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6 Indian Acts to watch out for at Vh1 Supersonic – Trance Hub (satire) (press release) (blog)

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

In our last article we shared 6 International acts that really will make the ground at Laxmi Lawns shake, now here we have 6 Indian acts that will add the Desi Tadka to the Festival.India boasts of several amazing acts in all genres, and once again the Supercrew has managed to get all of these acts together and importantly include new names as well.So here we go, hoping we can do justice to the immense talent are country has.

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AshRoy:

I think 2017 really began with a bang for him, his talent has once again crossed the borders and he is representing India at one of the most prestigious festival in the world with Arjun Vagle, The Awakenings.Playing with all sides of the techno genre, he has achieved a lot of in his long illustrious 17 year career, which included the formation of the legendary group which we all know about, Jalebee Cartel. Little do people know Ash has played with biggies like Chemical Brothers, Prodigy & Richie Hawtin, which in its way is a huge achievement?

Tuhin Mehta

One of the most humble guy on the scene, Tuhin has completed twenty plus years in this industry, which is mammoth task considering how easy it is for modern day artists to burn out quickly. The creator of the famous duo BruteForce, Tuhin has moved to a new style but yet his music remains powerful & diverse and he carefully manages to act every element to keep people dancing.Tuhin is an avid Vinyl collector, and has an awesome collection to his name. On 11th Feb Tuhin & AshRoy are going B2b, May the force be with us that day.

Browncoat

This alias of Nawed Khan is getting talked about everywhere. His early morning set at 2016s Anjunadeep party was a truly enchanting experience.House music has always been a part of Nawed and it was time he wore this moniker and showcase his skills with those fat bass lines, powerful stabs & 80s synth. With Nikhil, Nawed has been crucial in creating radio shows like Together & Crave. A less known fact is that Nawed has some brilliant and groovy Bollywood remixes with his brothers to his name, which we still are a big fan off.

DJ SA

Imagine opening for acts like Akon, SnoopDogg, & Sean Kingston, sounds surreal isnt it? This is what Sanket Arjunwade boasts of, which makes him along with Sound Avatar the preacher for Bass, Trap & HipHop music in India.In a crowd of many, DJ SA has made a unique name for himself and has definitely taken this style of music to a different level in the country. On the personal side, he just got hitched and we at Trance Hub wish him a happy married life.

Zaeden :

At just 22 years of age, Sahil Sharma already has a track on Spinnin Recordings. Success came early to this lanky lad from Gurgaon, has he became the first Indian to feature of Hardwells podcast Hardwell on AirZaeden has already played at one of the biggest festivals in the world, Tomorrowland when he shared space with international superstar Borgeous. His fan-base is currently growing at an exponential rate while he drops his power thumping music at all major cities in the country. With a great future ahead, we are really curious on what lies next for him.

Collective Frequency

The list cannot be complete without some local flavour.Shrikant & Durgesh, are real-time trance lovers who during non playing hours are really amazing people to deal with. Having already opened for industry heavyweights Above & Beyond, they have been constantly on the scene with their uplifting & progressive sets on several radio shows or Doing opening duties for artists like Super8 & Tab & Ashley Wallbridge. We know what this appearance at Vh1 Supersonic means to them and wish them well for their set.

Look forward to see you all Vh1 Supersonic!

Co-Founder of Trance Hub, Curator of The Gathering events in India and ALT+TRANCE in Czech Republic. By day, a Digital Marketing Enthusiast with love for Food and Technology. By night, a dreamer who wants to grow the Trance scene in India.

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6 Indian Acts to watch out for at Vh1 Supersonic - Trance Hub (satire) (press release) (blog)

Donald Trump is not the cyberpunk future – The Verge

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

Earlier this week, always-excellent comics site The Nib published a piece declaring 2017 to be a 1990s cyberpunk dystopia. Theres a good argument that weve been moving toward a cyberpunk present for years, especially as science fictional technologies get closer to reality among other things, the comic cites personal drones, hackable smart appliances, and smartphones. But its punchline was specific to the two-week-old Trump administration: Most dystopian of all, we now have a villainous business tycoon running the nation with the biggest army of killer robot drones in the world.

Dystopian may be the right word for the current political environment, but cyberpunk is the completely wrong one.

Cyberpunk as an actual literary genre is too diverse and complex to be pinned down in a few bullet points, even before it's been splintered into post-cyberpunk and biopunk and splatterpunk and whatnot. But as a cultural reference point, it evokes a few instantly recognizable tropes. Youve got the street-smart techno-wizards, for instance. The virtual fever dreams. The barrage of brand names. The hardboiled cynicism. And, perhaps above all, cyberpunk pivots on unfathomable corporate power.

2017 is all about the limits of the megacorp

If there's one thing that defines our popular conception of cyberpunk, it's the grandly ruthless multinational company, often some kind of computing or biotechnology powerhouse, that transcends mere state authority. Sometimes the company makes government irrelevant; sometimes the company is a government, as in the million franchised states of Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash. The hackers-versus-suits mythos transcends any specific story: its as universally recognized as (when its not outright crossed with) Tolkiens orcs and elves. But so far, 2017 is not the year of the megacorp it's the year we're reminded of the megacorp's limits.

Last week, for example, President Donald Trump passed an executive order on immigration: a drastic ban on not just new refugees, but initially current green card and visa holders from a number of Muslim-majority nations. It was a direct threat to the largely pro-globalization tech industry, stranding some employees overseas and making it dangerous for others to go abroad in the future. And Silicon Valley a place full of people who want to cure death, rewrite reality, and fight the rise of killer artificial intelligences metaphorically cast its eyes down, shuffled its feet, and tried to formulate an objection.

At best, companies reacted immediately with vocal dismay, decrying the order in public statements and lobbying for change. At worst, they expressed vague concern and quietly provided their employees with logistical strategies, until public pressure was strong enough to do more. They were cautious, conciliatory, and pragmatic: Elon Musk, a multibillionaire who thinks nothing of declaring hell colonize Mars, determined that getting rid of the ban was "just a non-zero possibility" and asked his Twitter followers to help him rewrite it. The world's most cyberpunk-y businesses, the ones busy developing virtual reality headsets while enmeshing humanity in massive data networks that track our every move, didn't ready their salaried assassins and killer viruses as their sci-fi stand-ins would. Their leaders donated money to the ACLU and showed up at airport protests. They may have far more power than the average citizen, but they seemed just as dependent on the whims of the White House as the rest of us.

Trump isnt a manifestation of cyberpunk, hes the backlash against it

Yes, Trump himself is a businessman but not the kind that cyberpunk fiction immortalized. He's not a menacing executive mastermind or a decadent posthuman, but an emotionally fragile real estate mogul who decided that the presidency was a step up from building gaudy towers and allegedly scamming his biggest fans. His particular mix of business and politics looks less like an omnipotent fusion of government and corporation than a petty kleptocracy, bent on filling overpriced hotel rooms and personally enriching some fellow billionaires. Its the traditional mainstream Republicans, with whom Trump has a distinctly strained relationship, who are pushing hardest to outright privatize the country.

Individual pieces of cyberpunk-related fiction certainly evoke our political reality. (Warren Ellis' Transmetropolitan is eerily apt, if you fuse its election arcs fascist-lite presidential candidate with his vindictive, blankly jovial opponent.) But the genres broadest tropes are rooted in exactly the kind of world order that Trump declares hell break up. Trump isnt a manifestation of our cyberpunk future, hes a backlash against it.

Late last year, author Emmett Rensin wrote an essay in The Outline decrying the idea of tech entrepreneurs as mythical heroes and villains, which Resnin argued allows them to project power in excess of its reality." While Resnin primarily contended that this perception lets modern-day robber barons get away with building a financial oligarchy, framing companies as all-powerful also obscures the larger dynamics of US politics. If you see everything through the lens of corporate warfare or sociopaths drinking Soylent, you lose track of whos holding the nuclear codes. (You also end up ignoring the threat of chemical and fossil fuel companies, whose sci-fi endgame is an all-purpose environmental apocalypse.)

Look, for all I know, Google does have corporate assassins

A company like Google wields a great deal of control over our lives. But the biggest threat right now is not that its mission statement suddenly changes to Be Evil, as popular cyberpunk plots might suggest. Its that it confidently pursues idealistic missions without accounting for how that work could be hijacked by outside forces, whether or not its a willing participant in the process. This has already occurred with mass surveillance of email metadata; what happens when the FBI reprograms ubiquitous service robots as an ad hoc police force?

