text:
On paper, Journey should have been a minor release. It was a digitally downloadable game that took just a few hours to complete, released by an independent developer with only two previous games on its resume, and it was exclusive to the PS3, which limited its audience. Yet from the moment Journey appeared in March 2012, there was something special about it.
Despite these humble beginnings, the game went on to collect scads of awards, landing on almost every "best of" gaming list imaginable. It became the fastest-selling game on PlayStation Network in North America, and even landed a Grammy nomination for Best Score for a Visual Media category, the first video game to ever receive such an honor. The game was a hit, but beyond the commercial and critical reception, Journey was clearly a work of art. Roger Ebert be damned.
But with a project like this, developed by a small team of around 12, it needed to work on all levels to succeed. Austin Wintory's soundtrack had to be memorable. Jenovah Chen's direction needed to be perfect. Nicholas Clark, Bryan Singh, and Chris Bell's design needed to be spot on. But before any of that could happen, the art design needed to be exceptional. It needed to convey the message and melancholy mood of the world, and it needed to do so in a way that made the full use of the PS3 hardware without costing the independent developer more than it could afford.
Somehow, all the pieces came together. The look of the game borders in iconic, fitting seamlessly with a brilliant multiplayer mode that doesn't allow you to speak with the other player or communicate with them beyond the most rudimentary ways. It also has several distinct visual areas that all come to life. It all worked out. Of course, that's easy to say now that the game has been released.
As the art director of Journey, Matt Nava was responsible for much of the look and flair of the game that went on to receive such high esteem. He made it look easy, as if the game was always in his mind, begging to get out. The truth is far less poetic, and far more grueling.
"It was a real big, blank canvas," Nava says, looking back. "We didn't know what it was. All we had was this basic idea of making this multiplayer gamer where the point wasn't to kill each other, but to work together and have this bonding experience with people online that you don't even know. Beyond that, it was kind of an amorphous thing, and we had no idea if it was going to work, so there was this kind of ambiguity."
During the design process of the game, Nava created hundreds of different designs for the character, the world, you name it. Only a small portion of the early concept art actually made it into the game, which recently prompted the release of the book, The Art of Journey.
Written by Nava with a foreword by author Chris Melissinos, it chronicles both the development of the game and Nava's artwork. It is a must-own for any fan of the game, or anyone interested in one of the fastest growing – and most often overlooked – forms of art being produced today.
While nongamers may not grant Journey's art the same level of respect that they might a classical painter along the lines of Rembrandt or Van Gogh, the approach those masters of old took wasn't that far removed from what game designers are doing today.
Regardless of the time period and medium, any artistic endeavor exists to tell a story. Sometimes that is derived from conveying an emotion, or simply by striving for beauty, but there is a story to be had, even if it is a very singular and personal one that the artists embed in the work, and the person experiencing it re-interprets to fit their own sensibilities. Modern audiences certainly take away a different message from Renaissance art commissioned by the Church than the people of that era did, but neither interpretation is right or wrong.
Although video games remain an unconventional medium, and the constantly changing nature of the technology that drives the industry make its products feel transitory, the work and thought behind art in a video game is no different today than it was for painters hundreds of years ago.
"Those classical masters were making art that had to communicate, it had to convey a message, it needed to tell a story," Nava said. "A lot of it was for the Church, showing scenes from the Bible for people that couldn't read and things like that. But because they needed to communicate, their art needed to be refined in a certain way and they developed these amazing techniques for doing that. Video games do the same thing.
"They need to convey a message, they tell a story or they communicate gameplay with visuals and audio. So that kind of tradition of having these art techniques and using these tricks to create depth or motion with imagery and poses of characters translates directly. So I think it is kind of this continuation in a way, of that same tradition, of creating imagery that has meaning and message."
Nava has an interesting view of the world of art. His father, John Nava, is a painter and tapestry maker whose work can be seen throughout the West Coast. The elder Nava cemented his place in art history thanks to a series of well-known tapestries adorning the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, California.
From an early age, the younger Nava was a student of art. American illustrators like Howard Pyle became influential as he developed his own style, and he took inspiration from all sources, including video games. Fumito Ueda, the designer of Shadow of the Colossus and Ico, was one influence for Nava, as was the relatively primitive art style of Nintendo 64 games, in all their polygon-drenched glory.
Following high school, Nava was accepted into Otis College of Art and Design, one of California's most prestigious arts schools. With a list of alumni that reads like a who's who of 20th century artists, fashion designers, and experimental designers, the school is well known for its ability to change with the times.
There Nava met Jenova Chen, co-founder of thatgamecompany, which had recently released the game Flow. Chen developed Flow with Nicholas Clark as part of his master's thesis. It was as much a concept as a game, but it quickly went on to be the most downloaded game on the PlayStation Network in 2007 and won several awards for best downloadable game.
The two remained in contact following Nava's graduation, and after a few animation gigs, Nava was invited to join thatgamecompany as the art director for the studio's second title, Flower.
Flower proved to be another success for thatgamecompany, and helped to solidify the studio's growing reputation for creating games that challenged the traditional concepts of art. They were not typical games built around gameplay, but rather they were experiences built around cultivating a particular mood or emotion. While that type of reputation is one that most developers would kill for, with it comes a tremendous amount of pressure and responsibility.
"Flower was starting to get some really good reviews – there was a lot of hype about it, and it was kind of casting this big shadow on us," Nava recalls. "Could we make something bigger than Flower – better than Flower – that would satisfy the people who enjoyed [it]? And how could we make something even more meaningful, or different. How could we make something that would feel like it was part of the TGC franchise, but also new and exciting? It was a big challenge."
