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President #27, C-SPAN historians' ranking #24
Why Am I President? It Was On My Wife's To Do List.
When it came time to find a biography of President William Taft, it wasn't easy. Despite holding office during a time when Constitutional Amendments introducing the income tax and the direct election of senators, the admission of two states (New Mexico and Arizona), and running in an election against two of the 20th Century's most famous presidents (Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson), Taft hasn't received much interest from historians.
This left me finding this book, which was published commercially in 1981, but was actually a more commercial version of a UCLA dissertation by a woman for whom I can find no trace further trace of.
"An Intimate History" is the same subtitle that Jefferson biographer Fawn Brodie used for his study of our third president. That book was published in 1974. Brodie was Anderson's adviser at UCLA and she followed in her footsteps. And in this book, the reader learns about William Taft, the man, and why he did what he did. And in Anderson's view, Taft's actions in all aspects of life were mostly an attempt to please his mother, and, then later, his wife.
And Anderson goes on at length about Taft's weight. It is not something that can be ignored, especially since Taft tipped the scales at up to 355 pounds while he served as President.
Why was Taft so heavy? According to Anderson, Taft was someone who took solace in eating when he was either stressed out or felt a need to please someone. And when Taft was in the White House, he was stressed out. His enormous weight likely gave Taft a case of apnea as he often dozed off at inappropriate times and snored loudly during public gatherings.
Taft's career path to the White House was not a normal one. The son of a former Secretary of War, Alphonso Taft, William went to college at Yale and then to law school at the University of Cincinnati. His mother assumed that William, like all Tafts would achieve greatness.
But first, Taft needed to find a wife. And he eventually met Helen "Nellie" Herron at a sledding party in Cincinnati. Taft courted Nellie for years before she agreed to marry him. Nellie's hesitancy stemmed from the fact that she considered herself to be fairly independent. However, she also wanted to be attached to important people. And she sensed that William Taft was someone who could bring up her to the highest circles of power, even the White House.
But, Taft's ambition was to be a judge. He served in a local court in Ohio and loved it. However, he was picked to go to Washington by President Benjamin Harrison to serve as Solicitor General. Nellie loved the change of scenery. Although Taft was a good judge, he was a lousy litigator. He did not have an adversarial nature. He wanted to be everyone's friend. Although I am not a lawyer, I'm guessing being conciliatory and jovial isn't the tone you're looking for.
In Washington, Taft became friends with a young man who was serving as the Assistant Secretary of the Navy. His name was Theodore Roosevelt.
President William McKinley offered Taft a position on the Federal District Court back in Ohio, so Taft returned there to a job he loved above all other. Later, McKinley asked Taft back when he needed someone to serve as the first civil governor of the newest United States territories, the Philippines.
The people of the Philippines didn't particularly enjoy being under Spanish control, and they didn't particularly like having Americans tell them what to do either. The American military governor, General Arthur MacArthur (who had a son named Douglas), had to suppress an insurrection. MacArthur did so, but in a brutal fashion that often involved torture.
Taft had to work to repair America's image both in the Philippines and the world while building up a system of government for the people of the Philippines. Anderson describes Taft as being well regarded by the Filipinos, although coming after MacArthur, that's not much of a surprise.
By 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt needed a new Secretary of War and he asked his old friend William Taft to take over that post. Taft didn't know much about running the Army, but Roosevelt thought well of him. Taft actually spent much of his time travelling on diplomatic missions as Roosevelt had stretched U.S. interests to all parts of the globe.
Roosevelt had promised Taft that he would get him a seat on the Supreme Court, preferably Chief Justice, if one ever came up. But the time was never right, so Taft remained in Roosevelt's Cabinet.
When Roosevelt was elected to a full term in 1904, he promised he wouldn't run again. This was a bit of a problem for him in 1908 because he was still relatively young (50 on Election Day) and extremely popular. But Roosevelt felt he couldn't go back on his promise, so he designated Taft to be his successor.
Taft was not particularly interested in becoming President, but Nellie was quite interested in being First Lady. And in most discussions between William and Nellie, Nellie won. Taft was elected easily over Democratic nominee, and three-time loser, Wililam Jennings Bryan.
Almost as soon as the election was over, things went wrong for Taft. The President-elect had sent a telegram to supporters thanking two people for his election: Roosevelt (for his popularity that made it easy for another Republican to win) and his brother Charles Taft (for extensive financial support). Roosevelt was appalled to be lumped in with someone who just wrote checks.
One of the first major pieces of legislation Taft wanted to get passed was a tariff reform bill. Roosevelt advised Taft that tariffs needed to be lowered, but he didn't do while he was in office because he knew the issue was too sensitive with an election coming up.
In 1909, the Republicans were the party of high tariffs. And the more conservative Republicans liked the tariffs to be as high as possible. The bill that passed Congress, the Payne-Aldrich Tariff ended up raising duties on nearly every type of imported goods. Conservatives were happy, but Progressive Republicans (who were Roosevelt supporters) were appalled. Taft was immediately branded as a weak leader.
Also in 1909, Taft faced a major political crisis in the Interior Department. Taft had appointed former Seattle mayor Richard Ballinger as his new Secretary of the Interior. However, Taft kept on in the Forestry Service, a Roosevelt loyalist named Gifford Pinchot.
Pinchot, who would likely be called an environmentalist now, although "conservation" was the term used in the day, accused Ballinger of leasing public lands in Alaska to large corporations for mining and other ways to tap their natural resources. Charges flew back and forth between the two men. Pinchot was eventually fired by Taft, an action that Roosevelt's supporters could not abide. Eventually, Ballinger resigned as well. Taft bungled the matter every way possible. And mostly this happened because Taft didn't want to take command of the situation, but rather just try to make everybody happy.
Another problem for Taft was one that was not of his own making. Roosevelt had established himself as a Progressive Republican, with a penchant for going after big business. Taft was a conservative. Roosevelt had to know this. Yet, Roosevelt backed a man for President whom he had to believe was going to reverse some of his policies.
In the midterm elections, the Republicans lost control of both houses of Congress. Soon after, Roosevelt returned from a long trip to Africa to great national acclaim. And soon set into his old friend Taft and started to position himself for another run at the White House.
Taft pretty much knew that he couldn't get reelected in 1912. He just didn't have the national support. His only reason for being elected in the first place was that he was Theodore Roosevelt's friend. And now Roosevelt hated him. That left Taft without much to go on.
But Nellie was determined that her husband at least not lose the Republican nomination to Roosevelt. And Taft agreed with his wife. He decided he wanted to make Roosevelt run as a third party candidate.
Fortunately for Taft, there were only a handful of these newfangled things called primaries during the nominating season. Roosevelt won the majority of those, but Taft, through the power of patronage, was able to control enough delegates to win the nomination. Roosevelt was left to run on his own as the Progressive Party Candidate. Meanwhile, the Democrats nominated the nerdy, yet popular, governor of New Jersey, Woodrow Wilson.
Almost nothing went write right for Taft during the campaign. His trusted confidante and personal aide, Archie Butt, had left him because of personal issues in 1912. Butt had served as Roosevelt's personal aide as well and he couldn't decide whom to work for. So, he went to Europe to think about it. Butt booked passage on the Titanic for the trip home. He didn't make it.
Taft's Vice President, James "Sunny Jim" Sherman, died a few weeks before Election Day as well. Taft made odd statements to the press, including one where he said he would campaign "like a cornered rat."
When the counting was done, Wilson was an easy winner. Taft won just two states, the worst showing of any incumbent President ever. And Taft won one of the states, Vermont, by just 923 votes. In 1912, Vermont was not yet run by the Ben & Jerry's types, and was one of the most conservative states in the country.
Losing the election relieved a great burden from Taft. He no longer had to be the bad guy who told people "no." Not that Taft said "no" all that often.
Once leaving office, Taft taught law at Yale, but finally got his dream job in 1921 when President Warren Harding appointed him to be Chief Justice of the United States. Taft loved this job more than any other. And according to Anderson, his weight dropped into the 260 lb range. He no longer had to eat his way through stress. He had found his dream job, the one he had thought about since he came to Washington in 1886.
William Taft passed away in 1930 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, the first President to be so honored. His wife Nellie wanted that honor. However, few people wander over to the section of Arlington to see Taft's grave. Just like finding a biography of Taft, it's something you have to seek out. Perhaps a better story of Taft's life is still to be written.
But the life of Willam Howard Taft teaches us one thing: if you want to be remembered by historians as president, don't have your term fall in between those of two far more famous presidents.
Psychobiography was a popular discipline in the 1970s, but it isn't used now. Brodie was able to apply it to it someone like Jefferson because there was quite a bit to work on. The inner workings of the psyche of William Howard Taft may not be that be interesting. Especially since Anderson spells it all out very early in the book. The final 200 or so pages are more repetitions of the theme of "Taft tries to please wife, eats too much, becomes less happy, repeat." Perhaps there is more to Taft than just a domineering wife and a battle with obesity. However, that book hasn't been written yet.
But Nellie Taft got a major biography written about her just three years ago. Sorry Bill, you can't win this game.
Other stuff: Taft, despite his great size, was an avid sportsman and he tried to play a round of golf nearly everyday. Taft was also the first U.S. President to throw out the ceremonial first pitch to mark the beginning of baseball season. This started in 1910.
The National Park service operates the William Howard Taft National Historic Site in Cincinnati.
Taft's son, Robert, served as a Senator from Ohio and ran for the Republican nomination for President in 1940, 1944, and 1952. A William Howard Taft IV (great-grandson of the president) worked for a time in the George W. Bush Administration. Robert Taft III, who went by Bob Taft, served as governor of Ohio. Generally, if you run into something in the U.S. with the name "Taft" in it, it's probably this president's family.