Of course, were only seeing the surface level of things, so I could always be wrong. Maybe Elon Musks measured tweets are just a cover while SolarCity completes a hostile takeover of the US electrical grid while planting Russian false flags. Maybe Trump is secretly deferring to his Silicon Valley adviser Peter Thiel in exchange for a shot at eternal life in one of Thiels cyber-gothic vampire covens. Maybe the levers of power are not in the hands of people who want to pull America back to an ugly past, but ones who will dispassionately push us into a terrifying new future. At this point, though, that seems almost like a comforting fantasy.

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Donald Trump is not the cyberpunk future - The Verge

Ghost in the Shell’s Super Bowl teaser promises plenty of cyberpunk action – The Verge

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

Paramount Pictures released a new teaser for is upcoming adaptation of Ghost in the Shell, showing off an android Scarlett Johansson as she fighting her way through a cyberpunk Tokyo.

This new trailer shares some of the same footage from the films first trailer, but comes with an intriguing voiceover: They did not save your life. They stole it.

Johansson plays The Major, a robotic soldier with a human mind who is part of a task force known as Section 9, which works to combat cyber criminals and hackers, and come up against an enemy working to sabotage Hanka Robotics. Along the way, The Major learns some troubling things about her past.

While the film has attracted considerable controversy over Johanssons casting, the trailers and this new spot seem to have alleviated some concerns about the films look and feel. We dont have much longer to wait and see: Ghost in the Shell hits theaters on March 31st, 2017.

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Ghost in the Shell's Super Bowl teaser promises plenty of cyberpunk action - The Verge

Ghost In The Shell TV Spot Ramps Up The Cyberpunk Action, Full Trailer Arrives In Time For Valentine’s Day – We Got This Covered

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

Ghost in the Shell was one of the many, many 2017 blockbusters to roll out new footage during last weekends Super Bowl LI (see: The Fate of the Furious, Transformers: The Last Knight, and more), but if sources close to Trailer Track are to be believed, Paramount had originally planned to unveil a full-length promo for Rupert Sanders live-action manga movie just prior to the annual sporting event, only to pull said trailer at the eleventh hour.

Fast forward three weeks and change and TT is reporting that the new and likely final full trailer for Ghost in the Shell will be with us on Monday, February 13th, and a tantalizing new TV spot is here to drum up excitement. Embedded above, the promo in question features much of the footage seen during the films Super Bowl stinger, with the marketing campaign continuing to draw attention toScarlett Johanssons missing (stolen?) identity.

ScarJo will anchor Ghost in the Shell asMajor Motoko Kusanagi or The Major for short a one-of-a-kind human-cyborg hybrid and the flagship product of Hanka Robotics. The casting of the former Avengers star has proved contentious, and earlier today,Johansson offered up her own two cents regarding those whitewashing claims. Spoilers: Johansson stressed that she would never presume to play another race of a person. Diversity is important in Hollywood, and I would never want to feel like I was playing a character that was offensive. Also, having a franchise with a female protagonist driving it is such a rare opportunity.

On March 31st, Scarlett Johansson will finally take point as Paramounts Ghost in the Shell. Its the first major manga-inspired tentpole to grace these shores in quite some time, and will soon be followed by Adam Wingards Death Note movie and Alita: Battle Angel, which just added Jennifer Connellyto its stacked ensemble.

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Ghost In The Shell TV Spot Ramps Up The Cyberpunk Action, Full Trailer Arrives In Time For Valentine's Day - We Got This Covered

Niche Spotlight – Katana ZERO: A Murderously Stylish Cyberpunk … – Niche Gamer

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

This is Niche Spotlight. In this column, we regularly introduce new games to our fans, so please leave feedback and let us know if theres a game you want us to cover!

Adult Swim Games is publishing Askiisofts stylish, murderous action-platformer Katana ZERO. The game is currently in development for Windows PC, and its already shaping up quite nicely.

The game is focused on the hardcore end of the spectrum, where one hit means death for you and your enemies. Instead of absorbing lots of comparisons to things like Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell, and Mark of the Ninja, you should hit play on the above video to see the game in motion.

Described as a fast paced neo-noir action platformer, focusing on tight, instant-death acrobatic combat combined with a dark 80s neon aesthetic, even the games soundtrack oozes a stylish, cyberpunk feel.

The protagonist primarily wields a katana, while also making use of a time-warping drug named Chronos. Youll have to traverse hand-built levels and overcome the onslaught of enemies all in the hope of taking back what is yours.

Heres a rundown on the game, via Askiisoft:

Katana ZERO is a fast paced neo-noir action platformer, focusing on tight, instant-death acrobatic combat, and a dark 80s neon aesthetic. Aided with your trusty katana, the time manipulation drug Chronos and the rest of your assassins arsenal, fight your way through a fractured city, and take back whats rightfully yours.

Key Features:

A release date for Katana ZERO is currently not known, however for now you can view the games Steam page.

If youre a developer and want your game showcased on Niche Spotlight, please contact us!

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Niche Spotlight - Katana ZERO: A Murderously Stylish Cyberpunk ... - Niche Gamer

Other Voices: Trying to manage the Amazon effect? Don’t ignore your TMS. – Modern Materials Handling

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

By MMH Staff February 8, 2017

Editors Note: The following column by J.P. Wiggins, vice president of logistics, 3Gtms, is part of Moderns Other Voices column. The series features ideas, opinions and insights from end-users, analysts, systems integrators and OEMs. Click here to learn about submitting a column for consideration.

Lots of supply chains are dealing with the Amazon effect, which has led consumers to demand lightning-fast (and free) delivery times, last-minute order changes, and 100 percent order accuracy. While initially seen as just a retail problem, these expectations have been extended to the B2B world as well.

Managing the Amazon effect requires a host of solutions, but a transportation management system (TMS) is often overlooked. A TMS is critical for the execution of an order, and this is especially true as order cycles shorten and shipment sizes shrink. Any transportation manager would agree that if these customer behaviors arent properly managed, theyre going to drive up costs.

If youre concerned about the demands and expectations around your orders and deliveries, part of the answer may literally be at your fingertips. But please note that not all TMS systems will be able to handle the scenarios and options I describe below. Only a Tier 1, multi-modal TMS that was designed in the last several years will have the architecture and flexibility to respond in such a dynamic environment.

Real-time planning A TMS can bridge the gap between the order management system (OMS) and warehouse management system (WMS). By optimizing within the constraints of customer service, it can help consolidate customer orders and find the best mode and carriers to keep costs as low as possible while giving route planners the opportunity to dynamically optimize right up until the freight leaves the warehouse. This includes choosing the best cost/service option for all transportation modes, from parcel to LTL, along with multi-stop TL, pool distribution, FTL and intermodal while using real rates and services times for all modes.Allowing planners to hold onto freight as long as possible, but still keep releasing freight for shipping as needed, is especially important if trying to consolidate same-consignee freight as well as building multi-stop TLs.

A TMS can also shift from being a planning engine to an execution and visibility tool that monitors freight in transit: it knows which orders are on which shipments, along with service times for all modes. It can use logic and workflow to proactively monitor freight and automatically get status and location information from carriers as well as alert and respond automatically. In fact, I know of some shippers that ping their TMS to get the best mode selection and ship date requirements pre-WMS.

Leveraging pool distribution More and more shippers are seeing order sizes shrink, which makes routing all the more critical. In advanced scenarios, a TMS allows planners to optimize multi-stop TL freight and build pool distribution (this where a tight integration with both the OMS and WMS is important).

Pool distribution is a long-standing mode of transit that is seeing growth again. Like zone skipping for LTL freight, pool distribution provides a faster and cheaper method of delivery with more visibility and control. Its faster than straight LTL, as you use TL to get the freight to the local terminal and avoid LTL carrier terminal transfers.

With the right TMS, you can handle multi-leg moves and the associated cost/invoice allocation, which allows you to choose the best pool point and determine which shipments should be picked up or delivered. Routes are kept simple so you can break apart very complex orders and route them each separately. This is what gives you the all-important tactical savings; it lets you get creative about how you distribute freight and show your customers their savings. Optimizing your distribution network Thanks to e-commerce, many companies are finding that they need to be more than just a fulfilment company. That could mean light assembly, restocking or some other type of specialty tracking service thats required for better customer fulfillment as you create your own differentiators. For niche distributors that operate regionally, a TMS is invaluable. It can find the best partner distributors to act as the delivery agents, along with helping to acquire the freight and pay distributors.