For TGC, when approaching a game, before they even begin to consider things like gameplay or story, the first step is deciding what it wants the gamer to feel. Everything then comes from that genesis.
"The main thing that we want is to convey a message, or to convey a mood or a feeling to the player," Nava said. "I think that is the most important thing to begin with."
Once the main themes and goals for Journey were established, the work fell to Nava, who was responsible for all the concept art, as well as all the texturing. Working closely with the team from the start, Nava and TGC came up with the general idea, and then he went to the drawing board – quite literally. From there he created dozens of conceptual pieces by hand. Most were sent back, but little by little, piece by piece, the game began to take shape.
As the development continued, the art eventually began to form around the technical limitations of the hardware. The PS3 is a powerful system, but there are always going to be technical limitations, especially for a company without deep pockets. Things like rendering shadows remain a sticking point for most games, which required imagination and creative design to overcome. The PS3 itself is technically capable of rendering shadows, but it was simply a matter of priorities. Programming shadows would be costly and time consuming, and it would have taken away from other aspects, like the lighting effects and sand physics.
"We found what the limitations were, and we designed the game around them and spent our time working on the things we could do really well," Nava said.
Of course, those that have played Journey will know that the game is very much left open to interpretation. There were certain guideposts to help you along and to give you a few ideas as to the nature of the world, the character, and what your quest is, but the game – like any good art – allows you to fill in certain blanks and inject your own interpretation of what it is. This was very much intentional, and solidifies the reputation that TGC has earned.
"What we wanted to be was kind of this universal thing. What we found was that the best way for us to achieve that was by letting different people interpret it in their own way and come away with something that's meaningful to them personally," Nava said. "To get there, as a team we built this whole back story to the world and we had a lot of detail and all this stuff, and we used that as a guiding principle to make sure the world felt cohesive. But we left out a lot of the strict details of this world that we built, and left areas open to interpretation, so that we could achieve that universal quality where people could take away their own thing."
This concept was so ingrained in the making of Journey that it even infected the developers themselves, and led to several spirited debate.
"Even on the development team itself there were different interpretations about the game, and that was something we were OK with. That is what we wanted our players to experience."
After three years of development, Journey was released on March 13. It was immediately greeted with near universal acclaim, further increasing the reputation of thatgamecompany, enough so that Sony even released the Journey Collector's Edition, a collection of the developer's three games on a single disk, as well as a handful of games designed as part of a competition. The collection even features commentary tracks for the games.
Nava hopes to continue in games and further expand into animation as well. At some point in the future, he'd like to create his own IP with friends. For now though his focus on gaming, even as the industry seems to be pushing away from artistic design and more towards photo-realism.
In a way, the photo-realistic approach is almost easier. The more realistic something is meant to look, the more it can be judged as a success or failure on a technical level. Building a world based on a creative, abstract vision requires an intense amount of teamwork, as well as a group all working on the same page. Striving for photo-realism in a game is something that can be measured by anyone working on the game, but to create a world based on creativity and imagination requires trust throughout the team.
"When you are actually trying to do something that is unique and illustrative and artsy, that comes from the mind of one person," Nava offered. "To really get the whole team to understand that, it takes a lot of communication. And that's why I think it happens a lot more with smaller teams."
Hyper-realistic titles remain the lifeblood of the industry, and the driving force that continues to challenge developers. But on the fringes, away from the traditional gameplay, there are games like Journey that point to new possibilities, new ways to play, and even new ways to think about gaming.
Journey is potent ammunition in the battle to establish games as legitimate art. It may be one of the best examples that video gaming has potential as a medium for artistic expression, not just thrills.
The success of Journey has shown that there is an audience for games like this. They enrich us as gamers and improve the overall industry. They may also be some of the most compelling art being created in any medium today.
Editors' Recommendations
- State of Play September 2022: how to watch, what to expect
- PS Plus Premium lineup includes Final Fantasy, VR games, and more
- You can now replay PS3 classics with AMD Super Resolution
- PS3 players reportedly unable to download key game patches ahead of store shutdowns
- The best PS3 games of all time


text:
Implementations of XML-RPC are available for the following proprietary programming languages and environments.
(This section of the XML-RPC HOWTO was generously provided by Christian Langreiter.)
K is a language used in finance and database development. To install XML-RPC for K, download it from the Kx website. Uncompress and copy the files into the directory in which you keep your .k programs.
Here's a short client:
\l kxr server:("localhost";"/cgi-bin/sumAndDifference.cgi"); .kxr.c[server;"sumAndDifference";2 3]
And here's a server:
\l kxrsc .kxr.sm: ,("sumAndDifference";{.((`sum;+/x);(`difference;-/x))})
More examples are included in the distribution.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
If Freedom of the Press Was Repealed, How Would You Know? Dire Vision, Revelation … Words a Decade Old Come Back to Haunt
Culture War, Class War, Chapter Seventeen:
Freedom Repealed
Dire Prediction: Before Voting for Romney, Remember, We Knew This Before. Will We Continue Shooting Ourselves in the Foot?
Forgetting the Past, We Were Doomed to Repeat It … A Message Arrives from Twelve Years in the Past Predicting Today's Events
A Message Arrives from Twelve Years in the Past Predicting Today's Events
We are disturbed reading that twelve years ago our present national situation was foreseen. Worse, we are reminded of what we lost; what could have been; how we've managed to block that from our memory in accepting the much diminished prospects now; but also how we should not forget; how we should remember how it happened; who was to blame; who helped and colluded in bringing it about, and why; so that, remembering, we might never let it happen again.
