3][4][5]
The Zeitgeist film, according to writer Paul Constant, is based solely on anecdotal evidence, its probably drawing more people into the Truth movement than anything else.[3]Jay Kinney questioned the accuracy of its claims and the quality of its arguments, describing it as agitprop and propaganda.[6]
Released online on June 18, 2007, it soon received tens of millions of views on Google Video, YouTube, and Vimeo.[7] The film assembles archival footage, animations and narration into a kind of primer on conspiracies.[4]
According to Peter Joseph, the original Zeitgeist was not presented in a film format, but was a performance piece consisting of a vaudevillian, multimedia style event using recorded music, live instruments, and video. Zeitgeist, the first movie of the trilogy, has been described as a pseudo-expos of the international monetary system. The expos theme runs through both its sequels, according to Chip Berlet of Political Research Associates. Many of the themes of Zeitgeist are sourced to two books: The Creature From Jekyll Island by G. Edward Griffin, a member of the John Birch Society, and The Secrets of the Federal Reserve by Eustace Mullins.[7]
The film starts with animated visualizations, film segments and stock footage, a cartoon and audio quotes about spirituality by Chgyam Trungpa Rinpoche, then shots of war, explosions, and the September 11 attacks. Then the films title screen is given. The introduction ends with a portion of a George Carlin monologue on religion accompanied by an animated cartoon. The rest of the film is in three parts with narration by Peter Joseph.[3]
Part I questions religions as being god-given stories, asserting that the Christian religion is mainly derived from other religions, astronomical assertions, astrological myths, and other traditions, which in turn were derived from other traditions. In furtherance of the Jesus myth hypothesis, this part claims that the historical Jesus is a literary and astrological hybrid, nurtured by political forces and opportunists.[3]
Part II alleges that the 9/11 attacks were either orchestrated or allowed to happen by elements within the United States government; the governments purpose, it alleges, was to generate mass fear, initiate and justify the War on Terror, provide a pretext for the curtailment of civil liberties, and produce economic gain. It asserts that the U.S. government had advance knowledge of the attacks, that the military deliberately allowed the planes to reach their targets, and that World Trade Center buildings 1, 2, and 7 underwent a controlled demolition.[3]
Part III states that the Federal Reserve System is controlled by a small cabal of international bankers who conspire to create global calamities to enrich themselves.[4] Three wars involving the United States during the twentieth century are highlighted as part of this alleged agenda, started by specifically engineered events, including the sinking of the RMS Lusitania, the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. The film asserts that such wars serve to sustain conflict in general and force the U.S. government to borrow money, thereby increasing the profits of the international bankers. The film also states that the Federal Income Tax is illegal.[3]
This segment also alleges a secret agreement to merge the United States, Canada and Mexico into a North American Union as a step toward the creation of a single world government. The film speculates that under such a government, every human could be implanted with an RFID chip to monitor individual activity and suppress dissent.
The newspaper The Arizona Republic described Zeitgeist: The Movie as a bramble of conspiracy theories involving Sept. 11, the international monetary system, and Christianity saying also that the movie trailer states that there are people guiding your life and you dont even know it.[8]
A review in The Irish Times wrote that these are surreal perversions of genuine issues and debates, and they tarnish all criticism of faith, the Bush administration, and globalizationthere are more than enough factual injustices in this world to be going around without having to invent fictional ones.[9]
Ivor Tossell in the Globe and Mail cited it as an example of how modern conspiracy theories are promulgated, though he praised its effectiveness:
The film is an interesting object lesson on how conspiracy theories get to be so popular. Its a driven, if uneven, piece of propaganda, a marvel of tight editing and fuzzy thinking. Its on-camera sources are mostly conspiracy theorists, co-mingled with selective eyewitness accounts, drawn from archival footage and often taken out of context. It derides the media as a pawn of the International Bankers, but produces media reports for credibility when convenient. The film ignores expert opinion, except the handful of experts who agree with it. And yet, its compelling. It shamelessly ploughs forward, connecting dots with an earnest certainty that makes you want to give it an A for effort.[4]
Filipe Feio, reflecting upon the films Internet popularity in Dirio de Notcias, stated that [f]iction or not, Zeitgeist: The Movie threatens to become the champion of conspiracy theories of today.[10]
Michael Shermer, founder of the Skeptics Society, mentioned Zeitgeist in an article in Scientific American on skepticism in the age of mass media and the postmodern belief in the relativism of truth. He argues that this belief, coupled with a clicker culture of mass media, results in a multitude of various truth claims packaged in infotainment units, in the form of films such as Zeitgeist and Loose Change.[11]
Jane Chapman, a film producer and reader in media studies at the University of Lincoln, called Zeitgeist a fast-paced assemblage of agitprop, an example of unethical film-making.[12] She accuses Peter Joseph of implicit deception through the use of standard film-making propaganda techniques. While parts of the film are, she says, comically self-defeating, the nature of twisted evidence and use of Madrid bomb footage to imply it is of the London bombings amount to ethical abuse in sourcing. In later versions of the film a subtitle is added to this footage identifying it as from the Madrid bombings.[citation needed] She finishes her analysis with the comment: Thus, legitimate questions about what happened on 9/11, and about corruption in religious and financial organizations, are all undermined by the films determined effort to maximize an emotional response at the expense of reasoned argument.