When it comes to the Amazon effect of faster shipment demands, smaller orders, or other customer expectations, dont ignore your TMS. A modern TMS with the right design can operate dynamically and in real-time to help you maximize routes, deliveries, and your customers experience.

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Other Voices: Trying to manage the Amazon effect? Don't ignore your TMS. - Modern Materials Handling

TMS wrestlers gear up for conference – Thermopolis Independent Record Homepage

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

Mark Dykes

Jarek Sorenson works to roll his opponent over during the Thermopolis Middle School quad.

by Mark Dykes

Last week saw 10 middle school wrestlers hitting the mats during the Thermopolis Quad Tuesday, January 31.

The boys wrestled against Lander and Riverton, and came away from the home competition with 13 wins and seven losses.

Sean Johansen lost by a 2:04 fall to Tallen Anderson of Lander, but won by a 1:31 fall over Hunter Peterson of Riverton.

Carson Williams won by a 59-second fall over Gabe Harris of Lander, but lost by a 2:21 fall to Angel Monroe of Riverton.

Wyatt McDermott won by 10-5 decision against Blaize Laird of Lander, and by a 3-1 decision against Elisha Hernandez of Riverton.

Landon Sosa won by 13-9 decision against Gage Bailey of Lander, but lost by 9-4 decision to Kaden Toman of Riverton.

Roedy Farrell won by a 50-second fall over Ryan Edinger of Lander, and by 14-2 decision against Dalton Leach of Riverton.

Matt Music won by a 36-second fall over Mark Mock of Lander, but lost by 6-2 decision against Dalen Draper of Riverton.

Jarek Sorenson won by a 57-second fall over Sean Williamson of Lander, but lost by a 59-second fall to Brandon Kautz of Riverton.

Austin Barral lost by a 2:12 fall to Jaden Rivera of Lander, and won by a 4-0 decision against Kris Topan of Riverton.

Logan Cole won by a 50-second fall over Mason Hutson of Lander, and by a 45-second fall over Blake Walters of Riverton.

Charlie Sandberg lost by a 1:24 fall to Talon Anderson of Lander, and won by a 1:28 fall over Kaden Hinkle of Riverton.

Coach Toby Emery said the matchups were good during the quad. The only downfall, he noted, was they only wrestled 10 kids compared to other schools who had over double that. This meant the Bobcats had to show how they can stay ready and prepared, as sitting for an hour before hitting the mat wouldn't do them any favors.

All of the boys wrestled well, Emery said, and they've had the weekend off so he hopes they come into this week fresh and ready to practice for the conference at Powell this Saturday.

Emery added Barral has really come along this season and is wrestling with better technique, and Johansen is really stepping up and has more confidence. Overall, he said, the team has been evolving bit by bit each week, and the conference will be a true test for them. He hopes to see the boys step up and beat kids to whom they have lost in the past.

The conference at Powell is scheduled to begin Saturday at 10 a.m.

TMS wrestlers gear up for conference - Thermopolis Independent Record Homepage

Netflix Boycott Over ‘Dear White People’ Is Right-Wing Political Correctness in Action – Heat Street

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

Here we go again. People are getting offended over some little TV seriesand even threatening to boycott not only the show, but Netflix, the platform that serves it.

But its not the usual suspects getting triggered over slights to their perceived notions of political correctness. Its not the social justice warriors outraged over lack of diversity, cultural appropriation or past crimes of the director.

No, its white conservatives. The same people who mock and deridepolitical correctness. The same people who claim that broad labels like sexist and racist hamper the free speech of creatorsof entertainment to explore controversial ideas. Now they are the ones peddling their own rightwing version of political correctness to shut down a TV show they do not fully understand.

Netflixs upcoming series Dear White People has created a furor online among some right wingers, even spawning the hashtag BoycottNetflix. Some on Twitter are even claiming they will cancel their subscriptions based on this slight to the white race.

Rightwing influencers like Mark Dice and Paul Joseph Watson are calling the show anti-white and praising the massive amounts of dislikes the promo trailer is receiving on YouTube.

The trailer is certainly transgressive, almost like it was designed to offend some on the right. Does that sound familiar? These are the same people who say that provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos speech, which is also designed to offend, should not be silenced by the left. But by encouraging this boycott they are essentially doing the same thing to this Netflix series.

Part of being against political correctness is having a thick skin. Its not allowing broad, knee-jerk labels to influence your thinking on pop culture. To encourage controversial art that may offend. To promote free speech in the face of those who wish to silence it. These right wingers dont believe in free speech, only free speech they find politically correct.

The hilarious part of Dear White People, is that its not even as controversial or anti-white as these boycotters think it is.

The series is based on a 2014 film of the same name. The longer trailer for the movie paints a completely different picture than the Netflix promo.

In the trailer, its clear the filmis a satirical take on race relations in America. It takes on white peoples lack of empathy for the experiences of black people, but also seeks to challenge the protagonists anger and bitterness over racial injustice, which only hampers her personal relationships with both black and white people.

And spoiler alert: the film ends with the main character, Samantha, entering into an interracial relationship with a white guy and learning to put aside her resentment of white people as a whole. Thats not controversial, thats just a movie taking on controversial subjects.

But even if the film or series did not have such a universalist message, and perhaps kept its edginess right to the end, should people be trying to silence it? Hell no. Least of all those who claim to be fighting against political correctness and censorship.

All these people are doing is fighting back against identity politics with more identity politics. The identity politics of white men. This should be a sinister signto anyone in the free speech, anti-political correctness camp, who dreams of a post-racial world where everyone can be seen simply as humans. These people are not working towards that goal, they are simply propping up a special interest group for white people.

Follow me on Twitter @William__Hicks

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Netflix Boycott Over 'Dear White People' Is Right-Wing Political Correctness in Action - Heat Street

Political correctness | The Economist

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

Avoid, if you can, giving gratuitous offence (see Euphemisms): you risk losing your readers, or at least their goodwill, and therefore your arguments. But pandering to every plea for politically correct terminology may make your prose unreadable, and therefore also unread.

So strike a balance. If you judge that a group wishes to be known by a particular term, that the term is widely understood and that using any other would seem odd, old-fashioned or offensive, then use it. Context may be important: Coloured is a common term in South Africa for people of mixed race; it is not considered derogatory. Elsewhere it may be. Remember that both times and terms change: expressions that were in common use a few decades ago are now odious. Nothing is to be gained by casually insulting your readers.

On the other hand, do not labour to avoid imaginary insults, especially if the effort does violence to the language. Some people, such as the members of the Task Force on Bias-Free Language of the Association of American University Presses, believe that ghetto-blaster is offensive as a stereotype of African-American culture, that it is invidious to speak of a normal child, that massacre should not be used to refer to a successful American Indian raid or battle victory against white colonisers and invaders, and that the use of the term cretin is distressing. They want, they say, to avoid victimisation and to get the person before the disability. The intent may be admirable, but they are unduly sensitive, often inventing slights where none exists.

An example is given by Denis Dutton in his review of the editors' advice (What Are Editors For?, Philosophy and Literature 20, 1996). Mr Dutton points out that the origins of the word cretin lie in the Latin word for Christian. The term, he says, came into use as a way of acknowledging the essential humanity of a physically deformed or intellectually subnormal person. It is now used for a definable medical condition. The editors' aversion to cretin presumably arises from its slight similarity to cripple, a plain word now almost universally discarded in favour of the euphemistic physically handicapped or disabled.

As Mr Dutton points out, Thomas Bowdler provides a cautionary example. His version of Shakespeare, produced in 1818 using judicious paraphrase and expurgation, was designed to be read by men to their families with no one offended or embarrassed. In doing so, he gave his name to an insidious form of censorship.

Some people believe the possibility of giving offence, causing embarrassment, lowering self-esteem, reinforcing stereotypes, perpetuating prejudice, victimising, marginalising or discriminating to be more important than stating the truth, never mind the chance of doing so with any verve or panache. They are wrong. Do not bowdlerise your own prose. You may be neither Galileo nor Salman Rushdie, but you too may sometimes be right to cause offence. Your first duty is to the truth.