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AMD Catalyst 13.2 Beta 3 Drivers Releasedby Ryan Smith on January 29, 2013 5:00 PM EST
As promised alongside last week's release of the Catalyst 13.1 WHQL drivers, AMD has shipped out the first public beta for the next version of their drivers this week, Catalyst 13.2 Beta 3.
The latest beta makes a couple of additions that will be of particular interest to hardcore gamers. On the application support side, like NVIDIA's beta release yesterday these are the first drivers that specifically target Crysis 3, itself having just been released in beta form as a multiplayer beta. AMD is citing up to a 15% performance improvement here in scenarios with high degrees of MSAA, while promising further improvements as the game and the drivers both march towards a final state.
Meanwhile these drivers are also the first driver set from AMD to address some of the frame latency issues Tech Report's Scott Wasson has turned up over the last couple of months. His own testing of an earlier version of these drivers found that frame latency was significantly reduced in a few different games he tested, including Skyrim, Borderlands 2, and Guild Wars 2.
As always, these latest drivers are available directly from AMD's site.
Source: AMD
5 Comments
View All Comments
RaistlinZ - Tuesday, January 29, 2013 - linkI have no problems with these and Guild Wars 2. Average frames per second is a bit lower than before, but it is smooth. Haven't tried any other games yet.
Khenglish - Tuesday, January 29, 2013 - linkThe whole point of an FPS number is to rate how smooth something is. If a game is smoother but the FPS number is lower, then FPS is wrong.
Personally I would love to see the next 3dmark rate performance based on the highest latency frame each second. Would really make graphics drivers focus on real performance, which is how smooth something is, instead of some arbitrary and often misleading fps number.
It's ridiculous that it took AMD this long to think of game smoothness instead of blindly focusing on FPS.
Alexvrb - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkHe said average frames were lower. If average framerate is down, but minimum framerate is up, it could very well have less stuttering and thus be smoother. Not sure why you think FPS is "wrong". The issue isn't high frame latency all the time, but rather spikes. They're trying to minimize the occurence. Note that Nvidia is not completely immune to this sort of issue from time to time, as well.
Death666Angel - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkRead the techreport article, AMD stated that they operated under a false impression ("Up until this point we had mostly assumed that there were occasional flickers in frame rate, but we had thought these were related to the fact that modern games mostly have streaming architectures and limitations of scheduling in the OS."). They didn't pursue "smoothness" because they thought there was nothing they could do about it.
blackoctagon - Thursday, January 31, 2013 - linkThe point is that FPS is not the ONLY possible indicator of smoothness. Having many frames per second can contribute to increased smoothness, but if the time between the frames is uneven then this can decrease the smoothness. A good example is microstutter (which I experience with my 2 7970s). There are some games for which I can get 170+FPS, but it 'feels' less smooth than does 70FPS on a single card.
Also, as Death666Angel already suggested, read the TechReport article

subset: commoncrawl


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Tue Jul 06 1999 06:44: Where did this fog come from?
Tue Jul 06 1999 06:44: Where did this fog come from?
Tue Jul 06 1999 07:28: It came on the rails, of course. It couldn't have come... from anywhere else.
Tue Jul 06 1999 16:07: Money For Nothing, Be For Free! Woohoo! It arrives straight from Be, Inc. in Menlo Park. Man, I'd hate to live in Menlo Park.
I'm copying everything over from my old drive so that I can use that as my BeOS drive. Whoa! Look what I found in the old /tmp:
-rw-rw-r-- 1 500 500 6 Jun 29 1998 faultnic.log rubberfish:/other_hd/tmp# less faultnic.log Booga.Heh heh... well, time for it to die.
I'm going to get a whole new computer with my birthday money. Except for the hard drives. A whole new computer. That's what I keep telling myself. But I'm afraid I will chicken out and not spend it.
Hm, my DOS partition is in a sorry state. Impossibly huge files in windows/system and such. I don't know if there's a bug in the Linux driver or if it's just DOS being crap.
Okay, I'm almost done. Before I reboot, enjoy this transcript of an old improvised bit Kris and i did once:
Steve: C'mon, Bill, get in my wallet! Bill: I don't want to get into your wallet! Steve: You have to! That's the only way we can sneak you into Netscape! Bill: Oh, all right. Marc: Good morning, Mr. Ballmer. Steve: Oh, hi, uh, Mr. Anderson. Andereson. And-- Marc: Andreessen. Steve: Yeah, that. Marc: It's a good thing you managed to get here without Bill noticing! Steve: Yeah, otherwise this whole back door thing would fall apart! Bill: Heh heh heh! Marc: What was that? Steve: Oh, just, uh... my talking wallet! Now let's see some of that source code! Marc: But Mr. Ballmer, our source code is free on the net! You can just download it! Steve: WHAT?!?!?!
Tue Jul 06 1999 16:11: Argh. I just realized that I have to reconnect my CD-ROM drive.
|Unless otherwise noted, all content licensed by Leonard Richardson
under a Creative Commons License.


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This year I am extremely excited to be a member of the middle grades panel for the Cybil Awards. Are you ready for the awards?!
Cybils Nominations Open October 1st: How Can You Participate?
Nominations for the third annual Children' s and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards (the Cybils) will be open Wednesday, October 1st through Wednesday, October 15th. The goal of the Cybils team (some 100 bloggers) is to highlight books that are high in both literary quality and kid appeal . The Cybils were founded by
Anne BolesLevy and KellyHerold.
This year, awards will be given in nine categories (Easy Readers, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Fiction Picture Books, Graphic Novels, Middle Grade Novels, Non-Fiction Middle Grade/Young Adult Books, Non-Fiction Picture Books, Poetry, Young Adult Novels). Anyone can nominate books in these categories (one nomination per person per category). Nominated titles must be published between January 1st and October 15th of this year, and the books must be in English (or bilingual, where one of the languages is English). To nominate titles, visit the Cybils blog between October 1st and 15th . A separate post will be available for each category – simply nominate by commenting on those individual posts. If you are not sure which category to choose for a particular book, a questions thread will also be available.
Between October 16th and January 1st, Cybils panelists (children's and young adult bloggers) will winnow the nominations down to a 5-7 book short list for each category. A second set of panelists will then select the winning titles for the different categories. The winners will be announced on February 14th, 2009.
The Cybils lists, from long lists to short lists to the lists of winners, offer a wonderful resource to anyone looking for high-quality, kid-friendly books. The Cybils team has worked hard to balance democracy (anyone can nominate titles) with quality control (two rounds of panel judging by people who focus on children's books every day). We do this work because we consider it vital to get great books into the hands of children and young adults.
How Can You Participate?
We think that the Cybils nominations will be of interest to parents, teachers, librarians, writers, and teens. If you have a blog or an email list or belong to a newsgroup that serves one of these populations, and you
feel that your readers would be interested, please consider distributing this announcement (you are welcome to copy it). The Cybils team would very much appreciate your help in spreading the word. And if you, or the children that you know, have any titles to suggest, we would love to see your
nominations at the Cybils blog, starting on Wednesday. Thanks for your help, and stay tuned for further
Jen Robinson
Evangelist for the 2008 Cybils
Filed under: awards, kidlitosphere | Tagged: cybils | 1 Comment »