Alex Jones, American radio host, prominent conspiracy theorist and exe cutive producer of Loose Change, stated that film segments of Zeitgeist are taken directly from his documentary Terrorstorm, and that he supports 90 percent of the film.[13]
Skeptic magazines Tim Callahan, criticizing the first part of the film (on the origins of Christianity), wrote that some of what it asserts is true. Unfortunately, this material is liberallyand sloppilymixed with material that is only partially true and much that is plainly and simply bogus.[14]
Chris Forbes, Senior lecturer in Ancient History of Macquarie University and member of the Synod of the Diocese of Sydney, severely criticized Part I of the film, stating that it has no basis in serious scholarship or ancient sources, and that it relies on amateur sources that recycle frivolous ideas from one another, rather than serious academic sources, commenting that [i]t is extraordinary how many claims it makes which are simply not true.[15] Similar conclusions were reached by Dr. Mark Foreman of Liberty University.[16]
Paul Constant writing in Seattle newspaper The Stranger characterized the film as fiction couched in a few facts.[3] Of the religious critique in the film he said: First the film destroys the idea of God, and then, through the lens of 9/11, it introduces a sort of new Bizarro God. Instead of an omnipotent, omniscient being who loves you and has inspired a variety of organized religions, there is an omnipotent, omniscient organization of ruthless beings who hate you and want to take your rights away, if not throw you in a work camp forever.[3]
In Tablet Magazine, journalist Michelle Goldberg criticized Zeitgeist: The Movie as being steeped in far-right, isolationist, and covertly anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, and she went on to write that the film borrows from the work of Eustace Mullins, Lyndon LaRouche, and radio host Alex Jones, and that it portrays a cabal of international bankers purportedly ruling the world.[7] In an interview with TheMarker, Joseph stated that while the film does mention bankers it does not seek to place blame on any individual or group of individuals. He argues they are merely a product of a socioeconomic system in need of change.[17]
Chip Berlet writes that the 9/11 conspiracy theories are bait used to attract viewers from the 9/11 truth movement and others who embrace conspiracist thinking to the idiosyncratic antireligion views of the videographer and the world of right-wing antisemitic theories of a global banking conspiracy.[18]
According to Jay Kinney:
At other times, Zeitgeist engages in willful confusion by showing TV screen shots of network or cable news with voice-overs from unidentified people not associated with the news programs. If one werent paying close attention, the effect would be to confer the status and authority of TV news upon the words being spoken. Even when quotes or sound bites are attributed to a source, theres no way to tell if they are quoted correctly or in context.[6]
In June 2013, Peter Joseph directed the music video for God Is Dead? by Black Sabbath, using extensive imagery from Zeitgeist: The Movie and its sequels.[19]
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Zeitgeist: Addendum is a 2008 documentary-style film produced and directed by Peter Joseph, and is a sequel to the 2007 film, Zeitgeist: The Movie. It premiered at the 5th Annual Artivist Film Festival in Los Angeles, California on October 2, 2008.
The film begins and ends with excerpts from a speech by Jiddu Krishnamurti. The remainder of the film is narrated by Peter Joseph and divided into four parts, which are prefaced by on-screen quotations from Krishnamurti, John Adams, Bernard Lietaer, and Thomas Paine, respectively.
Part I covers the process of fractional-reserve banking as illustrated in Modern Money Mechanics, by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. The film suggests that society is manipulated into economic slavery through debt-based monetary policies by requiring individuals to submit for employment in order to pay off their debt.
Part II has an interview with John Perkins, author of Confessions of an Economic Hitman, who says he was involved in the subjugation of Latin American economies by multinational corporations and the United States government, including involvement in the overthrow of Latin American heads-of-state. Perkins sees the US as a corporatocracy, in which maximization of profits is the first priority.