HE, SHE, THEY You also have a duty to grammar. The struggle to be gender-neutral rests on a misconception about Gender, a grammatical convention to make words masculine, feminine or neuter. Since English is unusual in assigning few genders to nouns other than those relating to people (ships and countries are exceptions), feminists have come to argue that language should be gender-neutral.

This would be a forlorn undertaking in most tongues, and even in English it presents difficulties. It may be no tragedy that policemen are now almost always police officers and firemen firefighters, but to call chairmen chairs serves chiefly to remind everyone that the world of committees and those who make it go round are largely devoid of humour. Avoid also chairpersons (chairwoman is permissible), humankind and the person in the streetugly expressions all.

It is no more demeaning to women to use the words actress, ballerina or seamstress than goddess, princess or queen. (Similarly, you should feel as free to separate Siamese twins or welsh on debtsat your own riskas you would to go on a Dutch treat, pass through french windows, or play Russian roulette. Note, though, that you risk being dogged by catty language police.)

If you believe it is exclusionary or insulting to women to use he in a general sense, you can rephrase some sentences in the plural. Thus Instruct the reader without lecturing him may be put as Instruct readers without lecturing them. But some sentences resist this treatment: Find a good teacher and take his advice is not easily rendered gender-neutral. So do not be ashamed of sometimes using man to include women, or making he do for she.

And, so long as you are not insensitive in other ways, few women will be offended if you restrain yourself from putting or she after every he.

He or she which hath no stomach to this fight, Let him or her depart; his or her passport shall be made, And crowns for convoy put into his or her purse: We would not die in that person's company That fears his or her fellowship to die with us.

In some contexts, though, she can be a substitute for he:

That ever was thrall, now is he free; That ever was small, now great is she; Now shall God deem both thee and me Unto His bliss if we do well.

(15th-century carol)

Avoid, above all, the sort of scrambled syntax that people adopt because they cannot bring themselves to use a singular pronoun: We can't afford to squander anyone's talents, whatever colour their skin is. Or When someone takes their own life, they leave their loved ones with an agonising legacy of guilt. Or There's a child somewhere in Birmingham and all across the country and needs somebody to put their arm around them and to say: I love you; you're a part of America. (George Bush)

To a Collegian columnist: Disregarding political correctness hinders social justice causes – Kenyon Collegian

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

Dear Griffin,I am glad that you took the time to learn about feminism and use your privilege to promote its ideas. I also think its good for people in positions of power to ask marginalized groups about the challenges they face in order to form a more empathetic worldview. However, your op-ed sees political correctness as an obstruction to education as though by being politically correct, we cannot understand people who are different from us. I believe your view on this matter is inconsiderate at best and destructive at worst.

Political correctness is not a means of degrading people of your social status. It is a basic component of the respectful discourse you appear to advocate. It also has nothing to do with you being called out for mansplaining. Having seen some of your Facebook posts, I believe that you were actually being a helpful ally in the way you approached the prompt why we need feminism. However, your response to women being upset should not have been to quit publicly advocating for womens rights. It should have been to continue a conversation with them about why they, the people whose rights you claim to value, feel patronized. Maybe you would have learned something from them, or maybe they would have seen that you are helping their cause.

Ignoring political correctness is dangerous. It means ignoring the history that contributes to oppression today. For years, marginalized groups have been forced to conform to the language and etiquette that make those in power comfortable. Black Americans were told to address white people using Yes maam/sir for years while they were not treated with the same dignity. Just because your safety doesnt depend on using culturally correct language, it doesnt make it any less important that you use the right terms for others.Richard Wright, who was once beaten for forgetting to address a white man as sir, said, I had to keep remembering what others took for granted; I had to think out what others felt. You may believe that you are doing your best to think out what others feel, but you have misidentified what the real implications of your words are. Your friend was appalled by your comment about they/them/their pronouns because it wasnt a respectful inquiry into genderqueer identity, but rather a thoughtless comment that does not consider the challenges faced by the trans community. Sure its grammatically incorrect to use plural words to refer to one individual, but that linguistic issue pales in comparison to the fight for recognition that trans people face.

A better way to voice your discomfort around pronouns would be to ask, Why do certain people use they/them/their when its not proper grammar? or to look it up on the thousands of great websites specifically created to educate the public. Otherwise, you risk being one of countless examples of cis, white, straight, upperclass men valuing their comfort over a marginalized persons struggle for equality.

I understand that your feelings were hurt, and yes, it is important to treat one another with kindness and respect. Attacking people for lacking knowledge about an issue is not only ineffective, but disrespectful. However, disregarding political correctness does nothing to advance social justice conversations. It actually damages them. This isnt part of some mass liberal agenda. Its part of human rights, specifically the right to live outside the shadow of oppression.

I dont believe your identity devalues your thoughts about gender or any other matter, as that would run counter to the ideals of equality and free speech. However, it should give you reason to think about how your ideas will be received, in contrast to those held by marginalized people. You say youve left a conversation about gender feeling scorned and uneducated, but youve probably never left one feeling unloved by your family, as so many trans people have.

Youre right we should talk about what makes us different. These are tough conversations and feelings will get hurt, but maybe you can put aside your guilt long enough to realize that, when it comes to advancing social justice, we need to be listening to the grievances of oppressed peoples first and our own discomfort second.

I think we owe our fellow humans that much.

Sincerely,

Vahni KurraA fellow human

Vahni Kurra 20 is undeclared from Columbus, Ohio. Contact her at kurra1@kenyon.edu.

To a Collegian columnist: Disregarding political correctness hinders social justice causes - Kenyon Collegian

Foregoing Political Correctness, The Senate Should Have Let Warren Speak – Daily Caller

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

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Federalism is a cornerstone of our constitutional system. Every violation of state sovereignty by Federal officials is not merely a transgression of one unit of government against another; it is an assault on the liberties of individual Americans. (2016 GOP Platform)

In a stunning moment on the Senate floor, Sen. Elizabeth Warren clashed with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Tuesday night after McConnell determined the Massachusetts Democrat had violated a Senate rule against impugning another senator. In an extremely rare rebuke, she was instructed by the presiding officer to take her seat. Tuesday nights rule means Warren will be barred from speaking on the floor until Sessions debate ends, McConnells office confirmed. (Warren cut off during Sessions debate)

On matters of moral and political principle, and on almost every critical policy issue I can recollect, I stand diametrically opposed to Senator Elizabeth Warren. But I felt outrage when I read the above quoted report. I felt outrage because Senator Mitch McConnell prevented the duly elected representative of the State of Massachusetts from freely speaking as such. I felt outrage that any Senator would be barred from exercising freedom of speech during formal debate, in order to offer relevant evidence in support of her position on the Sessions nomination, or any other issue. Especially when speaking on the floor of the U.S. Senate, U.S. Senators do not speak as individuals. They speak for the governments and people of the States they respectively represent.

It ought to go without saying that they must do so in accordance with their own conscientious assessment of what the good of their State, and the United States requires. Now, the 14th Amendment to the Constitution states that No state shalldeny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the law. When her speech was cut off, Senator Warren was reading into the record a 1986 letter, relevant to this Constitutional requirement. In it Martin Luther Kings widow, Coretta Scott King, expressed her opposition to Sessions nomination to be a Federal judge. In it King said:

I write to express my sincere opposition to the confirmation of Jefferson B. Sessions as a federal district court judge for the Southern District of Alabama. My professional and personal roots in Alabama are deep and lasting. Anyone who has used the power of his office asUnited States Attorneyto intimidate and chill the free exercise of the ballot by citizens should not be elevated to our courts. Mr. Sessions has used the awesome powers of his office in a shabby attempt to intimidate and frighten elderly black voters. For this reprehensible conduct, he should not be rewarded with a federal judgeship.

I would not presume to dispute the fact that this letter communicated Coretta Kings sincerely held views. Given the checkered reality of our countrys history with respect to racial attitudes and relations, (particularly in states where racial discrimination and segregation were once enforced by law) I would not presume to impugn her motives for writing as she did. But as a Christian, who believes people can and should repent, I also believe that when good fruit proves their repentance to be sincere, they should be forgiven. Accordingly, the proper answer to Coretta Scott Kings letter is not to silence Elizabeth Warrens effort to use it as evidence for her views of Senator Sessions record. It is to answer her speech with evidence that, as Attorney General, Senator Sessions will fulfill the Constitutions demand that no person be denied the equal protection of the law.