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It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Yet Another Three Sigma Event
15 comments:
- Brian WoodsMarch 14, 2011 at 9:37 PM
Hi Hell,ReplyDelete
You may have listed 'Normal Accidents' by Charles Perrow (1984 vintage) - and of course there is the recent report on the Gulf oil spill disaster. Now we get this, 3 No. nuclear power reactors going pear-shape. Flixborough (UK); Bhopal (Ind); Chernobyl (Ukr). How many 5 Sigs does one need? The more the merrier it would seem!
"The possible is inevitable", (Karl Popper).
Isn't nuclear a good alternative when managed correctly (France)? I mean, as you mention Hells, if the Fukushima designers had placed the emergency generators on high ground, the design would've withstood even this event and continue on flawless.ReplyDelete
What I'm saying, is if weather nuclear energy should be put on hold due to the bad design of one plant?
"Isn't nuclear a good alternative when managed correctly (France)?"ReplyDelete
1. Nuclear power is inherently unstable.
2. Nuclear accidents are disastrous.
3. Accidents happen.
Why use it when we can use wind, solar, geothermal, and switch our socio-economic model from Permagrowth to Sustainability?
One silver lining to the evolving Japanese tragedy: it is already making people decide against nuclear (see Merkel's comments).
Yes, I'm all for moving from permagrowth to sustainability (that's why I read -and disseminate your ideas here in Mexico- your blog in the first place :)ReplyDelete
I guess my real question is whether wind, solar, geothermal can actually REPLACE the huge generating role that nuclear plays for instance, in France again?
No, renewables obviously cannot IN THE SHORT TERM replace the megawatts produced by nuclear. But in the long terms I am convinced that they can, if used properly and judiciously, and when combined with a sustainable socio-economic model.ReplyDelete
How about this idea: bring democracy and proper economic reforms to North Africa and build Desertec... all of a sudden we are talking terrawatts and a modernized, happier people.
- AnonymousMarch 15, 2011 at 12:38 PM
If anything, I find myself somewhat reassured about fission power by the Fukushima incident.ReplyDelete
That plant got hit by one of the biggest earthquakes ever recorded, followed by a big tsunami.
The design was one whole heck of a lot more robust than the financial system.
One more thing: I am disturbed by your suggestion of "bringing" reform to North Africa. Those aren't our countries to which to bring anything, and the Sahara's not our desert in which to put anything. People over there may reform--or not--as and when they please.
- AnonymousMarch 15, 2011 at 3:17 PM
Alot of people think we are doomed, but there are still great ways to make money. Even while the economy is collapsing around us.ReplyDelete
I subscribe to the guy from australia and his FFT economic newsletter at http://www.forecastfortomorrow.com that guy has called many big events before they have happend, including the stock market crash in 2008 and the current financial collapse of the US. (currently happening) I found him from a friend last year, and he has some important work.
His oil calls are insane, and I have been making good money with them. He is well worth a look, if you want to keep two steps ahead of the sheeple out there.
I am worried about my financial future. Is anyone else nervous out there?
Thanks for your responses Hells, yes indeed, North Africa could become a solar energy exporter. I'll research Desertec.ReplyDelete
I am far from being a fan of nukes (for a lot of reasons), but I wonder if 4 generation generators will not obviate many problems. Also Thorium cycle...ReplyDelete
- AnonymousMarch 16, 2011 at 6:21 PM
To an extent the energy situation is solvable without nuclear power, but burning coal or oil will not cut it.ReplyDelete
Some countries have it easier, but I happen to live in Finland where we have a lot of wood and some little water power. The weather is pretty harsh and you can't service a big city simply by burning a huge load of wood.
So where does that leave us? Nuclear power or relying on importing energy from Russia (where they produce the energy with nuclear plants situated close to our borders, duh).
Of course, forgetting the permagrowth utopia is necessary and will ease things quite a lot.
Nothing is 100% safe, nor is there anything guaranteed except for death.ReplyDelete
However, when all is said and done, more people will die of elevated cancer risk from radiation or pollution from coal burning exhaust than from radiation released in this incident or any other in history.
The world would be a much better place with thorium-powered LFTRs, widely dispersed and hardened, with a modernized and modular power distribution network, that can handle mass utilization of electric vehicles of all scales (personal to commercial/public transport).
[b]Why use it when we can use wind, solar, geothermal, and switch our socio-economic model from Permagrowth to Sustainability?ReplyDelete
Why must we persist under the false premise that energy has to be consequence free? Nuclear isn't, but who is to say wind isn't either? Think of the material costs, and land requirements for wind farms. Not to mention one must account for the intermittent nature of wind with coal/ other backups to keep power 'always on'. How about our dependence on batteries for wind/ solar? Mining for rare earths isn't exactly green unless you consider all the wildlife you bulldoze for it.
In short, nuclear is a realistic, large scale, (relatively) carbon free option available now and that ought to last for decades to come. I am not a fan of seeing Greenpeace or sierra club using the incident in Japan to support their own agendas.
I agree of most of this blog as it is one of my favorites. However to disparage nuclear in favor of unproven small scale, unreliable ( and arguably harmful) technology is a bit silly. Those alternatives would not drive our current economy or even come CLOSE to meeting the demands of society.
All energy is a necessary evil. Rather than focus on cutting one out in favor of another, maybe we should consider all alternatives working synergistically.
The problem with nuclear is that when it goes bad, it goes bad in a VERY bad way. Japan is a clear example.ReplyDelete
I'm not in favor of scrapping nuclear immediately - that's impossible. But continuing to rely on it and expanding its usr by building even more plants is a mistake.
As for wind being new or unproven... it's as old as the hills. The Dutch have been using it for centuries, to cite just one example.
As for intermittent, batteries, etc.. there are many ways to skin a cat, from passive storage (eg pumped water, pressurized air) to active cycle systems (eg solar thermal combined with a Fischer Tropsch cycle to produce hydrocarbon fuels).
Again, combined with a Sustainable socio-economic model.
Dear Webmaster,ReplyDelete
I came across your blog recently and I wanted to ask if you would please consider placing a link to my website called Boating.com?
It is a resource that provides hundreds of used and new boats for sale, as well as reviews, tips and buying guides for anyone interested in boating.
If you think it would be of use to your visitors, would you please consider adding a link to my website on your page. We are happy to offer you a 10% discount to our Marine Store if you do so.
http://www.boating.com - the complete boating resource.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Frank Warren
Because of things like this: linkReplyDelete
We do not have the storage capacity to smooth out the peaks and lows of renewables. Some areas don't have reliable sunlight to make solar worthwhile.


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by David Sands, (c) 1997
1. Set up your temporary alter and quarter points. The quarters can be stones or candles but stones have the advantage of not blowing out if there is a breeze.
2. Cast your circle of protection.
3. Undress – remove all jewelry, watches etc and put into a bag. with your purse and other items that are easily lost.
4. Consecrate the circle.
5. Summon the guardians with these words, and don't forget to pause to visualize the element concerned and to think upon the significance of that element for your self dedication:
Guardians of the North, sacred spirit of Earth. Into the stillness of your cold dark womb shall you accept my death, the death of my former self. I bid you hail and welcome.
Guardians of the East, sacred spirit of air. As the sun rises in the east so shall you guide my rebirth into my new life as a Witch. I bid you hail and welcome.
Guardians of the South, sacred spirit of Fire. You shall be my protector as I go forth from here along my new path. I bid you hail and welcome.
Guardians of the West, sacred spirit of Water. Cleanse my spirit and keep it ever pure from now and into the future.
6. Now for your symbolic death:
Lie on the floor on your back. You can lie with your head to the altar (North) if you wish to be close to the Goddess or to the East if the principle of rebirth is more important to you. Recite again those same words:
I am entering the stillness before creation
I am entering the ground of the Goddess
May my body be still
May my mind be peaceful
May my heart be ready
7. Now be at peace; feel the peace of the Goddess flow into you. Feel yourself merge with the cold Earth beneath you. Chant this slowly and quietly:
Hecate, Cerridwin,
Dark Mother take me in
Hecate, Cerridwin,
Let me be reborn.
Keep chanting until you feel yourself melting into the Goddess.
8. When you feel the time is right get up slowly and begin to walk round the circle chanting the Goddess chant:
We all come from the Goddess,
And to Her we shall return,
Like a drop of rain,
Flowing to the ocean.
Walk gradually faster and chant faster round and round the circle. Faster and faster until you get dizzy. Don't stop even then. After a while you'll get tired but you must not stop. Go on the same time again until you drop exhausted on the floor. Why? because chanting and dancing raise power.
9. Lay again on your back as you regain your breath. As soon as you have your breath back stand in front of the altar and anoint yourself thus: Dip a finger in the oil and mark a cross : 1. on the left breast (male or female), 2. on the right breast, 3. Just above the pubic hair. This is the sigil of the first degree, the downward pointing triangle. Say
I anoint myself priest/ess of the old religion, and I take the name (speak your magical name quietly).
Then say:
I, (real name), in the presence of the forces of Universe and the Divine, do of my own free will and mind most solemnly swear that I will ever abide by the religion and science of the Craft of the Wise. 'I shall neither harm my fellow humans with the secrets that I learn nor shall I flaunt my beliefs or powers before them. 'From this day on I shall be reborn as (magickal name) and shall honor, respect and cherish this oath I have taken.
10. Kneel up in front of the altar. Pour a little wine into the goblet and place it at the front of the altar. Now take your Athame and holding it with both hands, pointing down and arms outstretched plunge the blade into the wine. Say:
As the cup is to the female so the blade is to the male. And so conjoined bring blessedness
11. Now say to yourself:
I am reborn. I am a Witch. I am a Priest/ess.
Rise to your feet and say as loud as is safe bearing in mind that sound carries:
12. Now consecrate the wine and cakes as you have already learned. Take some wine and eat a cake. Close the circle and ask the quarters if they would like to be dismissed (never treat them like servants), remember to thank them. Get dressed and eat and drink some more and remember to keep some back for the libation which you make on the very site of your self initiation before you leave.


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As noted in Linkspam comments, there's a dispute at the moment between the organisers of Dragon*Con and the Backup Ribbon Project. The Backup Ribbon Project is an off-shoot of the Backup Project and distributes badge ribbons for con attendees to attach to their badge, reading "Backup" in large letters, showing that the person wearing the ribbon is committed to backing up someone experiencing harassment.
On August 20, Dragon*Con released a statement, reading in part [my emphasis]:
At times, good intentions can lead to bad situations. Dragon*Con has become aware of a potentially dangerous situation involving a self-started project that provides ribbons for fans identifying themselves as people who are able and willing to help another fan in the event assistance of any sort is needed in a difficult situation. While we absolutely believe that the creation of this movement was done with the best intentions to protect fans, we feel that it presents a possibility for a person coming in as a "wolf in sheep's clothing," perhaps luring someone in distress to an even more dangerous situation. Providing a ribbon for someone to wear to give them any type of "official" sanction when no screening has taken place is quite frankly, scary to us. To that end, we have asked the individual to stop providing ribbons for Dragon*Con attendees. We think a lot of our fans and believe strongly in the message that if you see someone in trouble, you should always be willing to help out or get someone who can. We expect no less and you all have never disappointed.
The Ribbon Project responded on August 21:
Please know that, as of this time, Dragon*Con has informed us that it will NOT be sanctioning people wearing or distributing Backup Ribbons at the con, nor will it be confiscating ribbons. We regret this was not included in their official statement…
We stand by our conviction that the benefits of making the Backup Ribbon Project accessible to as many people as possible far outweighs the risk of a "wolf in sheep's clothing." Yes, there will be a risk of some Bad!Person taking advantage of the situation, but we believe that risk is minimal.
What do you think? Which has the greater risk, false allies, or difficulty finding any allies?