Part III introduces futurist Jacque Fresco and The Venus Project and asserts a need to move away from current socioeconomic paradigms. Fresco states that capitalism perpetuates the conditions it claims to address, as problems are only solved if there is money to be made. The film looks at Frescos proposal of a resource-based economy, which puts environmental friendliness, sustainability and abundance as fundamental societal goals. He goes on to discuss technology which he sees as the primary driver of human advancement, and he describes politics as being unable to solve any problems.
Part IV suggests that the primary reason for what the film sees as societys social values (warfare, corruption, oppressive laws, social stratification, irrelevant superstitions, environmental destruction, and a despotic, socially indifferent, profit oriented ruling class) is a collective ignorance of the emergent and symbiotic aspects of natural law. The film advocates the following actions for achieving social change: boycotting of the most powerful banks in the Federal Reserve System, the major news networks, the military, energy corporations, all political systems; and joining, and supporting The Zeitgeist Movement.
Zeitgeist: Addendum won the 2008 Artivist Film Festivals award for best feature (Artivist Spirit category).[20]
Originally, the film was uploaded-released on Google video. The current video posting on YouTube surpassed 5,000,000 views by late 2013.[21]
Alan Feuer of The New York Times noted that while the previous film was famous for its alleging that the attacks of September 11 were an inside job, the second installment was all but empty of such conspiratorial notions, directing its rhetoric and high production values toward posing a replacement for the evils of the banking system and a perilous economy of scarcity and debt.[22]
Zeitgeist: The Movie (2007) started the chain of events leading to the introduction of the Zeitgeist movement.[7] The group advocates transition from the global money-based economic system to a post-scarcity economy or resource-based economy. VC Reporters Shane Cohn summarized the movements charter as: Our greatest social problems are the direct results of our economic system.[23] Joseph created a political movement that, according to The Daily Telegraph, dismisses historic religious concepts as misleading and embraces a version of sustainable ecological concepts and scientific administration of society.[24] The group describes the current socioeconomic system as structurally corrupt and inefficient in the use of resources.[22][25]
Zeitgeist: Moving Forward is the third installment in Peter Josephs Zeitgeist film trilogy. The film premiered at the JACC Theater in Los Angeles on January 15, 2011 at the Artivist Film Festival,[26] was released in theaters and online. As of November 2014, the film has over 23 million views on YouTube.[27] The film is arranged into four parts. Each part contains interviews, narration and animated sequences.[28]
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The film begins with an animated sequence narrated by Jacque Fresco. He describes his adolescent life and his discontinuation of public education at the age of 14 and describes his early life influences.
Part I: Human Nature
Human behavior and the nature vs. nurture debate is discussed, which Robert Sapolsky refers to as a false dichotomy. Disease, criminal activity, and addictions are also discussed. The overall conclusion of Part I is that social environment and cultural conditioning play a large part in shaping human behavior.
Part II: Social Pathology
John Locke and Adam Smith are discussed in regard to modern economics. The film critically questions the economic need for private property, money, and the inherent inequality between agents in the system. Also seen critically is the need for cyclical consumption in order to maintain market share, resulting in wasted resources and planned obsolescence. According to the movie, the current monetary system will result in default or hyperinflation at some future time.
Part III: Project Earth
As with Zeitgeist: Addendum, the film presents a resource-based economy as advocated by Jacque Fresco discussing how human civilization could start from a new beginning in relation to resource types, locations, quantities, to satisfy human demands; track the consumption and depletion of resources to regulate human demands and maintain the condition of the environment.
Part IV: Rise
The current worldwide situation is described as disastrous. A case is presented that pollution, deforestation, climate change, overpopulation, and warfare are all created and perpetuated by the socioeconomic system. Various poverty statistics are shown that suggest a progressive worsening of world culture.
The final scene of the film shows a partial view of earth from space, followed by a sequence of superimposed statements; This is your world, This is our world, and The revolution is now.