This is a reasonable thing to expect from the person who will, if confirmed, be responsible for overseeing, the Federal governments law enforcement activities, on the Presidents behalf. I respect Coretta Kings sincerity. But I also respect sincere testimony from others that, like our people as a whole, Senator Sessions has risen to the challenge of our nations now broadly accepted determination to make the ideal of equal justice for all a reality. Thats among the reasons I support confirming him as Attorney General.

But the action of the GOP majority in this instance is like a high-handed ruling from the bench in a court of law, to prevent testimony about conduct that bears on the issue being tried. It is an act of Party tyranny; no more acceptable than the judicial tyranny the vast majority of GOPs constituents deplore. Moreover, it shows little respect for Senator Sessions judgment, courage and good faith in allowing himself to be nominated for the position of Attorney General. He knew that his record would be discussed and examined, in light of the Constitutions relevant requirements. He did not shrink from the test.

From what I know of him, he must deplore his colleagues no doubt well-meant but truly misguided attempts to suppress criticism, rather than frankly rebut it. Otherwise, we would have to fear that, as Attorney General, he would seek to suppress dissenting speech, by force of law, instead of defending the freedom of speech, while competently rebutting its content, as appropriate. I would not be surprised to see him speak out, on Constitutional grounds, against suppressing one of the voices the people of Massachusetts have chosen to speak for their state in Congress.

Such majority tyranny, enacted to suppress the duly authorized voice of any State, is an egregious and damaging blow against federalism. Moreover, if the representatives of the states, in Congress assembled, do not have the freedom to cite in debate, relevant testimony supportive of their views, doesnt this contravention of their freedom also portend the very assault on the liberties of individual Americans, the GOPs 2017 platform decries? Doesnt it exemplify the politically stultifying culture of political correctness, extending it into the very heart of political deliberations on which the whole safety, welfare and integrity of our self-government as a people depends?

The GOPs Senate leadership should have let Warren speak. It is for the people of Massachusetts to silence her voice in the Senate, if they will. Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate should display the self-disciplined restraint so many Americans have had to show throughout our history. Their sacrifices in this countrys battles proved their dedication to the often-repeated sentiment rightly expressed with the words: I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your freedom to say it. During his service in the U.S. Armed Forces, my own father did so, in WWII and during the Korean War. He put his life on the line, for a country in which the nations laws still spoke in wrongful derogation of his God-endowed human worth. Is our nations government now so crippled by partisan passion that those in Congress, sworn to the goal of securing the blessings of liberty, no longer have the self-possession liberty requires? Pray God this is not so; and that the U.S. Senates leadership will reverse the action by which they have called for action that suggests that it is.

Political correctness is life and death on a hilarious It’s Always Sunny – A.V. Club

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

The five main characters of Its Always Sunny In Philadelphia are often described as the worst people in the world. And, sure, they pretty much are. Scanning around their Paddys Pub HQ most weeks, one can hear the ghostly echoes of Ben Kenobis pronouncement about Mos Eisley as a wretched hive of scum and villainy bouncing off the ill-washed glasses and even more ill-washed regulars. And the Gang, of course, variously huddled in ever-changing factions to hatch whatever plot its members imagine will satisfy the selfish needs of their twisted psyches.

Still, the Gang isnt really the worst, is it? Making a sitcom about actual evil people would be an even harder trick than the one the creators of Sunny have pulled off for 12 seasons. The secret of Sunnys dark comedy is that the main characters live in their own awfulness. They create it, they cause it, theyre product and victim of it, and, ultimately, they can never escape it. The Gang is a gang because there are no other people in the world who would, or could, have them.

That interdependent hell that is the Gangs daily existence comes to a hilarious head in Hero Or Hate Crime, where a stray breeze, a wayward $2 scratch ticket, a falling piano, some dog shit, and a gay slur cause Dee, Charlie, Frank, Mac, and Dennis to run through a series of very expensive professional arbitrators in order to settle their latest dispute. Normally, the argument over ownership of a potentially worthless (they havent scratched it yet) lottery ticket would be taken care of, as Charlie puts it, in-house. Like their legendarily nonsensical and horrifying rainy day board/endurance game CharDee MacDennis (The Game Of Games), over the years the Gang has developed an elaborate system of jurisprudence to hash out its constant, hysterical squabbling. Motion for sub-arbitration to determine whether or not thats sad! cries Mac, after Dee explains that she hadnt scratched the lottery ticket, because as long as you dont scratch it, then youre not a loser.

As arbiter here, Ill say that is sad, though less in the mocking way that Mac, Dennis, Charlie, and Frank accuse Dee of being, and more in keeping with the idea that, on some level, the Gang is aware of how awful its awfulness makes each of their lives. As Dennis explains to the first of their referees tonight, This ticket represents hope, okay? Potential. Promise. The very foundation upon which this group rests. Glenn Howerton gives Dennis spiel the maniacal edge of one brazening out a position to avoid the yawning abyss of ugly truth, something that goes a long way toward explaining the Gangs signature, hair-trigger enthusiasms. Every scam, every scheme, every newfound obsession and pursuit is the thing that will lead them out of the darkness that is their daily existence. As we see, eventually tonight, even the genuine victory of a $10,000 winning scratch ticket will ultimately be consumed by the inescapable reality of the fact that their 17 hours of professionally arbitrated backstabbing to obtain it have eaten up all the money they were fighting over. The pursuit has to be the point, because the reality is that happiness is simply not something these people will ever know.

Luckily for us, theres plenty of joy in watching these characters and these actors play out the inevitable. The circumstances surrounding the lottery ticket form a filthy Rube Goldberg device of disaster, as Charlie and Mac interrupt their argument about whether Charlie intentionally stepped in a pile of dog crap (he did) to almost get creamed by a falling piano. Fortunately(?), Frankout looking up womens skirts with his trusty shoe-mirrors like the dirtbag he issees this and screams out the full-throated warning, Look out, faggot! allowing Charlie to karate kick Mac out of the way. Sure, this leaves a shoe-shaped dog crap imprint on Macs shirt, but alives alive. And potentially rich. Well, potentially, potentially rich, as Dees windblown, unscratched ticket ends up in Macs hands, sending the Gang off to the lawyers offices. (Sadly, we dont get an appearance from Brian Ungers unnamed, always-funny lawyer. Hed find a way to cheat the Gang out of that ticket, especially after it may have blinded him.)

As far as the legal arguments go, the labyrinthine circumstances surrounding the tickets ownership are enough to test the wisdom of Solomon, including as they do, Dennis bribing Dee to overtip the barely legal shopgirl hes grooming as sexual conquest; Franks offensive but life-saving warning; Charlies heroic (if poopy) kick; and the fact that Mac actually has possession of the thing. The actors playing the lawyers (especially Karen McClain, whose character hears the bulk of the argument) are all excellent at deadpanning their way through the shenanigans. (As is revealed, they know theyre getting well-paid.) As for the arguments themselves, the pressures of avarice and a ticking clock sees the Gang turn on each other with all the chaotic ingenuity their feverish minds can muster. Which is a lot.

A major theme in the arguments is Franks slur against Mac. Macs tortured relationship with his sexuality has been mined for jokes for well-on a decade, and, yes, the revelation that hes constructed a makeshift pleasuring device out of a decrepit exercise bike and a fist-topped dildo isnt the subtlest gag. (There is a moment where the seat-mounted dildo rises unexpectedly that is timed to absolute comic perfection, though.) But the joke, as the rest of the Gang asserts, has never been that Mac is gay (Hes into the closet, hes out of the closetwe dont like you either way, explains Dennis), but that Macs contortions to deny his homosexuality have turned him into a joke. (He explains that hes been working out on the machine with assless bike shorts for air flow.) Like Dennis desperate assertion of the meaning of that unscratched ticket, Macs denial about just what he gets up to down in Paddys basement partakes of that strain of humanizing denial that keeps the Gang, for all its undeniable awfulness, relatable.