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Christian Dior Eau Sauvage Shower Gel
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What is Tester?
All our tester products are authentic, they've never been used and they come directly from the brands.
A tester is a version of a fragrance that comes in plain white or cardboard box. And Tester versions come in the same bottle as the retail version and include the same amount and quality of the fragrance. In most cases, a tester fragrance will come with cap however the only brand doesn't come with the cap is Creed. we purchase these items for less and pass the savings on to you.
This Fragrance has been refilled by Fragrance Lord from the original bottle of perfume/cologne to the fragrance lord travel spray to help customer carry their favorite fragrance everywhere or sample it before buy the bottle.
We use our 8ml/0.27oz travel spray which you can spray it 120 times.
Fragrance Lord is not affiliated with the brand.
This Fragrance has been refilled by Fragrance Lord from the original bottle of perfume/cologne to the fragrance lord travel spray to help customer carry their favorite fragrance everywhere or sample it before buy the bottle.
We use our 8ml/0.27oz travel spray which you can spray it 120 times.
Fragrance Lord is not affiliated with the brand.
Why choose Christian Dior Eau Sauvage Shower Gel Perfume?
Christian Dior Eau Sauvage is a classic and iconic fragrance that has been popular for decades. The shower gel version of the perfume is a convenient alternative to the traditional eau de toilette, and it offers a refreshing way to experience the scent.
The fragrance features a unique combination of scents, including notes of lemon, bergamot, and basil, which gives it a fresh and invigorating aroma. The use of these citrus notes gives it a bright and zesty scent that is perfect for a morning shower or a refreshing pick-me-up during the day.
The shower gel also contains moisturizing ingredients that can help to leave the skin feeling soft and smooth. Many people choose Christian Dior Eau Sauvage shower gel for its refreshing and invigorating scent, as well as its ability to leave the skin feeling hydrated and nourished.
Eau Sauvage is a timeless fragrance that has been around for decades, it's a great choice for those who appreciate the classic and elegant scent. The shower gel version is a great way to refresh and re-live the classic scent and have a luxurious shower experience.
A luxurious, perfumed body cleanser for men Helps gently cleanse impurities without drying out skin Instantly pampers & invigorates body & spirit Leaves skin fresh, smooth & comfortable Suitable for all skin types
➤ FRAGRANCE FOR THE MAN: Perfect for the men's perfume who wants to look like himself, not the masses. A man who cares about the world around him, and is making a difference where he can.
➤ LUXURY NOTES - Central to the fragrance is the unique note creating a delicate aqueous floral scent to interpret a transcendental reality. This is a genuine product backed by its original manufacturer. This is a great gift set for men and women.
All Fragrance Lord orders placed before 4 p.m EST are shipped the same day (except for weekends which are shipped on the following business day). Orders Usually take 2-4 days to deliver, as we cannot guarantee same day delivery due to variable 3rd party courier scheduling. You can also choose the carrier you want us to ship your orders like, USPS, UPS,Fedex and DHL.
NEXT DAY shipping is also available at checkout.
Hassle free returns within 14 days. You can contact via email firstname.lastname@example.com, and if you like to speak to our customer service team, you contact us at 833-433-5673 from Monday to Friday at 8AM_6PM. We will provide you with a return shipping label. Once we inspect it to ensure it is in resalable condition. We will refund you. Please noted we will charge from 15%_25% restocking fee will apply for items that are opened, damaged, or sent without original packaging. We provide fully refund for all the unopen products.
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Asian-Americans take higher profile in congressional races
The 2012 campaign cycle marks the highest number of viable Asian-American candidates ever – and not just on the West Coast. Their success could help Democrats regain ground in the House.
| Washington
A record number of Asian-American candidates are running for the US House and Senate this fall, and they have a message: It's time for a seat at the table that reflects their numbers in American society.
Just 5.8 percent of the US population is Asian, but only 12 out of 535 members of Congress, or 2 percent, claim Asian heritage, two in the Senate and 10 in the House. Now the numbers may be starting to catch up. Including Pacific Islanders, 30 Asian-American candidates launched congressional bids this cycle, compared with 10 in 2010 and eight in 2008, according to the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies in Washington.
"This is a real opportunity for our community," says Gloria Chan, president and CEO of APAICS. "It really showcases our political power right now."
While six Asian-Americans were defeated in their primaries, 12 other contenders – 10 Democrats and two Republicans – will advance to the general election. Three running competitively for seats in New York and Illinois are poised to become their state's first Asian-American US representatives. This campaign cycle features the greatest number of viable Asian-American candidates in history, says David Wasserman, House editor for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report in Washington.
Most are running as Democrats, and though Republicans will likely retain their House majority, the victories of several Asian-Americans could give the minority party a leg up, Mr. Wasserman says. He points to districts like Illinois 8th, where Tammy Duckworth is running, and California's 7th, where Ami Bera is running, as key opportunities for Democrats to seize.
"Asian-American candidates certainly are critical for Democratic hopes of gaining seats," he said.
For the past three-to-four decades, Asian-Americans have increasingly participated in both the Democrat and Republican parties, says Don Nakanishi, director of the Asian American Studies Center at the University of California, Los Angeles. Population growth, opportunities opened by civil rights movements, and the election of other racial minorities are driving forces behind the shift, he says.
Mr. Nakanishi, who founded the National Asian Pacific American Political Almanac, says that last year's edition included more than 3,000 elected and major appointed Asian-American officials serving at the state and federal level. The first almanac printed in 1976, he says, largely contained candidates from West Coast states and had a page count so small it could be easily stapled.
This political activism also reflects increased professional success in fields like medicine and academia, says Manan Trivedi, an Indian-American and a Democrat, running for the first time in Pennsylvania's 6th district.
"It makes sense that the next step is to get involved in policy and politics," Mr. Trivedi said, in a phone interview. "That's where the rubber meets the road."
Many of the districts Asian-Americans are vying to represent do not have Asian-American majorities, a trend some note as another sign of progress.
"A lot of people think if there aren't enough people who look like you, you can't get elected – that's nonsense. You can win the people's trust anywhere," says Gautam Dutta, executive director of the Asian American Action Fund, which backs Asian-American Democrats running for Congress.
Two-term Rep. Judy Chu (D) of California, chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) and the first Chinese-American woman elected to Congress, says that Asian-Americans have historically faced difficulty in running because political networks for Asian-Americans are still developing. Moreover, the relatively small number of Asian-Americans in elected office had in the past made it harder for newcomers to compete, she says.
"Right now we are developing that infrastructure," says Ms. Chu, pointing to the caucus's recently launched CAPAC Leadership PAC. "It's a different world today."
Six-term Rep. Michael Honda (D) of California has long spearheaded efforts to boost the electoral prospects of Asian-American candidates. In addition to mobilizing Asian-Americans to vote, he's acting as an Asian-American surrogate in key congressional races and for the Obama campaign.
For Mr. Honda, the motivation is partly personal. As a toddler, he and his parents were sent to a Japanese internment camp during World War II, an experience he says highlighted for him the importance of having Asian-American representation in Congress.
"It took about 60 years for us to get an apology from our own government," he says. Now, "we have to make sure this doesn't happen again."
When Asian-Americans run for Congress, voters "start to look past our perceived foreignness and look at us as participating Americans who can contribute to this country," he adds.
Challenger Duckworth, the Democrat challenging Rep. Joe Walsh (R) of Illinois, says that Asian-Americans from Midwestern areas like hers represent constituencies that have traditionally been shut out.
"Places like here have never had Asian-Americans elected to office, not even to state office, or even an alderman," Duckworth says. "There's a good chunk of the population that's not getting all of its concerns represented."
Those concerns may be magnified as the Asian-American population continues to grow. Thirty-six percent of new immigrants to the US were Asians in 2010, compared with 19 percent a decade ago, according to a Pew Research Center report in June.
According to the report, Asian-Americans tend to vote Democratic, though UCLA's Nakanishi notes they are not as solidly liberal as other minority groups, such as African-Americans and Latino-Americans. Of the 30 Asian-Americans who filed to run in the 2012 cycle, 24 are Democrats, according to the APAICS.
In 2008, about 60 percent of the Asian-American population voted for Barack Obama. In November, the Asian-American vote could be decisive in battleground states like Nevada and Virginia, says Ms. Chan of APAICS.
"We're a force to be reckoned with in the coming election and for years to come," she says.