List of Interviewees
Zeitgeist: Moving Forward received Best Political Documentary in 2011 from the Action on Film International Film Festival.[29]
A review in the The Socialist Standard regarding production values said the film had a well-rounded feel. In terms of content they criticized the shaky economic analysis contained in the second part of the film, said that Karl Marx had already undertaken a more scientific analysis, and that, despite these false beginnings the analysis is at least on the right track. Regarding transition to the new system proposed in the film, the review critically noted that in the film there is no mention of how to get from here to there.[30]
Fouad Al-Noor in Wessex Scene said that the film was more focused on solutions than the previous film, and commented that while there are controversial elements, he challenged those using labels to describe the film to watch the films.[31]
In her article, published in Tablet Magazine, Michelle Goldberg described the film as silly enough that at times [she] suspected it was [a] satire about new-age techno-utopianism instead of an example of it.[7]
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Zeitgeist (film series) Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Founded in 2008, The Zeitgeist Movement is a sustainability advocacy organization, which conducts community based activism and awareness actions through a network of global/regional chapters, project teams, annual events, media and charity work.The movements principle focus includes the recognition that the majority of the social problems that plague the human species at this time are not the sole result of some institutional corruption, absolute scarcity, a political policy, a flaw of human nature or other commonly held assumptions of causality. Rather, the movement recognizes that issues such as poverty, corruption, pollution, homelessness, war, starvation and the like appear to be symptoms born out of an outdated social structure.
While intermediate reform steps and temporal community support are of interest to the movement, the defining goal is the installation of a new socioeconomic model based upon technically responsible resource management, allocation and design through what would be considered the scientific method of reasoning problems and finding optimized solutions.
This Natural Law/Resource-Based Economy (NLRBE) is about taking a direct technical approach to social management as opposed to a monetary or even political one. It is about updating the workings of society to the most advanced and proven methods known, leaving behind the damaging consequences and limiting inhibitions which are generated by our current system of monetary exchange, profit, business and other structural and motivational issues.
The movement is loyal to a train of thought, not figures or institutions. The view held is that through the use of socially targeted research and tested understandings in science and technology, we are now able to logically arrive at societal applications that could be profoundly more effective in meeting the needs of the human population, increasing public health. There is little reason to assume war, poverty, most crime and many other monetarily-based scarcity effects common in our current model cannot be resolved over time. The range of the movements activism and awareness campaigns extend from short to long term, with methods based explicitly on non-violent methods of communication.
The Zeitgeist Movement has no allegiance to any country or traditional political platforms. It views the world as a single system and the human species as a single family and recognizes that all countries must disarm and learn to share resources and ideas if we expect to survive in the long run. Hence, the solutions arrived at and promoted are in the interest to help everyone on Earth, not a select group.
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Victory Gardens Theater announces the lineup for the 2017 IGNITION Festival of New Plays, including Tuvalu, or The Saddest Song by Antoinette Nwandu; This Land Was Made by Tori Sampson; Spin Moves by Ken Weitzman; Tell Them I'm Still Young by Julia Doolittle; Wolf Play by Hansol Jung; and Suspension by Kristiana Rae Coln.
The 2017 Festival runs August 4-6, 2017 at Victory Gardens Theater, located at 2433 N Lincoln Avenue. All readings will be free and open to the public, though a reservation is encouraged. For more information or to RSVP, visit http://www.victorygardens.org/ignition or call the Victory Gardens Box Office at 773.871.3000.
INGITION's six selected plays will be presented in a festival of readings and will be directed by leading artists from Chicago. Following the readings, any number of the plays may be selected for intensive workshops during Victory Gardens Theater's 2017-18 season, and Victory Gardens may produce these plays in an upcoming season.
"At Victory Gardens, we bridge Chicago communities through innovative and challenging new plays by giving playwrights the time and space to develop their work. We are thrilled to welcome these six remarkable and unique voices in the American theater to our IGNITION Festival," comments Artistic Director Chay Yew. "These playwrights not only reflects the challenges in our current political climate, but push us to imagine a greater future."
"This year's lineup exemplifies the current political and cultural zeitgeist of our city and country: a young girl's journey to self-empowerment, a movement towards a revolution, the role basketball plays in international peace, how to recover from the loss of a child, America's role in Korean adoptions, and the ancestral power of #blackgirlmagic. Come experience these new plays and hear what they have to say about the world in which we live," remarks Director of New play Development Isaac Gomez.
The 2017 Lineup Includes:
Friday, August 4, 2017 at 7:30 p.m.
Tuvalu, or The Saddest Song by Antoinette Nwandu
It is Los Angeles in the mid-nineties, and Jackie-girl is at a crossroads. This lyrical and powerful coming of age story with a soundtrack asks how the girls whose mothers' lives have been tainted by abuse, violence, poverty and shame ever grow into healthy and empowered women.