The same goes for the Gangs long digression here about hate speech. Like most social issues that Sunny incorporates into its plots, political correctness isnt on trial as much as its used to examine the Gangs various double standards and blind spots. When Frank protests that his use of the word faggot wasnt disqualifyingly offensive, its due to Franks adherence to old-school, pragmatic assholery. There was a lot going on. I needed something that would cut through. As soon as I said the slur, everybody knew to look at Mac, says Frank. Macs response that a bigot should not be entitled to a heros payout is self-serving (he really wants that ticket), but also points to how, within the Gang, finding offense in the others actions is often the best offense against them. When Dennis cautions, You know what, were treading on some dangerous territory, his objections to hate speech are more about standing (in the Gang and as the upstanding citizen he fancies himself) than about whether Franks assertion that Youre allowed to use any language to save a mans life extends to the word nigger in a similar situation. (McClains arbitrator, who is black, still manages to maintain her impartiality, which deserves some sort of medal.) So when all four of the guys turn on Dee for trying to apply the same logic to the word cunt, the shouting match that ensues (We cant lose that! Especially when its directed towards a woman when youre trying to insult her, yells Charlie) illuminates the shifting nature of the Gangs outrage. On Its Always Sunny, morality is, indeed, a moveable feast, depending on whos doing the eating.

In the end, the ticket comes down to Frank and Mac, the final arbitrators ruling finding that they have to split the ticket, since Franks claim can only be nullified if his hate speech was actually directed at a gay person. (Again, Im not saying these are necessarily good arbitrators.) Heres where things get just a little bit tricky, explains Dennis, before bringing in that bike (The Asspounder 4000, according to the deliberately oblivious and proud Mac) to show that Mac is, indeed, gay. (Or, at least, as Dennis puts it, a sexual deviant.) Sunny lives on the edge, and, if the bike gag is crude, the payoff of Macs dilemma is transcendent.

Seeing a way to get the whole ticket (now worth 10 grand), Mac quickly proclaims his gayness to snatch the prize. (Gay Mac rules! Rich, gay Mac!) But given the chance to renege on his claim once the cash is safely in hand, Mac demurs. Rob McElhenney makes Macs hesitation one of those improbably affecting character moments that Sunny wields so expertly. After the others sneer that hell retreat back into the closet now that hes won, McElhenneys look of clear-eyed relief is genuinely heartening as Mac says softly, I dunno, maybe Ill just stay out. No, I think Im out now. Yeah, Im gay. Actually it feels pretty good. See you guys. Naturally, the Gangs momentary, shocked silence is swept away by the revelation that all the fighting has cost them all but $14 of Macs winnings (which theyll make him pay), but, even then, Dennis says, Maybe lets make him pay this tomorrow. Lets let him have this. In the Gangs Philly, the smallest of victories are not victories at all. Not if youre trapped there.

Previous episode Its Always Sunny cant commit to Making Dennis Reynolds A Murderer

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Political correctness is life and death on a hilarious It's Always Sunny - A.V. Club

Too PC? – Two Views on Political Correctness – Huffington Post

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

This post is hosted on the Huffington Post's Contributor platform. Contributors control their own work and post freely to our site. If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email.

Political Correctness, or lack of it, is front and center in todays highly-charged political and social arenas. Terry Howard joins me in reflecting on the true nature of PC, then and now. Check out Terrys editorial followed by my own. We welcome your views on PC, so please add your comments.

Whats the biggest problem facing the United States today?

Nice try Sarah, but not our crumbling national infrastructure!

No, the biggest problem facing our nation in 2017, so sayeth the pundits, is political correctness or, to put it in their words, political correctness run amuck.

Now class, before we go any further, lets step back briefly with a backgrounder on PC.

Decades ago, the growth of cultural diversity, primarily on college campuses, brought with shifting self-identities and identifications coupled with evolving languages. And what accompanied that trend was a growing confidence and assertiveness in people articulating how they wanted to be treated and what they wanted to be called.

For many those early assertions were communicated without rancor and with explanations relative why they expected the change. Say Bob, got a second? Please address me as a woman and not as a girl, okay? I know you dont mean to offend but when Im referred to as a girl I feel devalued as a woman. For others, those messages were delivered rather harshly and with little or no explanation. Stop referring to me as girl, Bob. Thats offensive and shows how sexist you are!

The answer to that question for the person offended leads to other questions, among them how do you call out the change youre seeking. If it comes across as a personal affront, defensiveness and maybe even downright denial could happen. And trickier still is, if the message is too soft, too polite or too vague or ambiguous, then it may be lost altogether.

On the other side, that of the offender, if he/she is unaccustomed to constructive feedback or sees nothing wrong with what was said or done, youre just being too PC may be the retort or, if the message is too soft, he/she may miss it altogether.

Lets listen in on the PC perspectives of two of my favorite columnists, Dana Milbank of the Washington Post and Leonard Pitts of the Miami Herald.

Wrote Milbank, The notion of political correctness has recently grown into the mother of all strawmen. Once a pejorative term applied to liberals determined not to offend any ethnic groups or other identify group, it now is used lazily by some conservatives to label everything classified under that with which I disagree.

Wrote Pitts, (Screaming PC) is used to mean they are sick of not being able to insult blacks, Muslims, women and homosexuals as freely as they once did. But for all the (sometimes justified) criticism it receives. So called political correctness has at heart an important goal: language that is more inclusive, respectful and reflective of marginalized lives.

Now please. Lets cut through the chaise, the BS, and comes to grips with the reality is that PC is really a strawman (oops, or straw woman), a tepid excuse, a whiny cop out for the inability to hear and accept an important, albeit uncomfortable, message.

So the question is who goes first, where does the lions share of the responsibility reside in launching into a productive conversation when the stakes are so high, when relationships, reputations, egos, dignities and even careers are at stake?

I sat in the audience of a university theater and listened to elected officials and professors ruminate on inclusion in the upcoming election. It was Chicago in the 1990s and as in-your-face then as it is now. The discussion over race was loud and raucous as the candidates, Caucasian and African American, went toe to toe. As the debate turned to women, the all-male stage veered into the surreal. It turned into a shouting match as to who was more popular with the ladies. They gestured wildly about the numbers of women who called them, trying to prove that who was the more politically correct and more popular among the ladies.

The audience was more than 50% female with expressionless faces, rolling eyeballs, and a few yawns. I couldnt resist, raised my hand, and stood when the emcee called on me. I appreciate that the bias is unconscious but its foolish for a male-only stage to be fighting over who gets more calls from women. The correct alternative is to have women on stage who can speak for themselves. My political correctness was a bulwark against discrimination, but also a threat.

After much nervous fidgeting, the emcee finally responded, We tried! We invited the woman qualified to join us on stage, but she was busy. To which I replied, Any woman in this audience would be happy to name qualified women for you. The debate then concluded, quickly.

Later, one of the speakers, David Axelrod, approached me and offered to be my campaign manager if I ran for office. Regrettably, I declined. Neither I was not prepared to take on the inevitable personal attacks and name calling. Instead, I added my voice through writing, following the old saying, The pen is mightier than the sword. It would take years of lobbying, protesting, and aggressive challenges to achieve a greater representation in leadership, politically and socially.

The political correctness label would be applied to the activist women with the intention of intimidating and marginalizing them. The term Feminism was continually hammered as political correctness on steroids. Feminists were stereotyped as nasty, masculine and emasculating, and ugly, too. As progress for women was made, we expected, but rejected the accusations. With time, it became politically incorrect to make them.

Yet, just a few years ago, I was told to Wait my turn while less-experienced male candidates were chosen for board positions. Was this unconscious bias or a backlash against my political correctness? Either way, I wasnt surprised, and simply moved on.

Since the 2016 election, attacks on political correctness have been weaponized. Is it the anonymity of the internet or the surfacing of groups previously side-lined by a politically correct culture? Either way, I wasnt surprised, but now its impossible to move on.

On LinkedIn, I was told that women must stop demanding preferential treatment. If they were qualified, there wouldnt be any disparities. When I objected, I was accused of being a man-hating b**ch. That mymanufactured rage would no longer be tolerated and political correctness was over.

Since that incident, the womens marches grabbed the publics attention. The women relished the label nasty, rejecting any enforcement of ladylike. We endured name-calling like childish, ignorant, deluded, manipulated, and manipulative. Some gleefully called the women fat, and ugly, too. This is what political correctness protected us against. Ask women, any woman, if shes going to back down when called fat and ugly. No, the fight for political correctness isnt over. A new phase has just begun.

Slamming ‘political correctness,’ Casper scraps recycling program … – Casper Star-Tribune Online

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

Citing cost and the availability of cheap space at the landfill in which to bury toxic materials, Casper City Council voted on Tuesday to effectively end its legally mandated electronic waste recycling program.

Council rejected a five-year contract with Electronic Recyclers International, based in Aurora, Colorado, despite a city ordinance passed in 2009 that bars Casper from dumping electronic waste in its landfill.