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All in All :
All in All :
Supreme, All powerful, The dearest object of affection
All in Your Head :
If something is all in your head, you have imagined it and it is not real.
All is Fair in Love and War. :
This idiom is used to say where there is conflict, people can be expected to behave in a more vicious way.
All is Well That Ends Well. :
If the end result if good, then everything is good.
All Mod Cons :
If something has all mod cons, it has all the best and most desirable features (an abbreviation of modern conveniences).
All Moonshine :
An untrue statement, far from reality
All Mouth and Trousers :
Someone, who is all mouth and trousers, talks or boasts a lot but does not deliver.
All My Eye and Peggy Martin :
Literally something said or written that is unbelievable, rumour, over embellished, the result of malicious village gossip
All of A Sudden :
Unexpectedly, abruptly
All of The Above :
This idiom can be used to mean everything that has been said or written especially all the choices or possibilities.
All OK :
If things are All OK, they are absolutely fine.
All Out :
Each and Every
All in All
to HOME PAGE


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Download link (right click and 'save-as') for playing in VLC or other compatible player.
Gamma Rays at 130 GeV and How They Might Come from Dark
I'll discuss the exciting (but somewhat controversial)
new discovery of a sharp gamma ray feature at 130 GeV from near the galactic
center and review some other evidence that might link it to annihilation of
dark matter. I will then explain the challenges in understanding how dark
matter might produce this signal and explain a model or two that overcome these


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Don't Miss Your Opportunity to Study With The Experts!
If you're a last-minute Lilly (or Louie), there is still time to register for the few remaining open spots to attend the British Institute in Salt Lake City, 7-11 October 2013.
The International Society for British Genealogy and Family History will accept registrations until Monday, 30 September, for a week of lectures and mentoring by well-known British genealogists Graham Walter, Maggie Loughran and Paul Blake.
The registration fee is $495, and covers five days of instruction with morning lectures and afternoon research opportunities in the Family History Library, including one-on-one mentoring with your instructor.
All courses will be in the Radisson Hotel Downtown, a short walk to the Family History Library. Hotel rooms are still available at the Crystal Inn at $79.00 per night, including breakfast and shuttle bus service to and from the airport, and to the Radisson each day.
Full details and registration at <www.isbgfh.org>
Using the Cloud for British Family History Research
Graham Walter
Graham Walter combines his IT background with his expansive knowledge of British genealogy resources. This course will provide a guide as to what "The Cloud" is and how we can use it to our advantage in our research.
There are a number of Internet sites that provide some unique datasets for researching British ancestors. We will examine some of these sites and look at the varied search techniques that can be used to find those elusive ancestors hiding in the nooks and crannies of their databases.
The Cloud also provides us with a wealth of tools to enhance the way we collect, share and present our data. We will look at how these services allow us to choose a variety and combination of computing devices that best suits the collecting of our family history on any research trip. The Cloud will allow us to move that data to our other devices seamlessly and without complexity, as well as share it with our families and other researchers. Students in this course must provide their own WiFi-capable laptop computer.
Course Outline:
- · Introduction/Overview
- · What do we mean when we say "The Cloud?"
- · Notepads/Journals(Evernote/SpringPad/NoteSync/SimpleNote)
- · Website of the Day - findmypast.co.uk
- · Research Journalling with Evernote
- · Cloud File Storage(DropBox/SkyDrive/Google Drive/Amazon Cloud Drive)
- · Cloud Backup (Carbonite/Mozy)
- · Website of the Day - thegenealogist.co.uk
- · Research Data Storage and Family History Programs
- · Office applications in the Cloud(Google Docs/MS Office Web Apps/Zoho Suite)
- · Website of the Day - Ancestry.co.uk
- · Data extraction and manipulation with web
- · Task Management (Remember the Milk/Astrid/Toodledo)
- · Websites of the Day - Online Newspapers britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk,
- · Welsh Newspapers Online
- · Using Mobile devices in Research
- · Collaboration in the Cloud
- · Photo Storage and Sharing(Flickr/1000 Memories/Picasa)
- · Cloud Mapping the Ancestors(Google Maps/Bing Maps)
Sources For Tracing Pre-mid-nineteenth
Century English Ancestors
Maggie Loughran and Paul Blake
This course will concentrate on tracing pre-mid-nineteenth century English ancestors and will be of special interest to those whose ancestors emigrated to North America prior to the
commencement of English civil registration in 1837, or those who have already tracked their ancestors back to the early 1800s.
Paul and Maggie will focus on the actual records themselves, giving you an in-depth understanding of them. For each record category we will be looking at examples of the original documents and guide you through how to interpret, locate and, lastly, how to access them using the Internet and any other available resources.
Record Categories
Locating, interpreting, and accessing pre-1858 English probate records
From the 13th century until the civil probate system was introduced in 1858, probate (the ratification of a will) was controlled by the church. Wills were recorded in the
ecclesiastical archives as were most matters to do with death, with over 300 church courts functioning at one time or another. These jurisdictions frequently overlapped each other and
boundaries may have changed from time to time making the use of early wills and other probate records challenging to say the least. This session will take you through the process of
discovering if your ancestor left a will and where to find it plus any other associated probate records including administrations, inventories and accounts.
plus much more…see the website for complete details


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Vacating A Default Judgment
If you have been sued in Housing Court and a judgment has been entered against you because you defaulted, that is, you failed to answer or did not show up to defend yourself, you can seek to have the judgment vacated (thrown out). If you do not, you could be evicted from your home by a marshal as a result of the judgment once the warrant of eviction is issued.
If you are not sure whether a judgment has been entered against you, refer to Locations and find out where to go in your county to check. If you find that a judgment has not been granted against you, then you should immediately file an answer. If you have already received a notice from a marshal, you should come to court right away.
To vacate a default judgment and obtain a stay of eviction, you should fill out an Order to Show Cause. An Order to Show Cause is a legal paper, signed by the judge, that orders the other side to appear in court and "show cause," that is, give a good reason, why the judgment should not be vacated. You must fill out an Affidavit in Support of the Order To Show Cause explaining the reason you did not go to court, such as, you never received notice of the proceeding, or you were sick; and, you must explain your defenses to the claims against you, such as, you do not owe the rent claimed, or you did not install the dishwasher in the kitchen in violation of the lease. To learn about the procedure, go to Order to Show Cause. If you missed your court date or didn't answer a petition in a nonpayment or holdover case, you can use the Tenant Affidavit to Vacate a Default Judgment program to make your affidavit in support of your order to show cause.
If the judge vacates the default judgment and restores the case to the calendar, you must be ready to prove your side of the case.


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Russell Harvard will be starring in the Zach Theatre production of "Tribes."
We've had an exciting and busy week here at the VSL H.Q. We spent three days working on an annual report shoot for a central Texas utility company which necessitated early mornings and the fun filled stress of managing a CEO, a group of marketing and advertising people, four large trucks, eight linemen and assorted additional crew, all on exterior locations. This all followed days of pre-planning meetings, conversations with drone experts assistant booking and lots of packing and re-packing. But we aren't done yet.
One of the things that jumped out at me from my calendar (and the white board next to my desk) was that we had also booked a marketing shoot for Zach Theatre's season brochure for today. We needed a bunch of shots to promote our version of Mary Poppins and also a play called, Tribes. After I put all the batteries back on chargers yesterday evening I started packing for today. I would be using completely different lighting gear than I had been using for the A.R.
I packed my standard white background kit because we would be doing a series of set-ups that the art director at Zach Theatre would use in the campaign. She will be dropping images into different colored backgrounds and, in some cases, into composite scenes. What we'd be looking for is nice, clean lines to cut against. We are no longer in the search for perfect white backgrounds right out of camera. And that was good in this situation because our shoot was relegated to a small space that didn't give me the front to back depth to do our traditional white background set up.
In this case all the lights are in front of our actors and I'm counting on the inverse square law and smart placement of lights to carry the day. I packed our four Elinchrom mono-lights with umbrella reflectors, five light stands, our background set up with a white seamless paper background. All four lights had 42 inch umbrellas mounted on them and I used various ratios between the lights to get the look to the overall light that I wanted.
I triggered the lights with Cactus V6 transceiver triggers.
My camera and lens of choice for today was the Nikon D810 with one lens; the 24-85mm f3.5-4.5 G Nikon zoom. It's a step up from a kit lens and I often see them for ridiculously low prices in my favorite camera store. It must have been part of a Nikon bundle at one point. All I know is that while the lens has some linear distortion it's very sharp and very well behaved. It's perfect for work like this where we need to be able to go from full body to close head shots from one frame to the next.
I packed everything but the cameras into the car last night. Our call at the theater was set for 11:00 a.m. and as today is Saturday (my most holy day of swimming) I was determined to be ready to go on time but without missing the wonderful (and difficult) Kristen Turner masters workout and the post swim coffee klatch at Starbucks. I figure if you are a freelancer you need to get your socializing where you can, right?
We logged some serious wet miles and we drank coffee. I stayed right up until 10:50 am and then said my goodbyes and headed to the theater to set up. I used the Marshall Electronics monitor we made such good use of earlier in the week because I wanted to be able to share the images we were taking with a room full of make-up artists, costumers, an artistic director, art director and marketing director. God, I was outnumbered.....
The Mary Poppins portion of the shoot went well and we moved on to making images of Russell Harvard for the play, Tribes. Here's copy from the Zach website that explains the play:
As the only deaf member of his sharp-tongued British family, sweet-natured Billy has spent
much of his life feeling out of place. But when he meets a young woman on the brink of
deafness, he finds out what it means to belong for the first time. This provocative and
touching play is as much about the tyranny of language, as it is about the challenge of
not being able to hear it. ZACH's production will be staged on our Kleberg Stage
starring deaf, Austin actor Russell Harvard, who won a 2012 Theatre World
Award for Outstanding Debut Performance, and garnered Drama League,
Outer Critics Circle, and Lucille Lortell Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor.
Same image cropped in to nearly 100%.
Russell was great to work with and we ended up with a couple hundred really good shots with which to promote the play. I was struck with how well the 24/85mm lens worked with the D810. It's a powerful combination and I feel like many people who immediately default to the clichéd 24-70mm f2.8 are missing a really good image maker at a very advantageous price.
The images from Mary Poppins and Tribes are already color corrected and transferred to a small hard drive for delivery on Monday and you'd think that might be a good place to break for the weekend but my iCalendar had other plans. I am also booked to shoot all day tomorrow for the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum.
This job will be more of a "reportage" style escapade. I'll be "wearing" two cameras; one with the new Sigma 50mm 1.4 Art lens and the other with the Nikon 24-85mm f3.5-4.5. I'll also have a small flash with a modifier and a messenger bag full of model releases. The batteries are recharged and the small camera bags are packed. All that stands between me and the project tomorrow will be our Sunday masters swim workout. That and a full day of shooting and I should have the weekend all wrapped up and I'll be ready to dive into new work on Monday morning. Yippee. Never a dull moment around here.
Counting down the moments till my trip to Saratoga Springs, NY gets underway. I leave Austin at 5:30am on Weds. and should be in S.S. by 1:30 or 2:00 pm. It'll be great to see friends and hang with Ben. I'm looking forward to it. After a long week of lugging around Nikons I think this trip definitely calls for the more discreet and almost silent Olympus EM5.2.
Thanks for reading. I'll catch up with you tomorrow.
Go to Amazon and check out the two new reviews of the Novel, The Lisbon Portfolio. The economy is recovering. Now you can afford to buy a copy!
One more program note: We've spent the last year making hundreds of images for the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum and many of them are used on the new website. That website, the design of which was overseen by David Munns, won the Gold Award for Online Presence at the American Alliance for Museums convention in Atlanta this last week. The site beat out competitors like the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and many others.
Nice to see good work acknowledged.