About Antoinette Nwandu
Antoinette Nwandu is a New York-based playwright via Los Angeles. Her play Pass Over is currently receiving its World Premiere production at Steppenwolf in June 2017, and her play Breach will receive a World Premiere at Victory Gardens in February 2018. She is currently under commission from Echo Theater Company in Los Angeles. Antoinette's plays have been supported by the Cherry Lane Mentor Project (mentor: Katori Hall), Kennedy Center, Page73, Ars Nova, PlayPenn, Space on Ryder Farm, Southern Rep, The Flea, Naked Angels, Fire This Time, and The Movement Theater Company. Honors include a spot on the 2016 Kilroys list, the Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award, the Negro Ensemble Company's Douglas Turner Ward Prize, and a Literary Fellowship at the Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Conference. Antoinette is an alum of the Ars Nova Play Group, the Naked Angels Issues PlayLab, and Dramatists Guild Fellowship. Additional honors include being named a Ruby Prize finalist, PONY Fellowship finalist, Page73 Fellowship finalist, NBT's I Am Soul Fellowship finalist, and two-time Princess Grace Award semi-finalist. Education: Harvard, The University of Edinburgh, Tisch School of the Arts.
IGNITION Opening Night Kick-Off at 9:30 p.m.
Victory Gardens Theater Lobby
Stick around for this opening night celebration with a live DJ, delicious appetizers, and complimentary drinks as we raise a glass to kick off our IGNITION Festival of New Plays.
Saturday, August 5, 2017 at 3:00 p.m.
This Land Was Made by Tori Sampson
Oakland in 1967 was a powder keg of social activism about to boil over into radical action that would soon change how the whole country engaged in politics. For the patrons of Miss Trish's Bar, however, these ain't nothing but talking points-that is, until the full seductive and explosive force of the revolution walks through the door.
About Tori Sampson
Tori Sampson is a recent graduate of Yale School of Drama, where her credits include This Land Was Made, Some Bodies Travel and If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must be a Muhfucka. Her plays have been developed at Great Plains National Theater Conference and Berkeley Repertory Theater's The Ground Floor residency program. She holds an Honorable Mention from the 2016 Relentless Award, is the Kennedy Center's 2016 Paula Vogel Playwright and second-place Lorraine Hansberry recipient. She is a 2017 finalist for the Alliance Theater's Kendeda Prize. Tori's other plays include, Cadillac Crew, Black Girl Nerd and Cottoned Like Candy. Her short play, She's our President, will be produced by Baltimore Center Stage as part of the My America: She commission. Tori is currently working on a commission from Berkeley Repertory Theater and will spend the next year as a Jerome Fellow at The Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis. A native of Boston, Massachusetts, she holds a B.S. in sociology from Ball State University in Muncie, IN.
Bringing New Plays To Life at 5:00 p.m.
Panel Conversation
Richard Christiansen Theater
Victory Gardens is home to some of the richest and boldest new plays premiering across the country. In a city where audiences are hungry for new theatre work, what is the current state of new play development and its future? What are the best practices for new play collaborations? Join this timeless conversation on the new play process featuring IGNITION playwrights Antoinette Nwandu, Tori Sampson, Ken Weitzman, Julia Doolittle, Hansol Jung, and Kristiana Rae Coln.
Saturday, August 5, 2017 at 7:30 p.m.
Spin Moves by Ken Weitzman
It's 1996, the inaugural year of the WNBA, and Maja dreams of playing high school basketball - but having escaped to the U.S. from the war in Bosnia, panic attacks prevent her from playing the game she loves. That is, until a new coach appears at her high school. He helps Maja to face her fears, but his unorthodox tactics alarm Maja's fiercely protective mother.
About Ken Weitzman
Ken Weitzman's most recent play, Halftime with Don is in the midst of a 2017 National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere. Ken's previous productions include, among others, The Catch (The Denver Center Theatre Company), Fire in the Garden (Indiana Repertory Theatre), The As If Body Loop (Humana Festival), Arrangements (Atlantic Theatre Company). His devised work includes, Memorabilia (ALLIANCE THEATRE), Hominid (Out of Hand Theatre/Theatre Emory/Oerol Festival Netherlands), and Stadium 360 (Out of Hand Theatre). Plays-in-progress include Spin Moves (New Harmony Project) and seal boy (Keen Company Playwrights Lab, The Lark's Meeting of the Minds, (Playwrights' Center of Minneapolis). National Awards include The L. Arnold Weissberger Award for Playwriting for Arrangements, TCG Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award for The Catch, the Fratti/Newman Political Play Contest Award for Fire in the Garden, and South Coast Repertory's Elizabeth George Commission for an Outstanding Emerging Playwright Organizations who have commissioned Ken's work include the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Arena Stage, the ALLIANCE THEATRE, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Theatre Emory, Out of Hand Theatre, and South Coast Repertory Theatre. Ken is a Core Writer at the Playwrights Center of Minneapolis, and a former board member of The New Harmony Project. Ken received his MFA from University of California, San Diego and has taught at UCSD, Emory University, Indiana University (head of MFA in Playwriting) and, currently, at Stony Brook University.