It probably started as a feel-good measure, said councilman Chris Walsh. If we stop, it can go in our lined landfill.

Electronics can contain lead, chromium, cadmium, mercury, beryllium, nickel, zinc and brominated flame retardants, the website states. When electronics are not disposed of or recycled properly, these toxic materials can present problems.

Walsh and other council members cited the annual $57,400 cost of the five-year contract, despite solid waste division manager Cynthia Langstons clarification that the city would pay that amount only under the worst-case scenario.

It looks to me like were spending $57,000 on a measure thats more politically correct than it is necessary for us, Walsh said. Over the term of this contract, were going to save a quarter million dollars.

Langston had clarified at councils pre-meeting that the actual payment would likely be around $25,000 per year.

She said that dumping electronics in the citys landfill instead would cost $10,000 to $15,000 per year.

In an interview Wednesday, Langston said that she had miscalculated and the cost would be closer to $4,000 per year to dispose of electronics in the landfill, meaning the city would save about $20,000 per year by rejecting the contract.

Council members did not have the information when they voted against the agreement.

At the pre-meeting, Walsh said he was prepared to take what he saw as the politically unpopular position of opposing recycling.

Nobody wants to say that, he said. I say smash it with a bulldozer.

Langston also said that the recycling programs cost was already covered by the approximately $28,000 in annual fees paid by residents earmarked for recycling electronics.

Ending the program will also affect other cities, like Rawlins, which pay Casper to dispose of their residents trash and recyclables.

Councilman Charlie Powell said that while he supported recycling in theory, it was better for Casper to use its landfill rather than truck the electronics to Colorado.

We have enough land to run the landfill for another 1,000 years, Powell said. We can bury a lot of trash in Casper.

Walsh also said that because not all of the electronics that would be shipped to Colorado could be recycled, he would prefer they go into the local landfill.

Langston told council that some parts of certain electronics, like wood panels on old stereo systems, had to be thrown away. But she said 96 percent of the waste would be recycled.

Langston said city residents had demanded an electronics recycling program in the early 2000s after the issue of children picking toxic materials out of old American computers and cellphones in developing countries gained national attention.

You saw the little kids and they were melting the electronics and it was really bad for the environment, she said.

Still, Langston said cutting the program would be an easy way to save money during a budget crunch.

At a time when you want to cut budgets, recycling is what you should cut first, she said.

Walsh speculated that since Casper residents paid a 12-cent monthly fee for the recycling program as part of their utility bill, the city might be able to pass a rate decrease if it began dumping the electronics in its landfill.

Langston said that since the council banned dumping electronic waste in the landfill in 2009, a local organization that helps people with disabilities had recycled the electronics at a discount as a way to provide jobs for that population.

But Northwest Community Action Programs of Wyoming lost several hundred thousand dollars in federal funding this year and was forced to end its recycling program a few weeks ago.

Mayor Kenyne Humphrey asked whether councils rejection of the contract would disrupt operations at the solid waste facility given the citys existing ban on putting electronics in the landfill.

City attorney Bill Luben pointed out that council would need to vote three times to repeal the ordinance. He said council could temporarily approve the contract since it could be cancelled at no charge with 30 days notice.

If you dont move forward with this, Im not sure what the timing is for items to build up, Luben said.

Langston said if her facility filled up, she would ask city manager V.H. McDonald to landfill some of it, despite the ban on doing so.

She acknowledged in an interview that McDonald would be violating city law by allowing her to do that and said he could also instruct her to store the waste in public storage space around Casper.

Langston said the facility would likely reach capacity in the next three to four weeks.

The soonest the ordinance could be repealed would be March 21.

Langston said that according to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, the 80 tons of electronics waste the city receives each year could be placed in Caspers lined landfill, which has a physical barrier between the pit and the ground so that toxic materials do not drain directly into the North Platte River watershed.

Powell said the 80 annual tons was a tiny fraction of the 400 tons of waste the landfill collects per day.

The $20,000 the city is likely to save by cancelling the electronics waste program makes up .002 percent of the the sanitation divisions roughly $11 million annual budget.

Council members rejected a motion by councilman Jesse Morgan to postpone a vote on the contract until city staff could explore other, less expensive options for safely disposing of electronics.

I dont think well gain much information that would change anybodys mind, said councilman Bob Hopkins. This is just not a winner.

Langston clarified on Wednesday that she was personally in favor of the recycling program, which she noted was initially advocated for by local residents.

If they really want it, they need to tell their council people, Langston said. We absolutely cover the cost [of the program] through that 12 cents per month charge to citizens. We can do it thats not the issue.

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Slamming 'political correctness,' Casper scraps recycling program ... - Casper Star-Tribune Online

Pro-Trump priest casts political correctness aside and creates quite the stir on social media – BizPac Review

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

BizPac Review

Pro-Trump priest casts political correctness aside and creates quite the stir on social media
BizPac Review
The Rev. Peter West, pastor of St. John's Catholic Church in Orange, New Jersey, will soon have quite the following on social media once America catches on to his not so politically correct liberal bashing that includes more than a little humor ...

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Pro-Trump priest casts political correctness aside and creates quite the stir on social media - BizPac Review

Steve Bannon wanted to make a movie about cloning, abortion, and Nazis with Mel Gibson – A.V. Club (blog)

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

Feb 9, 2017 12:33 PM

Steve Bannon, the melting bacon fat candle that serves as President Donald Trumps most trusted advisor, had quite the Hollywood career before getting into politics. A few days ago, we wrote about the unproduced Shakespearean hip-hop musical he wrote about the 1992 Los Angeles riots; today, The Daily Beast is reporting on an 11-page outline it obtained for an unmade documentary-style film from 2005 about the dangers of futuristic technology. Bannon wrote it alongside his writing partner, Julie Jones.

Blessed with the very Coheed And Cambrian title of The Singularity: Resistance Is Futile, the sprawling, ambitious story concerns cloning, immortality, Walt Disney, eugenics, and, naturally, Nazis. Heres the broad scope (gird yourselves):

A heady, incomplete mix of science, history, religion, and politics, it sketches out a story in which mankinds unquenchable thirst for knowledge and scientific advancement has led to horrific, fascist atrocities and forced sterilization, drawing a direct line between those atrocities and modern bio-technology.

The draft is unfinished, so it is unclear precisely what Bannons full message and story arc were intended to be. But the theme that genetic and reproductive sciences has led to Nazi horrors and war crimes is a theme seen in a lot of conservative agitprop.

Essentially, Bannons is a Christian right-friendly story of arrogant scientists trying to perfect the human race at the expense of the natural order and Gods vision of humanity.

One ticket, please!

The Daily Beast goes into much, much more detail on the outlines gobbledygook, but whats equally interesting is that several sources claim rage-filled conservative Mel Gibson was once attached to the project (for the record, Gibsons publicist called this claim fake news). Bannon apparently loved name-dropping Gibson, and was also routinely entertained by Passion Of The Christ star Jim Caviezel at exclusive parties at a mansion in Santa Barbara.

Gizmodo provides some interesting context as well, elaborating on Bannons debt to Leni Riefenstahl, the German film director whose most famous film is a piece of Nazi propaganda.

People have said Im like Leni Riefenstahl, Bannon told the Wall Street Journal in 2011. At the time he was debuting his own piece of propaganda: The Undefeated, a documentary celebrating Sarah Palin.

The Singularity: Resistance Is Futile isnt Bannons only project to never take off. Along with his racist hip-hop musical, his shelf is also stacked a piece about Rwandan genocide (oh, brother), an anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim proposal called The Islamic States Of America, and, hey, an adaptation of Shakespeares Titus Andronicus that would be set on the moon with creatures from outer space and probably still somehow be racist.

[Note: Gizmodo, like The A.V. Club, is owned by Univision Communications.]

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Steve Bannon wanted to make a movie about cloning, abortion, and Nazis with Mel Gibson - A.V. Club (blog)

Quantum Cloning Machine Reveals Clues That Could Protect Against Hacking – Photonics.com

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

Photonics.com Feb 2017 OTTAWA, Ontario, Feb. 7, 2017 Universal optimal quantum cloning of high-dimensional photonic states has been achieved using the symmetrization method. The work has led to the discovery of information that could help system administrators protect quantum computing networks from external attacks.