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Scotch-Brite® Heavy Duty Scrub Sponge for toughest to clean burnt-on messes. Remove tough, baked-on messes 50% faster than other sponges
Reach for the Scotch-Brite(R) Heavy Duty Scrub Sponge because sometimes the mess is just too tough for a regular scrub sponge. From grunge on the grill, to pots and pans that sat overnight, get it done right! Look for heavy scrubbing power also available in a large size for your toughest messes.


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The kind or the class of vehicle you drive makes a major distinction. Games autos, for example, corvettes, Ferraris and so forth all are exceptionally costly and taken a toll more than your typical conservative auto, for the reason of the kind of proprietors who gets them. The driving history of your vehicle will assume an essential part. The better and clean record you have, the less you will pay. Now and again you can likewise discover collision protection with totally online organizations. A portion of these organizations give extremely modest accident coverage.
You can rapidly look at cites from various diverse organizations, by completing a careful inquiry. In any case, be to a great degree sure that you look at the highlights that are incorporated into the strategy. For instance, an organization may look shabbier than another, yet in fact they will prohibit some critical components that will be important for the protection. Therefore one must comprehend that less expensive isn't better dependably, particularly in auto protection.
Approaches vary extraordinarily in their accessible highlights and choices, and various firms give you motivators to bounce going to play a part with them. You can really trade out some huge reserve funds while hunting down the right protection arrangement.
Numerous protection approaches give passing and inadvertent cover. One ought to never purchase essentially on the grounds that an organization is giving a shabby arrangement; always remember to take a cautious watch at the highlights the organizations offer, and above all their general unwavering quality and notoriety.
Young people have high danger of mischances, most likely due to their foolhardy driving propensities. This includes one more imperative explanation behind accident coverage. Likewise, there are various different choices that you can include your accident coverage. A portion of these alternatives could incorporate breakdown cover, harm obligation and restorative cover. A few firms will charge you additional for these alternatives, and some will incorporate these choices standard. ThereforeComputer Technology Articles, go around and see diverse shops previously purchasing. Vehicle protection has likewise been made obligatory in a few nations.


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Metal Studs: How to Use and Frame With Metal StudsUpdated: Mar. 20, 2023
Tools and techniques for building basement and partition walls with steel studs.
You might also like: TBD
- Time
- Complexity
- Cost
- Multiple Days
- Beginner
- Varies
Metal Studs vs Wood
As the supply of quality lumber diminishes, steel studs will replace their wood stud cousins more and more in home construction. You'll like steel framing for the many advantages it has over wood: Steel studs are perfectly straight. They don't shrink or split. Steel studs are light and easy to store, plus they resist fire, insects and rot. And you'll really like the fact that steel studs are about 30 percent cheaper than wood.
At first, you'll find framing with steel studs to be slower than with wood studs, because you'll be working with unfamiliar materials, techniques and tools. But once you get the hang of working with steel, it's very user-friendly. If you make a mistake, you can simply unscrew the steel parts and quickly get back on track. To get you started, we'll show you how to build a small, non-weight bearing wall.
Tooling up
You probably already own most of the tools needed for framing with steel studs. These include a tape measure, straight-cut aviation metal snips, plumb bob or 4-ft. level and a drill (preferably cordless with variable speeds and multiple clutch settings) with a 2-in. extension bit holder. Spend $30 more for these additional "must-have" tools: C-clamp locking pliers (Photo 3) for temporarily clamping steel studs to tracks, and sheet-metal locking pliers (also called "duckbill pliers," inset, Photo 4) for forming tight bends in steel track.
Basic steel stud cutting tips and metal stud framing details
Photo 1: Cut the metal studs and tracks
Cut both side flanges of a steel stud, using straight-cut aviation snips. Then bend one flange up-clear of the snips' jaws-and cut across the stud's web. For easier electrical and plumbing installations, later on, keep all the keyhole knockouts aligned by cutting all steel studs to length from the same end. Protect your hands with heavy-duty gloves.
To cut individual steel studs and tracks, use straight-cut aviation snips (Photo 1). If you need to cut dozens of metal studs and tracks quickly, use a circular saw fitted with a toothless (Carborundum) metal-cutting blade ($7). When cutting individual steel studs or tracks with a circular saw, cut on the closed (or "web") side and support the piece tightly on sawhorses. Protect yourself from the showering sparks, acrid smoke and deafening noise by wearing safety glasses, a dust mask, long sleeves and hearing protection.
Pro Tip: A Faster way to Cut Steel Studs
To cut steel studs, snip both sides, then score and bend.
Most home centers sell circular and chop saw blades designed for cutting steel studs, but one pro prefers a quieter and less messy approach. He cuts both sides with snips and scores a line on the back. After bending the stud back and forth a few times, he ends up with a burr-free cut. No need for hearing protection and no metal shavings sticking to your boots. Caution: Steel studs and tracks are sharp. Our pro doesn't wear gloves, but you should.
Wall building techniques
Photo 2: Layout and fasten the tracks
Fasten steel tracks to concrete using 1-1/4 in. hex-head concrete screws. Lay out the position of the track, strike chalk lines, and drill a hole through the metal and into the concrete the full length of the screw. Use a hammer drill fitted with a carbide tipped masonry bit. Set screws first at each end of the metal framing track and then every 3 ft. along the track. Overlap track corners by notching the first track's flange so the overlapping track can slide into place. On long, straight runs, overlap adjoining tracks 6 in. and secure the overlap to the floor with a concrete screw.
Photo 3: Mark, clamp, then screw
Join metal studs to tracks by clamping the two members tightly with C-clamp locking pliers and driving a 1/2-in. No. 8 pan-head screw in the middle where they meet. Drive the screws at medium speed. Choose a clutch setting strong enough to drive the screw home but not so strong that it strips the screw hole and weakens the joint.
Photo 4: Doorway framing techniques
Construct a doorway in a non-weight-bearing wall using steel and wood. Fabricate the metal header by cutting the track 2 in. longer than the rough opening width. Cut each flange of the track (on both ends) 1 in. lengthwise and bend the web down 90 degrees using sheet metal locking pliers (as shown in inset photo). At the rough opening height specified, fasten the header by driving two pan-head screws through each web flap (drawing the header tight to the king stud) and then driving a screw through each flange of the track.
The best technique for framing steel walls is to first fasten the floor and ceiling tracks and then install the studs one at a time. On the floor, lay out and mark the location of the wall, fasten the steel track (Photo 2), and then locate the position of the ceiling track using a plumb bob or a level held against a steel stud. On a finished ceiling where the stud wall framing track runs perpendicular to the joists, fasten the track to the underlying joists with 1-1/2 in. self-tapping drywall screws. If the track runs parallel to the joists, fasten the track to the ceiling with drywall anchors.
Other wall-framing tips
- After marking the positions of all studs on the ceiling and floor tracks, carefully measure the exact height for each stud. This ensures a proper fit by compensating for a sloping ceiling or floor.
- Cut the studs with a metal stud cutter to a height that provides a tight contact to both the top and the bottom of the tracks. Gaps larger than 1/16 in. at either end are too great because they transfer the bearing weight of a wall onto the screws.
- When you're marking the height and width of door openings, allow an extra 1-1/2 in. for the height and 3 in. for the width to accommodate the 2×4 wood bucks you'll add for nailing the door frame and wood trim (Photo 4). Connect the wood buck to the metal framing by turning the solid webs of the king studs toward the rough opening and fastening the wood to the metal with 1-1/4 in. drywall screws.
Pro Tips: Wall Building
Don't lay track across a door opening
Lay out your walls and openings just like you would with wood, but when you install the bottom plate, don't run the track across the door openings. You can't use your reciprocating saw to cut the opening out later, as you can with wood. Concrete screws work well to attach the track to concrete.
Use a stud to locate the top plate
Unlike wood, steel studs are reliably straight. Cut one stud to size and use that, along with a level, to mark the location of the top plate at both ends, and snap a line to guide placement. Don't worry about cutting your metal studs to fit perfectly. It's completely unnecessary. This is a great advantage if you're working on an uneven floor. You can cut steel studs about 1/4 in. shorter than the actual measurement.
Use the track for blocking
Top plates that run parallel to joists often need to be fastened to braces. You could use wood, but Joe prefers to use scrap pieces of the track instead. Just cut the sides of the track and fold them out. Then fasten the track to the underside of the joist with drywall screws.
Wood bucks simplify door hanging
Frame the openings 3 in. wider and 1-1/2 in. higher and use drywall screws to fasten 2×4 bucks on the inside of the steel opening, then hang your door from the wood bucks. The bucks are also there for nailing on the casing. Slide a plastic shim under each side 2×4 if the wood is going to be in direct contact with a concrete floor.
Running electrical lines
Photo 5: Steel stud wiring
Secure electrical cable along the center line of each stud with plastic ties screwed to the studs. Pop a plastic 'bushing' into each knockout to keep the cable from rubbing against the sharp edges.
Home centers and electrical suppliers carry the special electrical boxes and parts used with steel framing. Because electrical boxes attached to steel studs can flex when electrical cords are plugged and unplugged, electricians attach the boxes to wood blocking with 1-1/2 in. self-tapping drywall screws.
Pro Tip: Protect Your Electrical Cords and Yourself
Accidentally stepping on an extension cord that's draped over a sharp track is a perfect way to cut your cord. To avoid potentially shocking developments, many pros take a scrap chunk of track, flip it upside down and put it under the cord.
Installing drywall and wood trim
Photo 6: Install wood trim
Install wood trim to underlying steel wall framing with self-tapping trim screws. Use a stud finder to locate the wall studs, and mark their position on the trim piece. To avoid splitting the trim, countersink the screwhead with a 1/4-in. bit. Then predrill the hole with a 1/8-in. bit. Set the drill clutch "light" so that the screw doesn't strip out. Drive the screw home and fill the screw hole with putty.
If your steel stud wall seems flimsy, keep in mind that it gains full rigidity once drywall or sheathing is applied. Hang drywall or sheathing using 1-1/4 in. self-tapping drywall screws spaced every 8 in. along edges (where two sheets meet on a stud) and 12 in. on center elsewhere.
The flange on a steel stud is flexible and may deflect when you're trying to pierce it with a drywall screw, especially when two-panel edges meet on a single stud. To prevent this, secure the first panel to the open side of the metal stud (the one that's opposite the web)—to give it rigidity—and then hang the second panel. Grip the back of the stud flange near the screw connection point with your fingers (to give it support) and then drive the screw. Don't try nailing trim into steel studs. It will not hold. Instead, use specially designed trim screws for the job (Photo 6). When countersunk, their small heads are easy to conceal with putty.
Pro Tips: Installing Trim
Cut a kerf in the blocking
Like doors, cabinets and other heavy objects need extra support. You can use plywood or 2x4s, but make sure you cut a kerf in it to accept the lip on the inside of the stud. If you don't, that lip of the stud will press against the support board and twist the stud, creating a bow in the wall.
Build up the bottom plate
Base trim can still be installed with trim screws. If you don't like the look of the screw heads, you can install two layers of 2×4 plates instead of steel track. With 3 in. of wood under the track, you'll be able to nail all the base trim just as you would a wood-framed wall. Over concrete, make sure you use treated wood for the bottom plate.
Pro Tips: Installing Drywall
Leave the last stud loose at inside corners
The proper way to drywall an inside corner is to slide the first sheet all the way into the inside corner and then fasten the last stud on the wall adjacent to the drywall. To do this, you'll need to leave that last metal stud loose until the drywall goes up. This method may seem a little goofy, but it requires fewer studs, and it results in an extremely stable joint. When laying out the tracks, make sure you leave a gap for the drywall to slide in.
Leave the last stud loose at "T" intersections too
Similar to handling inside corners, leave the last metal stud loose on the wall that makes up the stem of a "T" intersection. After the drywall is hung, that last stud on the intersecting wall will be fastened to the drywall. Once again, this method requires fewer studs and results in a rock-solid joint that's almost guaranteed not to crack the drywall mud. Leave the top and bottom tracks short to allow room for the drywall to slide behind.
Buying Steel Studs
Steel studs are sold in a variety of widths (comparable to dimensional lumber sizes), lengths and metal stud gauges (the lower the gauge number, the thicker the steel). You anchor the top and bottom to steel track (of matching width), which only comes in 10-ft. lengths. Use 1/2-in. No. 8 pan-head screws. Most home centers and lumberyards carry only the most popular 3-5/8 in. wide (comparable to 2×4 lumber) 25-gauge steel studs in 8-, 9-, 10- and 12-ft. lengths, along with all the fasteners. These lightweight studs are designed for stud wall framing interior, nonweight- bearing walls (walls that don't support floors or the roof). If you can't find steel studs at your home center or lumberyard, check with suppliers that cater to builders (look in the Yellow Pages under "Dry Wall Equipment and Supplies"). These suppliers will have a wide range of widths and gauges for framing everything from non-weight-bearing perimeter walls in existing basements (1-5/8 in. wide) to load-bearing exterior walls (up to 5-1/2 in. wide).
Choose the right screws
Don't use drywall screws to screw your studs together—they're not designed for that. Pan-head framing screws work best. Concrete screws work great to attach the bottom track to the floor. And be sure you use fine-threaded drywall screws to hang the drywall.
Required Tools for this Project
Have the necessary tools for this DIY project lined up before you start—you'll save time and frustration.
- Chalk line
- Cordless drill
- Hammer drill
- Hearing protection
- Level
- Safety glasses
- Sawhorses
- Stepladder
- Tape measure
- Wire stripper/cutter
Required Materials for this Project
Avoid last-minute shopping trips by having all your materials ready ahead of time. Here's a list.
- 'Duckbill' pliers
- C-clamp Locking pliers
- Leather Work Gloves
- Plumb bob
- Straight-cut aviator's snips