Artist Meet, Greet, & Ice Cream Social at 9:30 p.m.
Victory Gardens Theater Lobby
Hang out with the playwrights and artists while cooling off with boozy ice cream floats at this post-show artist meet & greet.
Sunday, August 6, 2017 at 12:00 p.m.
Tell Them I'm Still Young by Julia Doolittle
Allen and Kay are approaching sixty-five when their only daughter is killed in a car crash. Now parents without children, the two struggle to renegotiate their identities and their marriage, as the entrance of two young people revives a painful longing for what's been lost: their family and their futures.
About Julia Doolittle
Julia Doolittle is a Brooklyn-based playwright and screenwriter whose work has been developed at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, Rattlestick Playwright's Theatre, The Tank, Tiny Rhino, The Women's Project, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Urban Stages, and Rogue Machine Theatre. She is a 2016 recipient of the Elizabeth George Commission from South Coast Rep. Upcoming, the Samuel French Off-Off-Broadway Play Festival.
Sunday, August 6, 2017 at 3:00 p.m.
Wolf Play by Hansol Jung
An American father un-adopts a Korean boy but just before he leaves the new house, the ex-father finds out that the new couple to whom he has "re-homed" his ex-son, is lesbian. This doesn't sit well with ex-father at all. The boy is actually not a real boy. He is a puppet. And his puppeteer is the Emcee of the evening, and spinner of the night's tale: a lone wolf.
About Hansol Jung
Hansol Jung is a playwright and director from South Korea. Productions include Cardboard Piano (Humana Festival at Actors Theater of Louisville), Among the Dead (Ma-Yi Theatre Company), and No More Sad Things (co-world premiere at Sideshow Theatre, and Boise Contemporary Theatre). Commissions from Playwrights Horizons, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Artists Repertory Theater, the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation grant with Ma-Yi Theatre and a translation of Romeo and Juliet for Play On! at Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Her work has been developed at The Public Theater, Royal Court, New York Theatre Workshop, Berkeley Repertory's Ground Floor, Sundance Theatre Lab, O'Neill Theater Center's New Play Conference, Lark Play Development Center, Salt Lake Acting Company, Boston Court Theatre, Bushwick Starr, Ma-Yi Theater Company, Asia Society New York, and Seven Devils Playwright Conference. She is the recipient of the Page 73 Playwright Fellowship, Rita Goldberg Playwrights' Workshop Fellowship at the Lark, 2050 Fellowship at New York Theater Workshop, MacDowell Colony Artist Residency, and International Playwrights Residency at Royal Court. She has translated over thirty English musicals into Korean, including Evita, Dracula, Spamalot, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, while working on several award winning musical theatre productions as director, lyricist and translator in Seoul, South Korea. Hansol holds a Playwriting MFA from Yale School of Drama, and is a member of the Ma-Yi Theatre Writers Lab.
The Race Race at 5:00 p.m.
Panel Conversation
Richard Christiansen Theater
In a country so divided and polarized by topics of race, how are these conflicts reflected in the dramatic arts? What role does theater play in conversations around race and how can it begin the process of healing and understanding? Join IGNITION and Chicago-based playwrights as we begin to uncover the role race plays in creating new work.
Sunday, August 6, 2017 at 7:30 p.m.
Suspension by Kristiana Rae Coln
On the 100th day of 45's first term, two Black teen girls stage a coup of the authoritarian regime of Climb & Succeed Charter Academy, a not-so-dystopian high school where campus security patrols the halls in riot gear and a new disciplinary code takes in-school suspension to a haunting extreme. Voltaire & Yansa, guided by a mystic teaching artist, learn to wield their ancestral magic and blackgirl badassery to combat the harrowing militarization of public education.
