text:
blob: e3200988409d1b2df95fe7bbf13dc113220dc182 [file] [log] [blame]
// Copyright (c) 2013 The Chromium Authors. All rights reserved.
// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style license that can be
// found in the LICENSE file.
#include <stddef.h>
#include <bitset>
#include <string>
#include "base/macros.h"
#include "base/timer/timer.h"
#include "net/base/net_export.h"
#include "net/base/network_change_notifier.h"
#include "net/cert/cert_verify_result.h"
#include "net/log/net_log_with_source.h"
#include "net/socket/socket_performance_watcher.h"
#include "net/third_party/quic/core/crypto/crypto_handshake_message.h"
#include "net/third_party/quic/core/http/quic_spdy_session.h"
#include "net/third_party/quic/core/quic_connection.h"
#include "net/third_party/quic/core/quic_packets.h"
namespace base {
class HistogramBase;
namespace net {
// This class is a debug visitor of a quic::QuicConnection which logs
// events to |net_log|.
class NET_EXPORT_PRIVATE QuicConnectionLogger
: public quic::QuicConnectionDebugVisitor,
public quic::QuicPacketCreator::DebugDelegate {
quic::QuicSpdySession* session,
const char* const connection_description,
std::unique_ptr<SocketPerformanceWatcher> socket_performance_watcher,
const NetLogWithSource& net_log);
~QuicConnectionLogger() override;
// quic::QuicPacketCreator::DebugDelegateInterface
void OnFrameAddedToPacket(const quic::QuicFrame& frame) override;
// QuicConnectionDebugVisitorInterface
void OnPacketSent(const quic::SerializedPacket& serialized_packet,
quic::QuicPacketNumber original_packet_number,
quic::TransmissionType transmission_type,
quic::QuicTime sent_time) override;
void OnPacketLoss(quic::QuicPacketNumber lost_packet_number,
quic::TransmissionType transmission_type,
quic::QuicTime detection_time) override;
void OnPingSent() override;
void OnPacketReceived(const quic::QuicSocketAddress& self_address,
const quic::QuicSocketAddress& peer_address,
const quic::QuicEncryptedPacket& packet) override;
void OnUnauthenticatedHeader(const quic::QuicPacketHeader& header) override;
void OnIncorrectConnectionId(quic::QuicConnectionId connection_id) override;
void OnUndecryptablePacket() override;
void OnDuplicatePacket(quic::QuicPacketNumber packet_number) override;
void OnProtocolVersionMismatch(quic::ParsedQuicVersion version) override;
void OnPacketHeader(const quic::QuicPacketHeader& header) override;
void OnStreamFrame(const quic::QuicStreamFrame& frame) override;
void OnAckFrame(const quic::QuicAckFrame& frame) override;
void OnStopWaitingFrame(const quic::QuicStopWaitingFrame& frame) override;
void OnRstStreamFrame(const quic::QuicRstStreamFrame& frame) override;
void OnConnectionCloseFrame(
const quic::QuicConnectionCloseFrame& frame) override;
void OnWindowUpdateFrame(const quic::QuicWindowUpdateFrame& frame,
const quic::QuicTime& receive_time) override;
void OnBlockedFrame(const quic::QuicBlockedFrame& frame) override;
void OnGoAwayFrame(const quic::QuicGoAwayFrame& frame) override;
void OnPingFrame(const quic::QuicPingFrame& frame) override;
void OnPublicResetPacket(const quic::QuicPublicResetPacket& packet) override;
void OnVersionNegotiationPacket(
const quic::QuicVersionNegotiationPacket& packet) override;
void OnConnectionClosed(quic::QuicErrorCode error,
const std::string& error_details,
quic::ConnectionCloseSource source) override;
void OnSuccessfulVersionNegotiation(
const quic::ParsedQuicVersion& version) override;
void OnRttChanged(quic::QuicTime::Delta rtt) const override;
void OnCryptoHandshakeMessageReceived(
const quic::CryptoHandshakeMessage& message);
void OnCryptoHandshakeMessageSent(
const quic::CryptoHandshakeMessage& message);
void UpdateReceivedFrameCounts(quic::QuicStreamId stream_id,
int num_frames_received,
int num_duplicate_frames_received);