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Bright Light Management, a San Diego venture management fund, aimed at helping early-stage companies, recently announced its launch.
The business is led by Jeff Belk, a former executive at Qualcomm Inc., and has lined up Our Crowd, a venture capital/crowdfunding platform, in a partner role.
"Together, the two firms will bring new source of equity funding for San Diego entrepreneurs to build and scale their companies," said a news announcement on the business' launch.
Our Crowd, led by Jon Medved, has previously led or co-invested with other VCs in 33 startups and has 4,000 accredited investor members from 52 countries, including 150 living in San Diego, the companies said.
Dave Titus, executive director of the San Diego Venture Group, said "Having an equity crowdfunding platform active in San Diego will give the community a big boost in getting more accredited investors in San Diego involved in the venture area and potentially investing in exciting San Diego companies."
Belk has also launched Velocity Growth, a new crowdfunding as a service company.
The business is aimed at startup founders who are seeking capital and considering doing so via established crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter or Indigogo.
Velocity Growth said the platform offers entrepreneurs cloud services and applications as they prepare to raise money for their businesses.
"Potential entrepreneurs are everywhere, but they may not have the skills or networks for the tools, resources, or funding to get their ideas moving. That's where Velocity Growth comes in," said Andy Abramson, chief strategy officer for Velocity Growth.


text: Drag Dad Superstar Tyra Sanchez and Jeremiah | Celebrity portrait Jeffery Salter Drag Dad superstar, Tyra Sanchez and Jeremiah. He was photographed by Miami based celebrity, advertising and commercial photographer Jeffery Salter. Jeffrey is an award winning photographer who also does fitness and celebrity portraiture. He does location photography in Atlanta, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, NYC , Los Angeles and Dallas.


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In one of his early books, Second Nature: A Gardener's Education, Michael Pollan struggles against the enemies of weeds and a woodchuck as he cultivates a garden. His daydreams escalate into their total annihilation (gasoline down a burrow hole included) until, chapters later, he pauses to ask, "What sets us apart from other species is culture, and what is culture but forbearance?"
This question has stayed with me. After looking up forbearance in the dictionary (air high five for honesty!), I realize the question is asking us, "What is culture but restraint?" Now I agree: restraint is not a word that stirs passion. Nor is its close cousin "patience" anything to dance to all night.
Yet when it comes to producing food for an ever-growing population, these words are our highest call. They are for long-term vision, not short-term profit. They ask us to be the earth's guardians. They don't ask us to maximize food growth via any means necessary – CAFOs, pesticides, etc – only to deplete the resources given to us. In other words, what is culture but the call to act in honor of our highest, collective selves?
Thinking about Pollan led to another book, Inquiries Into the Nature of Slow Money by Woody Tasch. It examines the harm done when our economic engine runs white-hot, running solely on financial ROI as its fuel. It's centered on the thesis, "the basis of the economy is soil fertility." Recently, I was grateful for the opportunity to write about Slow Money as a guest for Mission Markets; please find the full post here.
In the nearly two years of writing Groundswell, I've learned two primary things: 1) We have a broken food system, but there are countless people working to change it. Many of them are business owners. These businesses patiently do good and create strong livelihoods. If we can't figure out how to earn our keep in sustainable food, then the changes we want won't be sustainable. 2) When the farmers invite you to dinner, go no matter what. It will be the best meal of your life.
Lastly, in Slow Money, Tasch writes, "Entrepreneurs and farmers are the poets of the economy …. Ideas in a business plan; seeds in potting soil; rhymes in search of new reasons."
As someone with a little bit of humble experience as both an entrepreneur and a poet, and with much respect for farmers, I find a lot of inspiration in this quote. The common trait in poetry and entrepreneurship is that they both make the heart soar. They both fly in the celebratory spirit of the unknown and the possible.
So, dearest readers, it's time to fly and put Groundswell down for now. If you find you miss this somewhat informative, yet smart-alecky voice, you can find me writing for slowmoneynyc.org. If you'd like to be notified if and when Groundswell starts back up, please subscribe with your email. Simply stated, it's been a thrill to write about you and for you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for reading.