About Kristiana Rae Coln
Kristiana Rae Coln is a poet, playwright, actor, educator, Cave Canem Fellow, creator of #BlackSexMatters and co-director of the #LetUsBreathe Collective. She was awarded 2017 Best Black Playwright by The Black Mall. In 2016, her play Good Friday had its world premiere at Oracle Productions, Octagon its American premiere at Jackalope Theater in Chicago, and but i cd only whisper had its American premiere at The Flea in New York. Octagon was the winner of Arizona Theater Company's 2014 National Latino Playwriting Award and Polarity Ensemble Theater's Dionysos Festival of New Work, and had its 2015 world premiere at the Arcola Theater in London. In 2013, she toured the UK for two months with her collection of poems Promised Instruments, winner of the inaugural Drinking Gourd Poetry Prize and published by Northwestern University Press. Kristiana is an alum of the Goodman Theater's Playwrights Unit where she developed florissant & canfield, an epic reimagining of the Ferguson protests, which was featured in the 2016 Hedgebrook Women Playwrights Festival. She is a resident playwright at Chicago Dramatists and one half of the brother/sister hip-hop duo April Fools. She appeared on the fifth season of HBO's Def Poetry Jam. Kristiana's writing, producing, and organizing work to radically reimagine power structures, our complicity in them, and visions for liberation.
The IGNITION Festival of New Plays receives major support from The Joyce Foundation, The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, Southwest Airlines-Victory Garden Theater's official travel sponsor, and Suite Home Chicago-Victory Gardens Theater's Housing Sponsor for the 2017 IGNITION Festival.
Performances are at the Victory Gardens Biograph Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue, in the heart of Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood. Admission to all festival readings and events is free, though an RSVP is required. For more information or to RSVP, visit http://www.victorygardens.org/ignition or call the Victory Gardens Box Office at 773.871.3000.
Under the leadership of Artistic Director Chay Yew and Managing Director Erica Daniels, Victory Gardens is dedicated to artistic excellence while creating a vital, contemporary American Theater that is accessible and relevant to all people through productions of challenging new plays and musicals. Victory Gardens Theater is committed to the development, production and support of new plays that has been the mission of the theater since its founding, set forth by Dennis Za?ek, Marcelle McVay, and the original founders of Victory Gardens Theater.
Victory Gardens Theater is a leader in developing and producing new theater work and cultivating an inclusive Chicago theater community. Victory Gardens' core strengths are nurturing and producing dynamic and inspiring new plays, reflecting the diversity of our city's and nation's culture through engaging diverse communities, and in partnership with Chicago Public Schools, bringing art and culture to our city's active student population.
Since its founding in 1974, the company has produced more world premieres than any other Chicago theater, a commitment recognized nationally when Victory Gardens received the 2001 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. Located in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, Victory Gardens Biograph Theater includes the Za?ek-McVay Theater, a state-of-the-art 259-seat mainstage and the 109-seat studio theater on the second floor, named the Richard Christiansen Theater.
Victory Gardens Ensemble Playwrights include Luis Alfaro, Philip Dawkins, Marcus Gardley, Ike Holter, Samuel D. Hunter, Naomi Iizuka, Tanya Saracho and Laura Schellhardt. Each playwright has a seven-year residency at Victory Gardens Theater.
For more information about Victory Gardens, visit http://www.victorygardens.org. Follow us on Facebook at Facebook.com/victorygardens, Twitter @VictoryGardens and Instagram at instagram.com/victorygardenstheater.
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Just because students leave for vacation doesnt mean Maines colleges and universities shut down. All summer long, they still provide cool cultural programming for the rest of us. Here are four dont-miss events happening this month. Will Grunewald
No need to sign up for Netflix and plant yourself on the couch. If you have the itch to do some serious binge-watching, USM has arranged for an edifying one-day alternative, with 10 hours of fun, family-friendly, enlightening entertainment shown on its planetariums dome screen. Youll travel from outer space to the ocean floor, from the dawn of time to the present day all from the comfort of a reclining seat.
July 1. 10 a.m. $10 adults; $8 under-18. Southworth Planetarium, 70 Falmouth St., Portland. 207-780-4249.
Sure, you know the story of Muhammad Ali. But have you ever seen it told through dance? As part of the Bates Dance Festival, the INSPIRITperformance troupe led by Middlebury College dance professor Christal Brown uses movement, narration (The Greatest provided plenty of quotable quotes), and period-specific projections to evoke issues of race, social activism, and freedom. And what better venue than Lewiston, site of the famous AliListon phantom punch?
July 8. 7:30 p.m. $20. Schaeffer Theatre, 305 College St., Lewiston. 207-786-6381.
The third Thursday of every month, Bowdoins Harriet Beecher Stowe House where the famous writer penned Uncle Toms Cabin hosts an afternoon tea and discussion about the so-called little woman who made the great war. This months topic: the history and local color that inspired The Pearl of Orrs Island, Stowes novel set just down the way in Harpswell, written 10 years after shed moved away.
July 20. 1 p.m. Free (reservations required). Harriet Beecher Stowe House, 63 Federal St., Brunswick. 207-725-3155.