void OnCertificateVerified(const CertVerifyResult& result);
// Returns connection's overall packet loss rate in fraction.
float ReceivedPacketLossRate() const;
// Do a factory get for a histogram to record a 6-packet loss-sequence as a
// sample. The histogram will record the 64 distinct possible combinations.
// |which_6| is used to adjust the name of the histogram to distinguish the
// first 6 packets in a connection, vs. some later 6 packets.
base::HistogramBase* Get6PacketHistogram(const char* which_6) const;
// For connections longer than 21 received packets, this call will calculate
// the overall packet loss rate, and record it into a histogram.
void RecordAggregatePacketLossRate() const;
void UpdateIsCapturing();
NetLogWithSource net_log_;
quic::QuicSpdySession* session_; // Unowned.
// The last packet number received.
quic::QuicPacketNumber last_received_packet_number_;
// The size of the most recently received packet.
size_t last_received_packet_size_;
// True if a PING frame has been sent and no packet has been received.
bool no_packet_received_after_ping_;
// The size of the previously received packet.
size_t previous_received_packet_size_;
// The largest packet number received. In the case where a packet is
// received late (out of order), this value will not be updated.
quic::QuicPacketNumber largest_received_packet_number_;
// Number of times that the current received packet number is
// smaller than the last received packet number.
size_t num_out_of_order_received_packets_;
// Number of times that the current received packet number is
// smaller than the last received packet number and where the
// size of the current packet is larger than the size of the previous
// packet.
size_t num_out_of_order_large_received_packets_;
// The number of times that OnPacketHeader was called.
// If the network replicates packets, then this number may be slightly
// different from the real number of distinct packets received.
quic::QuicPacketCount num_packets_received_;
// The quic::kCADR value provided by the server in ServerHello.
IPEndPoint local_address_from_shlo_;
// The first local address from which a packet was received.
IPEndPoint local_address_from_self_;
// Count of the number of frames received.
int num_frames_received_;
// Count of the number of duplicate frames received.
int num_duplicate_frames_received_;
// Count of the number of packets received with incorrect connection IDs.
int num_incorrect_connection_ids_;
// Count of the number of undecryptable packets received.
int num_undecryptable_packets_;
// Count of the number of duplicate packets received.
int num_duplicate_packets_;
// Count of the number of BLOCKED frames received.
int num_blocked_frames_received_;
// Count of the number of BLOCKED frames sent.
int num_blocked_frames_sent_;
// Vector of inital packets status' indexed by packet numbers, where
// false means never received. Zero is not a valid packet number, so
// that offset is never used, and we'll track 150 packets.
std::bitset<151> received_packets_;
// Vector to indicate which of the initial 150 received packets turned out to
// contain solo ACK frames. An element is true iff an ACK frame was in the
// corresponding packet, and there was very little else.
std::bitset<151> received_acks_;
// The available type of connection (WiFi, 3G, etc.) when connection was first
// used.
const char* const connection_description_;
// Receives notifications regarding the performance of the underlying socket
// for the QUIC connection. May be null.
const std::unique_ptr<SocketPerformanceWatcher> socket_performance_watcher_;
// Lower the overhead of checking whether logging is active, by
// periodically polling and caching the result of net_log_.IsCapturing().
bool net_log_is_capturing_;
base::RepeatingTimer timer_;
} // namespace net