Researchers at the University of Ottawa demonstrated the feasibility of high-dimensional optimal cloning of orbital angular momentum (OAM) states of single photons and used their discovery to perform a cloning attack to a secure quantum channel. The team cloned the qubits of a secure quantum message as well as the no-cloning theorem allowed meaning that the teams clones were almost exact replicas of the original information. The no-cloning theorem, a fundamental law of quantum physics, prohibits perfect copies and is the backbone of security for quantum communications.

The team showed the universality of their technique by cloning several arbitrary input states and characterized the cloning machine by performing quantum state tomography on cloned photons. They experimentally demonstrated a cloning attack on a Bennett and Brassard (BB84) quantum key distribution protocol to show the robustness of high-dimensional states in quantum cryptography.

But in addition to undermining what was previously thought to be a perfect way of securely transmitting information, the researchers analyses revealed promising clues about how to protect against such hacking.

"Our team has built the first high-dimensional quantum cloning machine capable of performing quantum hacking to intercept a secure quantum message," said professor Ebrahim Karimi. "Once we were able to analyze the results, we discovered some very important clues to help protect quantum computing networks against potential hacking threats."

The team hopes that their quantum hacking efforts could be used to study quantum communication systems and how quantum information travels across quantum computer networks.

The open access article was published in Science Advances (doi: 10.1126/sciadv.1601915).

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Quantum Cloning Machine Reveals Clues That Could Protect Against Hacking - Photonics.com

Steve Bannon’s Unproduced Movie About Cloning, Nazis, and Walt Disney Sounds Nuts – Gizmodo India

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

Steve Bannon, a man who once favorably compared himself to Darth Vader, Dick Cheney, and Satan, speaks with Kellyanne Conway on January 31, 2017 (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Steve Bannon, the white nationalist currently helping President Trump dismantle the United States, has produced a number of low budget conservative films. But the movies that Bannon couldn't get made over the years are even more interesting than the ones that were released-like an unmade documentary-style film from 2005 about the dangers of futuristic technology.

The Daily Beast obtained a copy of the proposal for the movie, which was being shopped around Hollywood in the mid-2000s. The working titles were The Singularity: Resistance Is Futile and The Harvest of the Damned. The unproduced film focused on a number of scifi elements, including human cloning, immortality, and eugenics. But based on the proposal, this wasn't just about the dangers of technology gone mad.

The entire film was to have a very ham-fisted political bent, drawing lines between the eugenics programs of the Nazis to the abortion and contraception advocates that were to come. Bannon is staunchly anti-abortion. The proposal even includes a frozen Walt Disney, presumably related to the urban legend that Disney was cryogenically frozen.

"The acceleration of technological progress is the central feature of the 20th /21st century," one part of the proposal explains, according to the Daily Beast. "We are on the edge of change brought about by Man's ability to create... Man, the toolmaker, is on the verge of creating greater-than-human intelligence."

The film appears to have nods to various Illuminati conspiracies about an anti-religious elite that would take over the world and survive a "post-humanity" landscape. Much of this fear would likely be informed by his staunchly Catholic beliefs. Or at least a conspiratorial version of them.

China, a country that President Trump continues to needle over trade relations and military security, also seems to play a large part in instigating whatever the last "futuristic" element of the documentary was supposed to entail.

Bannon allegedly secured funding from conservative filmmaker Mel Gibson at one point. But when the Daily Beast asked about that, Gibson's publicist called it "fake news."

This is far from the first unmade movie by Bannon (he's listed as a writer, director and producer) that's been making the rounds recently. The Washington Post recently found a 2007 proposal for a futuristic film titled The Islamic States of America. The proposal blamed the media and the Jewish community for allowing radical Islam to overtake the United States due to a "culture of tolerance."

One scholar told the Washington Post that Bannon's proposal for The Islamic States of America was "designed to generate hate against not just Islamists, not just extremists, but Muslims writ large."

Bannon has previously cited Leni Riefenstahl as an influence on his filmmaking career, much to the concern of people knowledgable about the history of Nazi propaganda. Riefenstahl's most famous film is 1935's Triumph of the Will, a Nazi propaganda movie that remains one of the most infamous examples to date of mass media that glorifies murderous dictators.

"People have said I'm like Leni Riefenstahl," Bannon told the Wall Street Journal in 2011 during the debut of his documentary The Undefeated, which celebrates Sarah Palin.

"I've studied documentarians extensively to come up with my own in-house style," Bannon continued. "I'm a student of Michael Moore's films, of Eisenstein, Riefenstahl. Leave the politics aside, you have to learn from those past masters on how they were trying to communicate their ideas."

You can read more about the proposal for The Singularity: Resistance Is Futile at The Daily Beast. Say what you will about the proposal, at least it looks like the Nazis were supposed to be the bad guys in this one.

[The Daily Beast]

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Steve Bannon's Unproduced Movie About Cloning, Nazis, and Walt Disney Sounds Nuts - Gizmodo India

Deeper origin of gill evolution suggests ‘active lifestyle’ link in early vertebrates – Science Daily

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

Science Daily

Deeper origin of gill evolution suggests 'active lifestyle' link in early vertebrates
Science Daily
As a result, since the mid-20th century it was thought that the ancient jawed and jawless lines evolved gills separately after they split, an example of 'convergent evolution' -- where nature finds the same solution twice (such as the use of ...

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Deeper origin of gill evolution suggests 'active lifestyle' link in early vertebrates - Science Daily

Evolution gives rhyme its reason – Aurora News Register

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Danzig

Submitted by Aurora1 on Thu, 02/09/2017 - 8:58am

A letter to the editor published in the paper a few weeks back caught my attention and made me feel a need to respond to some misinformation. The letter focused on the upcoming solar eclipse and the writers belief that there is a higher power involved with such a perfect event. I have never had an issue with an individuals beliefs involved with religion or any other out-of-this-world assumptions. Instead, the driving force for my response is based clearly on the facts that were tossed to the side as if they were never true to begin with. Here is the statement word for word, which falls into a logical fallacy known as begging the question: How can evolution explain how everything in our universe simply evolved from nothing and then set itself in such order we can now time events to the second? It cant. Lets start at the beginning of this statement with evolution and evolving from nothing. This is where I first noticed the incorrect portions of the writers comment. To begin, evolution is not the belief that the universe evolved from nothing. This is a common misconception that comes from those who think evolution is a myth. A simple definition I found for evolution is that its the gradual development of something, especially from a simple form to a more complex form. The basic definition itself points out that evolution literally has to start with something and not nothing as the writer wanted to argue. Also, the basic denying of evolution has never really sat well with me when this gets brought up as the thousands of peer-reviewed articles and research papers have proved this is a fact and cannot be denied. Those who want to argue that it is a theory need to take on a clearer view of definitions as our everyday use of the word gets mixed in with the scientific term. For something in science to become an actual theory it takes many, many years of research and peer-reviews to confirm empirical evidence of such claims. Its not just a guess like some of us may use the word in everyday life. What the writer might be looking for instead of evolution is the term abiogenesis, which is the natural process by which life arises from non-living matter. Although its not literally coming from nothing, sometimes these ideas get mixed up when trying to shortcut the information laid out. By the way, abiogenesis has been proven and is a basic understanding to the origin of life on Earth. The second part of the original statement focusing on how the universe set itself up in a way that allows timed events to the second is just as easily explained. The answer is math. Thats really it. The idea of tracking the sun and stars has been around for the majority of human civilization. In all honesty, people hundreds of years ago could have calculated the solar eclipse almost as accurately as we can, the only real difference is that little help from our trusty computer friends. I wouldnt be doing the statement justice if I didnt also focus on how things are in such order as well. Since there are too many examples Ill just be as honest as I can, we have order because there has to be. If the laws of physics werent the same every time we tested them, in the same environment, then we wouldnt be here today. In addition to that they wouldnt be called laws if there wasnt some type of permanency attached. Without order, the universe wouldnt be the way it is and it would honestly never become anything at all. You can start with something small like water and if two hydrogen molecules didnt always become water with one oxygen molecule then life just couldnt exist which includes humans. The reason people see this order as creation and not a natural process is because we are living in the results of life and not the precursor of it. When we look back at evolution its easy to see that the journey to where we are now had a lot of specific stopping points that all fell into place, which put us where we are today. If we look at it on the other end of the spectrum, at the beginning of life, the possibilities are endless and where we are is just many of those little possibilities coming together to create an intelligent life form ready to learn about the ways of its own existence. TRAVIS BLASE can be reached at features@hamilton.net

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Evolution gives rhyme its reason - Aurora News Register

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