Forgetting the Past, We Were Doomed to Repeat It
For we learn, worst of all, that our chance to progress, rather, just to survive, now depends on remembering. Because twelve years ago, in the year 2000, all that's happened since could easily have been prevented if only we had not allowed ourselves to be talked into forgetting the history of only eight years prior to that.
This is a serious and thoughtful piece, which everyone would do well to know if we are to survive another fifty years, not to mention a century or longer. Still, I am not the sort to feel that facing harsh realities means we need go around glumly, martyr-like, in sack-cloth and ashes. Rather, I feel we might as well enjoy and make use of all the God-given abilities we have whatever the outcome of our efforts.
So don't be surprised that this exposition is aided by guest appearances making their points in hilarious fashion.
If you've never heard George Bush as Bluto from Animal House, you've got to.
Wolf Blitzer is not recognized for being a comic, but when he goes on to explain to his faithful viewers how they've been lied to and manipulated for years, because of pressure from the powers-that-be, and how grateful he is for their gullibility as he is receiving promotions and honors because his viewership is polling the highest in mindlessly accepting the concocted view, well we see many new sides of Wolf.
Thought-provoking but funny, another thing he explains is that their incredible success over the years in getting people to believe and or to forget whatever they want, has resulted in their having a little celebration consisting of an experiment as well…which they hope will bring them in even tighter with the now all-powerful filthy rich and their Republican water boys.
The celebration-experiment consists of a documentary in which the entire truth of the multiyear campaign to lie, deceive, and to control minds is laid out. And the experiment part is that they are certain that the next day and ever afterwards when such thing ever being aired is denied, the people will completely forget it and believe they must have been mistaken. Wolf signs off: "One last reminder on our special tonight, the documentary, "Freedom of the Press, Repealed. The Story and How, this Repeal Now Thoroughly Institutionalized Over Twelve Years, We Can Now Reveal How We've Duped You and Will Continue To." Tune in, don't miss it; You're sure to forget it."
Ok, I'm gettin myself off the floor I was laughin so hard I couldn't help myself. Ok, now to a more serious part.
Time Capsule Discovered
Not long after Bush left office, I unearthed, March 9, 2009, 9:49am, three never finished drafts of an article I intended to publish on my website prior to the 2000 Presidential election involving Bush v Gore. Stuffed and interwoven among the electrons of the backups of old computers, I had completely forgotten ever having written any of it.
Engulfed, indeed, pushed around and battered within the intensity and sharpness of recent political, geopolitical, and economic and financial forces of late, I was shocked to see the words, written a decade earlier, which, desperately intoning, warned of specific dire happenings should George W. Bush be elected. For it seemed those exact words, of so long ago, had just been lifted from the headlines and front pages of today's daily news.
At any rate, I certainly thought at first that I was reading something about the recent collapse when I read what I had written in early 2000. I think I've said way too much without providing some meat—what kinds of things did I find? OK, in mid-2000, long before Bush was put in power and had a chance to show anything at all of what kind of president he would be, I wrote these words concerning what I thought would be the result of a George W. Bush getting elected:
[If Bush gets elected in 2000,] "I believe we are in grave danger of losing, not just an election, not just a Supreme Court, not just our environment, not just our good economy, not just our recent relative peace in the world but things far worse than those horrors. I believe we are in danger of losing all hope of maintaining, let alone progressing, in the freedoms and privileges that we take for granted.
Prophetic? Eerie? I don't know quite what to make of it.
Reading more, this popped to my attention:
So is this election important? I believe it is. For me it is especially important, for I feel that if the Republicans take over, they will do so much to damage the dreams of my generation that even if the Democrats were to be reelected to all branches of government in 4 or 8 years, they will do so much damage (the example of Reagan-Bush nearly QUADRUPLING the National Debt in their mere 12 years being the perfect example) that My Generation will have to clean up their mess afterward, taking more years. And only then will we be in a position to progress in this country and world and bring it more in line with the ideals of peace, love, community, and harmony we envisioned in the Sixties.
Now back to 2012.
The Obvious but Hidden Becomes Visible by Contrast.
Though I had foreseen it, I couldn't have felt more helpless. I was made to face the fact that America's, indeed the world's, prospects for regaining a financial footing, whereas a mere twelve years ago looked like lift off, now was predicted as decades off. And that just to regain an ordinariness of life, with some saying that Americans will never again, ever, enjoy the standard of living they once took for granted.
It certainly disturbed me and got me to wondering and then to writing.
It saddens me what could have been. Reading it, I am stunned by how we've managed to vanquish from our minds and our media the insane, chaotic, and truly awful outlines of our times, as the events of the last decade crept daily into our lives and world and shaped them and it in drastic ways that we can discern only by the contrast. It was such a slow and gradual change, you see.
These unpolished catscans of a mind and time provide such a contrast, stark and shocking.
Concerning Time Capsule, I have much to say, much have I remembered, and much have I reviewed in my mind observing the timeline of these events and the changes in the social and cultural scenery, and in people themselves as these events happened over the last decade, one following another changing us all. I will make myself clearer following the text of the former piece to follow.