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Design submitted by Sam from Germany.
Sam says: This time I liked to make an expressive watch based upon a pyramid. I was inspired by the theory, that the big pyramid in Giza (also: Gize, Gizeh) or mayan pyramids were build by aliens. The pyramids influence architecture in sci-fi movies so why not a watch? This I thought a futuristic alien pyramid watch would be cool.


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2004 Progress Report
The Progress Report describes the status of indicators which measure the progress that our community is making toward realizing the Cityof Albuquerque's Vision and its Five-Year Goals.
The Indicators Progress Commission (IPC) has the statutory responsibility for developing these indicators. The IPC is a citizen body appointed by the Mayor with advice and consent of the City Council.
As a result of community goals forums held in the summer of 2002, goals and resulting desired community conditions were developed by several hundred citizens. These goals and desired conditions were formally adopted by the City Council and approved by the Mayor, pursuant to the City Charter and Budget Ordinance.
The desired community conditions flesh out in more detail what the realization of each one of the Five-Year Goals would mean. The IPC identified one or more measures of these conditions — Goal Progress Indicators. The indicators are the heart of the progress report. They measure trends, and where no trend data is available, establish baselines for future comparison. Trends will continue to be tracked, as appropriate, and reported in future updates of the Progress Report.
City of Albuquerque Vision Statement
Albuquerque is a thriving high desert community of distinctive cultures coming together to create a sustainable future.


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That was the headline — in ALL CAPS — of a e-mail message I received recently from a lawyer named Robert W. Pearce. Mr. Pearce's client, Steven J. Wilson, was one of the two men I wrote about in late June who had been accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission of taking part in a small-time stock-manipulation scheme — and who, after five years of investigation and various legal proceedings, had been found not guilty in trials that lasted literally days.
One point I made in that column is that when people who aren't rich get sucked into the vortex of a lengthy government investigation, they often wind up broke — and broken, even if they are innocent. Mr. Wilson — and his co-defendant, Richard Kwak — were no exceptions. In the column, I focused mainly on Mr. Kwak, who lost his job as a broker at Morgan Stanley, but Mr. Wilson's plight was no different.
When the investigation began, Mr. Wilson was working for a small investment boutique called Noble Financial Group. Not surprisingly, he lost that job once the S.E.C. decided to come after him. "The really terrible thing is that clients you've had for years, companies you've done I.P.O.'s for, they won't even talk to you when they learn you are being investigated by the S.E.C.," Mr. Wilson told me when I spoke to him several months after his acquittal. And he was unable to find another job. "Personally, I'm pretty broke," he said. "They decimated me." At the time I spoke to him, Mr. Wilson, now 63, was trying to make ends meet as an oil filter salesman.
A month after my column was published, Judge Janet C. Hall of United States District Court ordered the S.E.C. to pay Mr. Wilson $481,844.09 in legal fees. (You can read her order here.) This would hardly end all of Mr. Wilson's financial woes, but it would at least relieve him of some of the debt he piled up as a result of his ordeal. (Mr. Kwak is currently struggling to get Morgan Stanley to pay some of his legal fees.) Under the law, the government loses its immunity from recovery of lawyers' fees if the action brought by the prosecution was either frivolous or in bad faith. On that argument, the judge sided with the S.E.C., ruling that bringing the case against the alleged stock manipulators was justified. (After all, she wrote, five of the seven defendants copped pleas. As I note in my column, I don't think those pleas necessarily show there was a stock-manipulation scheme, only that pressure from the government is more than most people can withstand. But that's a story for another day.)Read more...


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Earlier this week there was a piece in the press announcing that the Turner Prize Committee had decided to go public early about which artworks and artist they were considering. I have strong feeling, like many people, about the Turner Prize. Many of the works seem simply designed to shock, with nothing more substantial underneath. Those that aren't, are simply banal. It's highbrow kitsch, which says nothing while claiming that it actually does. And I think modern fine art has reached a dead end. it's anti-art, which constantly raves about Duchamps' urinal nailed to a piece of canvas. Duchamps did it to make the point that whatever the artist claimed to be art, was art. It's over a century old, and the joke's well past it's sell-by date. It was always an adolescent, childish prank anyway. To some of these art experts, it's a hallowed artistic statement that must not be blasphemed in any way. You remember those Chinese guys, who were arrested when they jumped up and down on Tracey Emin's 'My Bed'? The same two were planning to urinate in Duchamps' urinal. Which I feel is in keeping with the piece itself, but the mere thought horrified the keepers of official art.
The real artistic boundaries are being pushed, in my opinion, not by the fine artists, or at least, not by those fine artists currently pushed by the very small clique that defines what 'official' art is, like Nicholas Serota. Rather, they're being pushed by commercial artists and film makers, often inspired by the worlds of Fantasy and SF, using computer graphics. One of the foremost of these, in my opinion, is the German artist Jurgen Ziewe. Ziewe lives over here, and has an English wife. And we are fortunate to have such a talented artist. I do wonder what will happen to other talented EU migrants like him after Brexit, who can't stay in this country because they aren't married. We're going to lose a lot of very talented people.
Ziewe uses computer graphics, including Virtual models of humans and objects, and fractals, to create prismatic, Virtual, interior worlds full of robots, strange creatures, synthetic humans, fairies, wizards, witches, priestesses and temples. He started out making cards showing dolphins under cosmic skies. He's a very spiritual guy, in a New Age-y sense, and his work is inspired by concepts from Theosophy and C.G. Jung. Here's some of the picture from Nigel Suckling's book about his art, New Territories: The Computer Visions of Jurgen Ziewe (Paper Tiger, 1997).
The Fairy Queen
Picnic In Cyberspace
Journey of a Virtual Traveller
Apart from Ziewe, other artists working in film and television have also been using the concepts of computer graphics. One of the features of the BBC TV version of the Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy that most impressed me in the late '70s or early 1980s were the, ahem, computer graphics for the pieces of information provided by the Book. In fact, they were hand drawn, because the computers at the time simply weren't up to the task of creating pictures that detailed. But the art produced as 'computer graphics', was superb, and those, who watched the show were deeply impressed. As an example, here's a piece from YouTube of the Book describing Vogon poetry.
Further examples can be seen in pop videos. Like this one from the American electro-pop band, Information Society, which uses scrolling alphanumerics to suggest passage through cyberspace in a computer game, made for their track, 'The Prize'.
Other artistic explorations of medically or cybernetically enhanced vision can be seen in the films Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick and the last of trilogy, entitled simply Riddick. Richard Riddick, the anti-hero in these movies, is a violent criminal, a murderer, who somehow ends up doing the right thing. While in slam for his crimes, he paid the prison doctor 20 menthol cigarettes to have his eyes surgically altered, 'polished', so that he could see in the dark. In these flicks, we so bits of the action through his eyes. The scene in Pitch Black, where he sees the predatory aliens pouring out of their underground lairs after the marooned crew of a crashed colony spacecraft, is awesomely beautiful. This is the trailer for the movie.
And this is the trailer for The Chronicles of Riddick.
In this movie, the Necromongers use visioners, cybernetically adapted humans, to seek and visually examine areas that are difficult or impossible for normal human eyes to see clearly. And the brief scenes, in which the audience is shown what they see, are also stunning.
But this is low, commercial art, and so unlikely to find any praise by the High Art people, no matter how popular it is, or how technically sophisticated and visually inspired. The best comment on this kind of artistic snobbery comes from the American SF/Fantasy artist and book illustrator, Bob Eggleton.
Being a commercial artist is itself a kind of pigeonhole in the art world, but it is not a label that troubles him. 'Commercialism for the sake of commercialism is not a sin. What I hate is commercialism packaged as fine art. That's what Abstract Expressionism about, you're buying into a trend much of the time. There's nothing wrong with any kind of art, provided the artist believes in what they're doing.'
From Nigel Suckling, with introduction by Gregory Benford, Alien Horizons: The Fantastic Art of Bob Eggleton (Paper Tiger, 1995) page 83.
And the YBAs, such as Damian Hirst, Tracey Emin and Chris Offili, were very commercial, as was Salvador Dali long before them. This was pointed out on a programme on the great surrealist on Radio 4 several years ago by Malcolm MacLaren, the genius – well, he obviously thought he was – behind the Sex Pistols.
And here's Eggleton's picture of Great Cthulhu, painted for Weird Tales magazine, for all the Lovecraft fans out there.
I realised I've digressed a little way from the central topic of this post, the fantastic computer art of Jurgen Ziewe. But these are related issues, showing the way computers, robots, space and high technology – the stuff of Science Fiction – is pushing artistic boundaries in ways that the official fine art of Conceptualism really isn't doing. I'm also exploring a few ideas here for a much longer article, or series of articles, I intend to do on this sometime.
Tags: 'Alien Horizons: The Fantastic Art of Bob Eggleton', 'Information Society', 'New Territories: The Computer Visions of Jurgen Ziewe', 'Pitch Black', 'Riddick', 'The Chronicles of Riddick', 'Young British Artists', Abstract Expressionism, BBC, Bob Eggleton, Brexit, C.G. Jung, Chris Ofili, Commercial Art, Computer Graphics, Computers, Cthulhu, Damian Hirst, Dolphins, Fairies, Fantasy, Fine Art, Fractals, Jurgen Ziewe, Lovecraft, Malcolm McLaren, Marcel Duchamps, Migration, Nicholas Serota, Nigel Suckling, Poetry, Pop Videos, Robots, Salvador Dali, Science Fiction, Sex Pistols, The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Theosophy, Tracey Emin, Turner Prize, Virtual Reality, Witches, Wizards


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