Summer is T-shirt season, and no one understands the subtleties of short-sleeved style better than New York photographer Susan Barnett, who traveled the country taking photographs of the shirts on strangers backs. Her aim is to investigate the zeitgeist through the silkscreened words and images full of political, personal, religious, and cultural meaning that we wear around every day.
Through September 2. Free. University of Maine Museum of Art, 40 Harlow St., Bangor. 207-581-3300.http://umma.maine.edu
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A Resource Based Economy is a proposed system where goods and services are available to all who need them, not just the select few. There is no need for money, credit, barter, or any other system that relies on debt and servitude. Our current capitalist system allows (and encourages) certain individuals to amass great amounts of wealth, leaving much of the rest of the world in abject poverty. A recent study has shown that the 62 richest people hold the same wealth as the poorest 50% in the world (http://www.abc.net.au/news/factcheck/...). How can anybody morally justify this?
Clearly, our current system is not working. Sure, many of us in the West now have smart phones, cheap fast food, clothing, and 24-hour shopping, but is this really what we want from society? At what expense does this all come? By now we have all heard of the underpaid and under-appreciated workers in Asia who are responsible for producing our clothes, shoes and electronics. They work in hot and crowded factories, barely getting enough money to pay for their families food, let alone being able to save anything. We might be living it up in the West, but they certainly arent. Our current system is inherently exploitative. It benefits the few at the expense of the many.
Jacque Fresco is an American futurist who has been around for quite a while hes almost 100 years old! He has always pushed for a society that doesnt try to take, take, take all the time, but instead shares its resources with all its inhabitants. He believes that the Earths resources should be declared as the common heritage of all people. Why should a baby come into this world with no access to clean water, because a group of rich guys dont want to give anything away for free?
Jacque believes that greed is simply a result of our current system. Think of a group of cows in a field that have plentiful grass. They dont go around fighting each other over whose blade of grass is whose. Of course not theres enough food for all! However, as soon as the farmer holds out a single carrot, cows will push and buck one another in order to get to it. Why? Because the carrot is now scarce. Our current capitalist system relies on scarcity. That is, if something is scarce (for example, an iPhone 6S Plus), then people will do whatever it takes to get one. Of course, many of our resources and products are not scarce, its just that the companies what us to think that they are scarce so that we hand over our hard-earned money. If we knew that we could just use a 3D printer to print ourselves an iPhone, then why would we line up for ten hours to pay $1200 for one? Companies use many psychological tricks to make us think their products are scarce so that we freely give them our money (https://www.businessinsider.com.au/ma...). Its a big scam that can be done away with in our future society.
Jacque has recently released a film called The Choice is Ours (https://youtu.be/Yb5ivvcTvRQ). I watched it last night and enjoyed it immensely. The first half talks about the problems with our current system and the dire need for change. It tells us about the history of the financial system and how it has been designed to benefit the ruling class. Laws, prison sentences and other punishments exist so that our rulers can maintain control. The second half of the film proposes a workable alternative to this madness. It aims to achieve and maintain a more humane society for all using technology and automation. A financial, money-based system will no longer be needed. A resource-based economy which efficiently shares and distributes the worlds resources will take its place.
The Choice is Ours has guest appearances by Jacque Fresco (Futurist, Industrial Designer, Social Engineer, Founder of The Venus Project https://www.thevenusproject.com/), Jeffery A. Hoffman Ph.D (Prof. Aeronautics & Astronautics MIT, Former NASA Astronaut), Henry Schlinger, Ph.D., BCBA-D (Prof. Psychology CAL State University), Abby Martin (Journalist & Host The Empire Files), Karen Hudes (Economist, Lawyer, World Bank Whistleblower), Erin Ade (Reporter & Host Boom Bust), Paul Wright (Founder & Director of Human Rights Defense Center, Editor of Prison Legal News, Author), Dylan Ratigan (Author & TV Host The Dylan Ratigan Show), Mark Jacobson, Ph.d (Prof. Civil & Env. Engineering, Stanford University. The Solutions Project), Erik Brynjolfsson, Ph.D (Prof. of Management-MIT Sloan School of Management, Dir. MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, Author), Lawrence M. Krauss, Ph.D (Foundation Prof. School of Earth and Space Exploration, and director of Origins Project, Arizona State University. Author A Universe from Nothing), Paul Hewitt (Author Conceptual Physics), and Roxanne Meadows (Co-Founder The Venus Project).
Please enjoy the film.
Originally posted on Daily Rant Australia on February 8, 2016 by Andrew.
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