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text:
Escaping the vortex of perfectionism

A film viewing and panel discussion of "The Race to Nowhere” evokes hopes for change in our education system.

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Escaping the vortex of perfectionism

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The screen flicked on, and immediately the heartfelt anecdotes began. High school, middle school, and even elementary school students of all ages and backgrounds shared their personal struggles with academic life.  “So much pressure that I would wake up and feel… like I’m dreading it,” One high schooler said to the camera. On Oct. 11, the Ann Arbor District Library held a viewing of the film “The Race to Nowhere,” with a panel discussion directly following. The event was a partnership with the University of Michigan Community Scholars Program. The film’s aim was to shed light on the major flaws of our country’s culture around education. It centered around many high school students feeling extreme pressure to excel in the academic world and illustrated the struggle of meeting expectations catered to the very top percentile of learners. “The Race to Nowhere” interviewed and showcased the lives of students, parents, and teachers living in an environment focused around constantly developing, advancing, and expanding the definition of success.

Watching the film, I found myself thinking: any one of these students could be a Community High School student. The students interviewed in the documentary seemed to be facing the same struggles we often witness firsthand as Ann Arbor’s high school students. The ever-growing compilation of extracurriculars, volunteering, clubs, extra credit and AP classes, paired with overwhelming amounts of schoolwork and projects all geared towards the college application, weave together a scene that we in the learning community know all too well. Even more concerning are the mental, emotional and physical tolls taken on students’ health. Walk into any high school, in Ann Arbor or elsewhere, and ask the first student you see about how school work impacts their life. Their answer will most likely be a medley of sleep deprivation and extremely elevated stress levels, among the many other negative effects of a pressure-filled lifestyle.

The film was undoubtedly very relevant to our community. It also dove into the pressing question: what are all of these sacrifices for? It suggested that while our current education system does a great job at motivating students to get into the “best” colleges, it does not adequately provide them with the skills they need to thrive in these colleges. According to the documentary, the University of California — a notoriously difficult school to get into — had to remediate about 50% of the students they accepted. This serves as proof that a well-crafted application followed by an acceptance letter is not always a perfect representation of a student’s readiness for college. Although the students that applied for the University of California often had grade point averages greater than a 4.0, they ended up having to retake basic high school classes because they hadn’t been retaining the same information they had been getting A’s on.

This statistic highlighted another of the education system’s biggest shortcomings: while AP classes and advanced courses provide heaping amounts of content, oftentimes the content is not given enough class time, discussion, or review and is instead rushed through at breakneck speed.  This often results in what the film called “mile-wide, inch-deep” coverage of important concepts. This method of teaching tends to prepare students for the college application, not for the college experience. Unrealistic expectations have also lead to an epidemic of cheating and plagiarism as students are taught to prioritize their grades over their comprehension of the material, and even over their moral compass. A study done for the movie found that less than 3% of the 5000 students studied had never cheated or plagiarized. The piece also argued that high school and college should be times to learn about oneself; to find happiness and to strive for excellence in whatever it is the student wants to pursue. With the rigid, quantity over quality oriented environment of high school, students are often not given the time, resources, or mentality they need to make crucial progress in their development as scholars and as people.

On the panel were John Boshoven, alum of Community High School: Counselor, Emeritus, and Co-Chair of the Ann Arbor Public Schools counseling department; Patricia Manley, a Trustee on the Board of Education for Ann Arbor Public Schools; and Todd Sevig, Director of the Counseling and Psychological Services at the University of Michigan. As the movie drew to a close, each panel member shared their opinions on the movie.

“Everybody knows it’s unrealistic,” Sevig said. “But somehow some students have internalized that [they] have to be nearly perfect throughout the day, and the week, and the semester, and the year.” Sevig expressed his hopes for positive change in our school system, sharing one of his favorite parts of working in education: seeing changes and growth in students.

“We see when students get better when they can navigate it and not get sucked up into the vortex of perfectionism,” Sevig said.

After all three panel members had had a chance to speak, the room became a center for discussion. Students, parents, administrators, teachers, and others for whom the movie had depicted a painful reality were encouraged to share their points of view.

One woman was concerned about her two kids, both freshmen in the Ann Arbor Public High Schools. The amount of homework they were getting, she worried, was just too much. While she knew that both wanted to go to the University of Michigan, she didn’t want them to put too much pressure on themselves. She offered the idea of creating more schools like Community, smaller schools with smaller classes for a more tight-knit and specialized learning environment. Boshoven responded that with the development of Ann Arbor’s third comprehensive high school, Skyline, there had initially been discussion of creating two or three other community-style schools rather than one large public one. However, there was a push from many parents for more sports, orchestra, band, and other programs that are harbored and strengthened by larger schools.

Another parent worried about her elementary schooler, who she noticed was facing anxiety over classwork and homework and being punished with loss of recess time. She wanted to make sure that Ann Arbor Public Schools would allow children time to play and develop important social and imaginative skills, without it being conditional in relation to how much work the child finished.