If Freedom of the Press Was Repealed, How Would You Know? Dire Vision, Revelation … Words a Decade Old Come Back to Haunt
A Revolution That Would Not Be Televised: If We'd Lost Freedom of Speech and of the Press, Would You Find Out About It on the News?
Dire Vision, Revelation
But before going into either my writing from 2000 or the recent events that it shows more clearly by contrast, I wish for you to consider how I felt coming across this piece that so clearly laid out the future and revealed the fact that those ideas were not brought out into the media. I wish for you to get a notion of what went through me as I mused upon the abject failure of our media to remember history so as to keep from repeating it.
Words from a Decade Ago Come Back to Haunt, Sadden, Provoke, Enlighten, Motivate
How would you feel if you found out for sure that you foresaw in an eerily accurate way the events over the last decade before they happened? Sometimes we all have a sense of what the future is likely to bring forth. Everyone, in fact, has some working model of the future.
But be honest, you'll probably acknowledge those models of the future are almost always some kind of continuation of the present and of the recent past, perhaps with a few technological advances thrown in. And usually, being the hopeful optimists we must be in order to continue our daily efforts, we envision something that is at least somewhat a progression. Something a little better at least.
What if you foresaw an exact reversal of the current trends, including an economic debacle, recession, market crash nine years before it happened? And even that it would happen about the time it did? You could think yourself prophetic; it could pump up your ego.
However if you also knew that you did not pick those predictions out of the air but that you had lived through a similar period in the past, well then you might consider the prophecy to be an astute but quite expected conclusion arising from the visible evidence of the times … and nothing unusual. After all, you are no important person, pundit, or professional prognosticator. The masses have not come scrambling to your door. You expect that you are not unusual in your perceptions. You feel that other people have similar predictions inside themselves. Isn't that what you would think?
But then these events unfold over the years, as you predicted, and … and this is surprising … without exception the experts, the paid prognosticators and pundits all of them, to a person, bemoan wearily the complete inability of anyone to have foreseen any of what transpired on each of these things, as the years go on.
And to a person they talk as if these things came completely out of nowhere, like a freakish weather pattern or an act of God; or as if they came falling to Earth like the frozen chemicalized ice bombs of jetliner rest room waste or appeared like the lightning bolt out of some dark mysterium tremendum hovering high in the sky above us, but in no way having any roots in any previous events.
No, these people, these commentators on events who you see nightly and whose every word is broadcast into the minds of multimillions, who knows, billions? … and whose words are often repeated … they may have another show … or they are offered up more than once … as their very words are echoed by other commentators around the world. In the United States, their words are echoed far and wide by people at all levels and in all countries afterward.
These people with such immeasurable power to reach and influence the minds of a global populace. Well they also went through the same events as you, as proven by their age. Yet they never mention the times previous that were so similar as to cause you earlier to make the obvious conclusions you made. And, now, even after the fact, in retrospect, those obvious near exact patterns of events of the not so long ago are not mentioned by them … they are overlooked, ignored.
Specifically, I remembered what happened with the Reagan-Bush tax cuts and how we went into a great recession because of them that resulted in Clinton getting elected in 1992. Eight years later, with Clintonomics, and Clinton creates a budget surplus and has balanced the budget for the first time in decades.
But then W. Bush, the Republican, gets in, and nobody's mentioning even as he's doing his first tax cut and blowing the surplus that this didn't work last time only a decade earlier with Reagan and his own father, H.W. Bush. And then through the years of Bush's terms, with more ballooning debt and budget deficits, did any of those events of the not so long ago and up till 1992, with Reagan and Bush, Senior, get mentioned? No. Instead when all the expected results … well, expected by informed liberal nobodies like me, anyway … when all the expected results of trickle-down, voodoo economics begin manifesting, well, an attitude of "we're only human" and "nobody could have known ahead of time" predominates among the Republicans responsible.
And these representatives of the filthy rich, the 1%–these Republicans–they get away with that excuse because the media was not pointing out past history to them when they were implementing those foolish policies. It is as if those earlier events hadn't been brought up in such a long time, so those past events, which should have been instructive, are as if they never happened. Mistakes get repeated endlessly as the media cooperates with the powerful in covering up awareness of earlier mistakes of the same kind.
Well this would cause you to ponder, would it not? How could so many people, people whose job it is to do so, not connect the obvious thoughts you and others did a decade ago? And now even in retrospect they are unable to.
Some of the possibilities for that occurring are that the people who are speaking for everyone–these pundits and commentators–have not risen to their levels of influence on their abilities and that something else is behind their rise to positions to speak and shape the thoughts of the multimillions. Yes. That could be it.
You might also ponder then if better more astute prognosticators and analysts were being kept out of the positions of influence intentionally. Yes. That would follow of necessity. And so on. How else do you explain it?
What it would come down to is you have to ask yourself, are you somehow the only one who is capable of making predictions from the recent past? And believing that might make you feel good if you have some problem in your life which makes you doubt your abilities, that is, if you are so lacking in real self esteem. But if you continue to think that way, such narcissistic attitudes would have you living in a world of your own that did not have any ties to reality eventually. You know what I mean.
Or, if humble and astute enough and not so desperately needy for a pleasant thought about oneself, you would have to ask yourself to consider more seriously the prospect that the media reaction may very well be an unexpected part of the original prediction. If you were sane enough, you would be driven to an unwanted and dire conclusion: Something had gradually and so unnoticeably gone very, very wrong with the media and the public discourse of your society.
If We'd Lost Freedom of Speech and of the Press, Would You Find Out About it on the News?