A student at the University of Michigan shared an alternative method of grading that was used in her Italian class in high school, and one that she thought was healthier for the students and more indicative of their understanding of the material. An Ann Arbor Public Schools teacher attested to giving either credit or no credit for her class, in an attempt to relieve some of the stress her students were facing. She was received with applause and cheering from the crowd, which was full of college and high school students, some of them her own.

As a wide variety of students, parents, teachers, and counselors came forward, the stories sounded more and more similar. All of them wanted happiness for their students, their children and themselves. They wanted education to be a process that created a sense of joy, motivation, and self-expression for students, rather than anxiety, stress, and toxic perfectionism. There was discussion of having homework-free weekends or even introducing alternative methods of grading for some classes. Monitoring time spent on schoolwork outside of school was also a priority, in addition to opening the conversation on mental health and creating a more supportive environment for students experiencing stress, anxiety, and depression. The hope was that as a community, we can shift our thinking when it comes to our public schools. We can change our goals from students having 4.0 grade averages and perfect test scores to goals that will benefit students not only as students but as people. We can change the ideal of students being perfect to the ideal of students having a sense of self and love for what they are learning. Most importantly, we can change our education system for all students to have a happier, healthier relationship with their school.

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Webinar | Contractors Pollution Liability: Underwriting Challenges in an Evolving Market

May 2 @ 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm EDT

Online / Virtual

Webinar Summary

This presentation from Chubb Environmental industry experts will discuss the framework of the Contractors Pollution Liability Policy, including baseline coverage, available enhancements, underwriting challenges and how the product can address potential uninsured exposures in today’s marketplace. Gerry Rojewski, Anthony Benner and Victoria Clark will lead the discussion on the CPL product and offer commentary on claims scenarios, regulatory issues, and ways to engage clients. Visit Environmental Insurance & Services on Chubb.com

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Gerry Rojewski
Chief UW Officer; Chubb Environmental

Anthony Benner
Vice President | CPL Product Line Manager; Chubb Environmental

Vicki Clark
Assistant Vice President; Chubb Environmental

One hour

Webinars are offered free of charge to Chubb agents and brokers and their select clients.

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text:
10 Reasons Why You Can’t Take Jesus Literally If You Don’t Take The Bible Literally

10 Reasons

There seems to be a lot of people questioning the validity of Scripture lately and lots of talk about whether or not we can even take the Bible literally. Most recently, Dove-award winning and Grammy-award nominated Michael Gungor shocked the Christian world by sharing similar out-of-the-box theological views, including casting doubt over the Biblical accounts of Adam & Eve, and The Flood. The bandwagon-belief of late is to accept the life of Christ without necessarily believing all of the Bible. This is dangerous ground to tread upon because it can lead to the slippery slope of seizing a “different gospel” (Galatians 1:6-10). This is “Cafeteria Christianity” where we pick and choose what we want to believe (from Scripture) and discard what we don’t want. To be a Christian is to follow Christ and embrace what He taught.

10 Reasons Why You Can’t Take Jesus Literally If You Don’t Take The Bible Literally

1. Jesus is the Living Word. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God. Verse 14 says, “And the Word became flesh (Jesus) and dwelt among us.” The Bible is a person. That person is Jesus.

2. All Scripture is inspired by God. (2 Timothy 3:16)

3. To question the account of Noah is to question Christ. Jesus said, “Just as it was in the days of Noah so will it be when the Son of Man (Jesus) returns.” (Matthew 24:37, Luke 17:26)

4. The Law matters. Jesus said He came to fulfill the Law of Moses, not do away with it. (Matthew 5:17)

5. Jesus is compared to the first man, Adam, and Scripture even confirms that Christ is the last-Adam. (1 Corinthians 15:45)

6. Jesus quotes and refers to the Old Testament several times, including God’s purpose for marriage. (Mark 10:6-9)

7. The Old Testament points to Jesus, period.

8. Numerous prophecies (going as far back as Genesis) in the Old Testament were fulfilled in the New Testament through the birth, life, and resurrection of Christ.