You might be led to reason: If you had predicted an erosion of basic rights if Bush were to get elected, and you had seen that had come to pass … I mean basic human rights, like given us from the Bill of Rights … why would not freedom of speech and of the press be part of that erosion? Thinking more deeply would it not have been a necessary part of the erosion of the rest?
For if the press had been doing its job, would it not have been acting as protectors of our rights in decrying any assaults, proclaiming any intrusions, documenting any erosions, and so on, in the uncountable ways it has done in the past? Would that not have been a second "2″ which added to the other "2″ makes sense out of the "4″ you are observing and trying to understand? (two plus two equals four.)
But as usually happens when stumbling on the hidden but obvious things, other, sometimes laughably obvious, correlates come to mind:
If Freedom of Speech and of the Press had been part of the erosion in human rights—the rights laid out by our Bill of Rights—well, who would be researching, detailing, proclaiming, or making documentaries about it? The Press? HA!
In order to give you a sense of the way I began viewing things, after the Time Capsule's revelations, I'd like to take you on a little journey, a little reverie that may provide a glimpse ahead, perhaps an understanding of the unbelievable, as a journey through the looking glass can often do.
So in answering the question above: If freedom of speech and the press were rescinded who would tell you? I would say that it would be one "revolution" that would not be televised, for starters.
"Well, of course," you think, cynically, "surely they would have done lots of things."
Yes, I respond dryly, one of them might have gone like this:
"Freedom of the Press, Repealed — The Story of How We've Duped You and Will Continue To. Tune In, Don't Miss It; We'll Make Sure You Forget It."
A Satire on the Mainstream Media Control by the 1% Begun with Installing George W. Bush into the Presidency … Featuring "Wolf Blitzer"
Wolf Blitzer – Freedom of the Press, Repealed
"This is Wolf Blitzer. Tonight, tune in as CLN details the way we, and the rest of the mass media, have been slowly but relentlessly pressured and bullied into presenting the views of the party in power, the Republicans; how we have learned it to be in our interests, if we were to continue unobstructed, to eliminate more and more of the voices contrary to those in power. You will hear how we learned techniques of deception of our own so that we could seem to be presenting a range of views but how we could easily get the viewer to conclude that the party pressuring us was the most credible. How?
"Tune in and learn how we matched the words of sophisticated and savvy talking heads from the right wing against the least informed and least polished of those on the opposition, and how we managed a game…which we termed, keep-out-the-insightful…of politely putting off, through excuses of saying we were focusing on areas not in their realm at the present. And how we used a multitude of such ploys on lefties until, as years went by, they began to doubt their own currency and thus doubted themselves and no longer sought to air their views in any but much smaller venues.
"So that's how we managed to get the intelligent opposition away.
"Or even letting people know that they were still around or alive. In fact we were able to get people to think that those people had simply changed their minds and were believing what everybody else was believing, or something.
"But, anyway: Tune in to see how mass media like ourselves were able, because of our collectively acting in the same way, having been pressured toward the exact same ends by the one power in America currently, the Republicans and the "filthy rich" owners of our corporations—being essentially one and the same with one being the public and the other the private faces of the same group—were able to cast doubt…the newscasters were able to cast doubt…into the minds of seasoned intelligent and astute analysts as to their worth and currency and that of their ideas in the current era, making them feel that their time had come and gone and that personally they were has-beens, as at the same time we were recruiting the least able and the most naïve to take their places.
"Other ploys: See how we kept media favorites who opposed conservatives and who were astute observers and witty, articulate communicators for their side, how we kept them on the dole and were even able to reap the profits of their appearances but how we slyly undermined their positions in myriad sly ways, using known effects of time of day scheduling, competition in particular time slots, sequencing of segments within shows, and of the shows themselves in the lineup—you know, placement of shows and so on—all in ways to discredit them and garner the least audience for these voices.
"But still, we reap the benefits of having them on the show and collecting the advertising money. Additionally, we just look better in seeming to be more balanced.
"So, in our documentary, see how we maintained our position and survived an assault on the Press, by caving in to the dictatorial demands of a Party that also essentially owned us, surreptitiously of course, but how we managed to fool the public that we had in any way done so; how we managed at times to fool the public that we were their adversaries for truth and a counterbalance, as the Fourth Estate traditionally had been, to the powers of government and wealth, while in fact we were totally their tools in concocting the realities we were told to and muddying or ignoring the truths that came our way that would have been illuminating to the public presented fairly, but would have undermined the position we were pressured to present.
"So, tonight, our special documentary, "Freedom of the Press, Repealed. The Story, and How—This Repeal Now Thoroughly Institutionalized Over Twelve Years—We Can Reveal How We've Duped You and Will Continue To."
"Be sure to tune in or TiVo it. For it is just a little fun we are allowing ourselves—that of spilling the beans about what is really behind the things we bring to you as actual events and true analysis—as a kind of celebration of the thoroughness of our success, and as a proof to the administration at how thoroughly we have manipulated your thinking that we can dare to lay it all out and feel certain that it will fail to enlighten a single one of you, in fact we feel it will aid us in an aspect of our campaign—that of keeping you confused so that you will be dependent on us for your conclusions.
"Especially when tomorrow evening and from now on, there will be no mention that this documentary ever existed, it will be expunged from all lists and archives and thoroughly be extracted and destroyed, as if it never existed.
"At that time we will begin…we're already assuming our success here…and we're planning a comprehensive campaign to add to our success so far in confusing and then convincing the public of the one-percent's version of events, and to add to our favor with the now sole power in America…basically to suck up to them…we will have begun a calculated effort that we have designed that we think will be very successful and that you will enjoy, of the slow elimination, first, of American's, of your collective memory of your past, beginning with the most recent and then, hopefully if successful and of course with your help, will continue further into the past; and following right behind the elimination of memory—no, we're not going to tell you exactly how, now that wouldn't be very game-spirited of us would it? Naw.
"Although, no one but you and I here now, I'll give you a hint—confusion, for one, has been found to be extremely powerful in clouding out the details of memory—now, that's all I'm gonna say, and believe me, if I wasn't so totally convinced that we have been so successful that we can tell you just about anything and get away with it, then I wouldn't have even said that.
"But of course, I am. That's why people like me still have these jobs, while—gad, for a second there I almost said, my god just like it were the old days, I almost said, while "you may have noticed the losses and demotions of many formerly household names here at CLN who haven't been as cooperative, supportive, committed, or as convinced, as I certainly am, of our ability to totally manipulate your thinking, as we wish."
"Yea, I almost said that. But then that would have assumed that you had remembered any of them. Oh. Old habits are hard to drop.
"And anyway, I have to say I have my viewership to thank for that…for my success. Sincerely, I owe a great debt of gratitude to you folks who regularly tune in to my show in particular.
"Why, the absolute malarkey that I was putting out to you, slowly at first, not feeling totally convinced of your gullibility, I mean, still in those days it was pretty irrational and unbelievable bull droppings, completely concocted out of only the hot air emanating from egotistical rants of those whose sole desire is only to comfort and enslave you.
"Yet, the pollings that came in showed that I could practically fart out these concoctions and you would swallow them whole like tasty confections! I truly began to feel that I was like Moses bringing nightly the stone tablets; such was the utter inability among the masses of you to evaluate in any way what you were being fed.
"My colleagues say that my success is my beard and frizzy hair—part patriarchal, paternal, Moses-like, as well as appealing to My Generation base of long hairs and facial hair valuing; to which we added my supposed background as a member of a Sixties band and interest in current rock music—we felt we needed to do more to convince them, with their tradition of question authority and all—and, well, we must've got some of them at least because the polls were overwhelming in their insistence on my staunch credibility.
"So, I just want to say again that my success is owed completely to you, my viewers, and your unbelievably vapid minds, inane gullibility, or busied, stressed, overworked, or threatened existences as to make you grasp at anything outside as being of more substance than what you feel inside, and perhaps more pleasant.
"But whatever it is, thank you, and keep it up. In this next experiment, I'm sure you'll show up, among all the segments of our viewership, as being the least able to remember and the easiest to forget what we will tell you later tonight. I'm sure you can do it. I'm counting on you.
"Oh, but now I'm forgetting. Sorry, I just got caught up in a wave of heartfelt gratitude to you all. The high ratings you give me and the solid staunch belief in my credibility that comes so high in the pollings, well they just … just that I get choked up … sorry, folks … this part is between me and you and … well, you'll forget it anyway, if it's decided by the Deciders later, that you can't have it … so between us, well, how do you thank someone who has taken you from the ratings floor to the moon? How do you thank someone who has given up their reason, their very reason and rationality, for your success? You see, I take it as a kind of personal affection you must have towards me….
"And that wasn't me trying intentionally to sound like Bill Clinton at all. No it wasn't….
"How do you thank someone who has given up their reason and rationality…their individuality for your success?
"You see? I take it as a kind of personal affection you must have towards me when…who you don't even know, to be so willing to be the greatest mass of idiot viewers on TV, getting the prize certainly.
"Because, you know, I simply can't imagine that people exist who could be so unbelievably lacking in reason, intelligence, or simply the ability to remember what we say from one night to the next, as to swallow so hungrily the pig slop that I've been out here portraying as accurate, unbiased, etc. HA. Ha. Oh, the drivel we won't say.
"So, unless somehow they've managed to create people with air balloons for brains… ha, ha……
"No, No, no! Sorry, my friends, my bad on that. Let me assure you that has not happened. No, there are no people who's heads are actually balloons. Believe me, OK?
"Ok, then, what I'm saying is that unless the greatest percentage of you is vapid minded or brain dead—and that I don't believe folks—then the only thing could be that you folks really care about me and making me a success as to sacrifice your own thought, reason, and individuality.
"Well, yeah, I'm sure you're getting something out of it too, Y'know. I'm sure it helps having not to think and being able to just tune in nightly to be told what's true and what to believe and never to be given anything unsettling or contrary as to cause you to be upset and have those horrible feelings of uncertainty.
"So, anyway, we get it, we get each other, and together let's go make newscasting history—if they'll ever keep an accurate one… hmmm… oh well.
"But at least for now, going back to what I was telling you about our next big wave of … well, some on our side might call it mind control or even enslavement … but you and I know that you're better off with us giving you your reality, your memories, your beliefs. I'm sure you've all realized by now that we're doing a whole lot better than the crappy reality you all had before we started helping you out.
"So the exciting next phase, as I was saying, begins with the slow elimination of recent memory, then memory further back. And to put it in a nutshell: We're going to give you new happier memories, and interpretations of those memories that you'll just relish. Just like we've recreated your present by substituting confusing reality with simple heart-warming, however untrue, views and perceptions.