9. God cannot lie. If all of the Bible is not true, then God is a liar, which means Jesus is a liar and cannot be trusted. (Numbers 23:19, Hebrews 6:18)

10. God makes it clear that we cannot add or take away from the Bible. (Revelation 22:18-19)

I’m all for human reasoning and logic, but the reality is the Bible is packed with stories that are not logical. Jesus is Truth and Truth trumps logic. This is where faith comes in. After all, our entire relationship with God is based on faith.

The Bible is not rocket science, people. It says what it says and means what it says. We either believe it or we don’t. We either believe all of it or none of it.

I take the Bible literally because I believe Jesus.

3 Thoughts

  1. Reblogged this on AntiPerish and commented:
    It breaks my heart to see people falling away from the Word of God. In his latest blog, my good friend and Pastor, Chuck Tate does a great job explaining why you can’t truly follow Christ while denying the Word that reveals him.

  2. Concerning the law on point 4, I think it’s necessary to point out a distinction. Matthew 5:17 and Ephesians 2:15 seen to contradict, but do not.

    In Matthew 5:17, Yeshua is saying that he did not come to destroy the law. Literally, a disintegration. Similar to rust or decay.

    In Ephesians 2:15, Paul is using a different word that means to make idle, of no use.

    So Yeshua didn’t come to destroy the law, but to render it useless. The law came at man’s request at the foot of Moriah anyway. God wanted to speak to the people, they didn’t want to hear Him out of fear and requested that Moses get instructions from Him.

    Unique perspective concerning the introduction of the law.

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text:
Thoughts On Death

(Author’s Note: I originally meant to write about my reaction to an article I read about medically assisted suicide, but it became a personal reflection on death and dying instead. I’m going to post it anyway despite the intimate nature of these thoughts. I hope that you will consider them with respect. Thank you.)

We don’t talk about death. That’s the rule.

It’s not just an unwritten rule, either; it’s illegal to want to die in almost every state except for four. Unless you live in Oregon, Washington, Vermont or Montana, you are not allowed to ask for help to end your life, no matter how ravaged you are due to disease, no matter how much dignity you’ve lost, no matter how onerous life has become, you have to tough it out to the bitter end.

And to that I ask: why?

No, that’s not right. I know why.

Part of it is because of the pervasive and poorly-defined concept of “the sanctity of life,” which is a somewhat ironic condemnation when it’s coming from a vegetarian. In fact, I support the sanctity of death because of my respect and love for life. The sanctity of death is necessary for there to be any such thing as a sanctity of life. The word sanctity is used without understanding what it’s supposed to mean. People think it means being alive is more important than everything else, but that’s not correct. Is being alive more important than living with dignity? Is being alive more important than being without agony?

Regardless, we don’t talk about death even though it’s the one thing that we all have in common. It’s our common bond and our equalizer: kings and beggars both die. Men and women of every race, every creed, every class, every corner of the world. We all die.

Everything dies. Even the planets, stars, and galaxies die. Reality itself will likely die someday due to entropy. We’re all in this together. Nobody’s getting out alive.

Why are we afraid of that? Why don’t we talk about the most common element of our shared humanity? We celebrate life in all its forms, save for the one aspect that gives life its greatest meaning. We plan weddings, graduations, the births of children, and all of life’s other many milestones, but when it comes time for the grand finale, how many of us think about it? Ever? Instead, we let others plan it for us and define a moment that should be ours, assuming there’s even somebody around at that point to pay attention. Not everybody has even that much.

It’s not a question of wanting to die; I don’t really want to, but wanting isn’t really the point. It’s about accepting that I will and you will and we all will.

It’s about having a healthy respect for life.

And to me, stretching life out long past the breaking point isn’t about respecting it at all. It’s the same as the author who pushes out repetitive novels of earlier and better works or the movie franchise that had too many sequels or whatever other creative thing you enjoyed until its creator squeezed it too tightly, trying too fervently to get every last drop out of it rather than letting go and moving on.

The best stories are the one that end when it’s their time to end.

The saddest stories are the ones that are forgotten because they hung around far past the point of anybody caring because they weren’t allowed to end.

So, here’s me, right now in a point in time and space, thinking about the future. Thinking about the end and how I want it written.