"Well, together we've been so successful that we're going to show our gratitude by doing the same for your past. Of course, in pleasing our Deciders, it will be the grand events of the past, the ones that are in their interest to change, that will be conveniently removed and replaced by versions to suit them, but you can trust us, you'll much prefer, in fact we guarantee, you'll enjoy what we give you.
"And, be patient, once we've been able to do that; you're going to have to help of course… of course you will; with that accomplished, we'll be able to help more and more with your personal memories. Not too long now, and you'll have wonderful happy memories—we'll have taken your miserable real ones and instead we will give you these happy memories, splendid memories that will completely buttress the views that we've been feeding you, giving you personal, unreal, memories of personal experiences that prove the validity of the beliefs that we've caused you to have.
"And believe you me, we're going to load it up with goodies of all kinds—ice cream dates, Christmases perfect and loving, Fourth of July celebrations and innocent love under the fireworks—but that's enough. Just you be assured, your gonna have your very own "Happy Days" for a personal past. Our guarantee at CLN – the Central Lying News.
"Now, back to regular programming, save one last reminder on our special tonight, the documentary, 'Freedom of the Press, Repealed. The Story, and How—This Repeal Now Thoroughly Institutionalized Over Twelve Years—We Can Reveal How We've Duped You and Will Continue To." Tune in, don't miss it; You're sure to forget it.'"
Well, thanks, Wolf. You're a real trip, man. But anyway, back to reality, er, some version of it. After that little trip into a parallel, bizarre universe that might actually be closer to the truth than we would like to realize…I think a lot of us would like to know how true it is…
Anyway, let's take a look at that catscan from the past that I was talking about.
Continue with Culture War, Class War, Chapter Eighteen: Dire Prediction
Return to Culture War, Class War, Chapter Sixteen: The Fall of "Obvious Truths"
Invite you to follow me on Twitter:
friend me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sillymickel


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Window treatments: No-fuss flair
With springtime weather upon us, we'll soon be opening windows and letting the sun shine in. As breezes set curtains fluttering, it's the perfect time to consider the way your windows are decorated.
"Dressing windows is one of the most impactful ways to give any space a designer edge," says Brian Patrick Flynn, an interior designer and founder of decordemon.com.
The freshest looks now, according to Flynn and interior designers Betsy Burnham and Mallory Mathison, are all about simplicity, softness and fuss-free design.
Simple hardware
"The skinnier the rod, the fresher the room will look," says Burnham, founder of Burnham Design in Los Angeles. "Just a skinny rod with tiny rings is all you need. It's very graceful. ... When I see 2-inch and 3-inch wooden rods and clunky rings now, it looks so dated."
Mathison, who is based in Atlanta, agrees: "People are moving away from window treatments with cornices and valances." With a basic curtain or Roman shade, she says, you don't need to worry about "anything collecting dust or dirt, or kids wrapping themselves up in bunches of fabric."
Sheers and naturals
Mathison increasingly prefers to use sheer curtains on their own, rather than pairing them with thicker draperies.
Adding a thin, organic cotton lining to a sheer curtain panel adds a bit of privacy, but keeps "that sort of flowy, gauzy look," she says. "It's a soft little frame for the window and there's no distraction with it being a heavy fabric."
Only the fabric you need
A few years ago, Burnham says, many designers favored piling on fabric to create dramatic windows. Today, there's a spare approach.
"We're not swagging. There's no puddling of fabric on the floor anymore," she says. Now, it's best for fabric to "just kiss the floor."
The same rule goes for Roman shades: "A simple, pleated style, not too much fabric" has become more popular than billowing shades.
And phony curtains are definitely out: "Don't put up two panels that don't actuallyclose," Burnham advises.
Custom look for less
It's increasingly easy to get the look of made-to-order window treatments without the cost. All three designers suggest buying pre-packaged curtain panels, then having them custom lined and hemmed to fit your windows.
"I stick with linen and cotton," says Flynn, "then drop them off to a seamstress to be lined so they hang nicely. Next, I have the tops sewn 'soft top' style, which is a straight stitch that gives a casual, relaxed look. Then drapery hooks are added. The cost is anywhere from $25 to $125 per panel, depending on the type of pleat and liner used."
Or buy several yards of fabric (look for sales and online coupons for local fabric stores) and have a seamstress make simple panels, rather than having curtains done by a custom window treatment retailer. "The difference in cost, if you have the work done by someone who normally tailors clothing, is going to be noticeable," Burnham says.
If you prefer shades to curtains, Mathison says to apply the same strategy: Buy a plain white cotton Roman shade, she says, then attach a flat ribbon trim across the bottom border or even a cotton pompom fringe for a child's room. The look is simple and clean, and the expense minimal, but you've added a dash of color and texture.
Subtle patterns
Patterns aren't out of style, but these designers suggest deploying them strategically. One approach is using a pattern done all in one color.
"There are a lot of sheers now that have a subtle pattern in them, a tone-on-tone stripe or wavy design that addsa little bit of interest," Mathison says, but still "looks simple and light."
Burnham sometimes favors that approach, bringing in pattern through texture rather than color: "It's nice to find a rougher linen, just not a plain flat cotton," she says. "So you get a little texture in your solid color drape, and that's adding more dimension to your wall."
Subtler patterns work especially well in a bedroom, Burnham says, "where it's nice to have something calmer. In your dining room you can indulge your alter ego, and go a little crazier."
Furniture also matters: "In rooms with mostly solid decor," Flynn says, "I turn to window dressing to add pattern."
If you're using a print, "always think of how far away you will be from your window treatments," he advises. "Tiny rooms like powder rooms are ideal for small patterns since the eye will never be far enough away from the pattern for it to become busy or hard to read."
"Medium and larger patterns give the most bang for the buck," he says. But if the design "is very large, this means you need way more fabric" to appreciate it. That, he points out, will add to the cost.
Don't forget strategy
For all their decorating value, window treatments of course have practical purposes.
Draperies and shades can mask old windows that look weathered, buying you time before you need to replace the windows.
They can also block excess light, keep warmth from escaping through drafty windows and block sound from outdoors. In spaces where you want quiet, such as a home office or baby's bedroom, Flynn says the right window treatment can make all the difference.


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Give integrity to assistance programs
Feeding the hungry is one of the ways in which we care for our neighbors, and we encourage you to support local food pantries and organizations which help the needy. As citizens and taxpayers we also support the needy and the programs designed to assist them through our taxes.
Although the federal food stamp program provides support to millions of Americans, well-documented abuses with the program highlight the need for strong and effective reforms to ensure those who truly need assistance are able to receive it. The program also needs to be strengthened in an effort to get employable adults into the workforce and off government assistance.
Unfortunately, ineffective policies in the program have resulted in an open-ended benefit with no requirement for work, job training, or community service for almost 4.5 million able-bodied adults without children. This comes at the expense of hard working taxpayers who are paying higher taxes to support this program.
You may have seen the recent report which highlighted a food stamp recipient's monthly benefit going to support his work-free lifestyle of surfing and playing in a garage band. Other examples abound of able-bodied adults without children using the food stamp program with no intention of looking for work, engaging in job training activities, or volunteering, being content to live off government programs paid for by their hardworking neighbors.
Before 2009, there were strict rules that required able-bodied adults without children to be engaged in work, employment training, or community service for a minimum of twenty hours per week in order to qualify for food stamps. These adults were required to take positive steps to break the welfare cycle and become employed and financially independent. The requirement was an effective tool that saved millions of dollars while helping people out of poverty.
Currently, however, there is no work requirement. After eliminating that important requirement, the number of able-bodied adults without children receiving food stamp benefits has grown by 163.7 percent and now accounts for 10.2 percent of the entire caseload. Rather than help these able-bodied adults obtain employment or build the skills necessary to get a job, the program provides an open-ended subsidy paid for by our tax dollars.
The best way to help a person in poverty is to provide the person with the tools, training, and incentive to get a job. Failure to provide the person with any incentive to look for work, engage in job training, or be involved in community service is a great disservice to both the person and the taxpayers. It is the wrong approach.
Those who truly care about low-income individuals and families want to help them out of poverty and become financially self-sufficient, not trap them in an unfair system.
The House of Representatives is working to implement needed reforms to make the program more accountable to both beneficiaries and taxpayers. The House recently passed a bill to reauthorize the food stamp program and address inadequacies in the current system, including engaging able-bodied adults in work activities. These reforms will restore integrity to our assistance programs.
The current system is not a fair approach for anyone. Assisting people in obtaining employment helps them, reduces the cost to taxpayers, and supports economic growth. A rising tide lifts all ships, but the current welfare system leaves food stamp recipients treading water. We need to reform this program and the House bill is a giant step forward.
U.S. Rep. Tom Reed, R-Corning, represents the 23rd Congressional District, which spans much of the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes, including Steuben, Chemung and Schuyler counties. He wrote this with State Assemblyman Andy Goodell, R-Chautauqua.


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Wildlife Officials Identify Poachers Near Hudson [AUDIO]
A Powell doctor has come up with a technical innovation to simplify a common gynecological surgery procedure. Doug Randall reports. Wildlife officials say they have identified four people suspected of poaching four moose near Hudson earlier this month. Click past the jump to listen to Wyoming Radio News.


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Here is what Opera is up to these days. A Web browser Web Server with multi-platform options.
With Opera 10, we are introducing a new technology called Opera Unite, radically extending what you are able to do online. Opera Unite harnesses the power of today's fast connections and hardware, allowing all of us to help define the future landscape of the Web, one computer at a time.


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If you want to play with an ARM-based server, you can now apply to gain access to one online through the Linaro Developer Cloud.
The cloud service was announced in March but has finally gone live. It's mainly targeted at developers who want to evaluate ARM servers.
The free service is one way to access ARM servers, which aren't widely available. Applications go through an approval process, and only those serious about programming for ARM servers will likely be approved.
Developers will get remote access to bare-metal servers with ARM processors. Linaro has said servers will have ARM-based chips from Qualcomm, Cavium, and Huawei, and users will be able to select specific hardware.
I applied for an ARM server through the cloud service. I could choose between three Linux flavors, including Ubuntu 16.04, CentOS 7.3, and Debian Jessie ARM64, and storage capacities up to 80GB. My application has yet to be approved.
Also, I didn't immediately have the choice of selecting specific ARM server hardware to test applications against.
There's growing interest in ARM servers as an alternative to x86 servers, which dominate data centers. But obstacles are hindering ARM adoption in servers, including software compatibility issues and the effort and cost involved in shifting architectures.
Linaro has established the cloud service as a way for concerned customers to be more confident about ARM server hardware. Linaro is providing virtualization, analytics, and other applications along with the servers.
Linaro is a consortium of companies developing hardware and software for ARM-based devices. The consortium is running the OpenStack-based cloud service out of facilities in Austin, Texas, and Cambridge, U.K., and will expand to more countries in the future.