Here’s how I want my story to end. I might not get this ending; every writer knows that sometimes your characters throw you for a loop or the story takes an unexpected twist. But assuming it all turns out as planned, this is the way my story ends.

I want to be at home.

One of my greatest fears is dying in a hospital. I don’t like hospitals; they’re cold and mechanical places. I feel terrible every time I walk past the open door of an occupied room in a hospital, because I imagine myself lying in that bed, looking out at the people walking past the door and knowing that they don’t know me and they don’t care that I’m dying. Hospitals are very lonely places, no matter who you’re with. I don’t want to die in a lonely place.

I want my final moments to be experienced in my favorite place: my place. I want to see my pictures and my books and whatever technology I have and whatever pets I have. I want my family to be there if they can, but I don’t want them to feel the need to keep a vigil over me for fear that I might die alone. So long as I’m in my space, no matter where that space is, as long as it’s home, I won’t be alone.

This is why I support the right to die.

I should be allowed to decide these things. I should be allowed to experience my last moment with dignity. It may be that this never happens: my death may be sudden or it may be an unexpected accident or it may be that I never experience the slow, wasting away due to disease and this right is unnecessary.

But if it does end with me in a ravaged state, I want to know that my life and my story end with the respect that I, and every other person who ever has lived, ever does live, and ever will live deserve.

Because to ignore it and pretend that it won’t happen isn’t just irresponsible. It isn’t just magical thinking. It means we forget, or worse, ignore the needs of those who are dying for fear that they might remind us of our own deaths. Some people might say there’s nothing worse than death. I can think of many things that are worse than death.

Being forgotten in your life’s final moments is worse than death.

Being ignored in your life’s final moments is worse than death.

Dying in agony is worse than death.

Dying without dignity is worse than death.

There are many things that are worse than death and we perpetuate them every time we shun the dying to a corner and turn our eyes away.

This is why we should talk about death.


text:
Things I Learned About North Korea From Reading The Comments Section

North Korea is one of those topics that grips my attention with morbid fascination. It boggles my mind to imagine a world so removed, so disconnected, and so absolutely alien to my own human experience. My interest goes far beyond “this is a crazy dictatorship with nuclear technology,” which seems to be as far as the rabbit hole goes for most people. For me, it’s the idea of what life is like in such a place. It seems like something out of a novel and it’s chilling to know that all the books I’ve read, like Barbara Demick’s poignant Nothing to Envy are filed in the non-fiction section.

I saw a great article about a tourist’s experiences in North Korea. The author’s own reactions are the highlight of the post: a combination of empathy and shocked amusement wrapped in a witty shell. I think shocked amusement is a normal human reaction to something so strange and unsettling; humor is one of the brain’s ways of dealing with stress, after all.

I don’t think this is cruel, superficial, or insensitive. Joking about how bizarre and weird such an experience is doesn’t mean insensitivity to the very real and very horrible human rights violations (only Eritrea has a worse record of human rights violations than North Korea). When you’re faced with something like that, the mind really has only a few options: try to laugh, try to forget, or shatter.

The reason why I’m writing about this article is not because of the article itself (although it’s very good and I think you should read it), but because of the comments the article has spawned. The author wryly notes early in the post:

Before I talk about what I learned, I’d like to quickly say hi to whomever from the North Korean government is reading this. Only the highest-level officials have access to the internet in North Korea, and I learned that the job of one of them is to scour the internet for anything written about North Korea and keep tabs on what the foreign press is saying. So hi, and haha you can’t get me cause I’m back home now and I can say all the things I wasn’t allowed to say when I was in your country.

The comments section unequivocally proves this to be true. Here are a collection of some of the best gems. Most of them are posted anonymously, although a few do have rather dubious sounding “Western” names attached. I won’t be offering any commentary as I think the rebuttals are fairly self-evident.

From “Anonymous”:

Actually, it was a rather contrived article full of swearing that was meant to make Americans feel good about their own massive police state. Enjoy feeling smug about yourself and your “free” country? Get a kick out of feeling “pity” for those poor North Koreans. Pull your head out and try fixing your own broken country, namely the USA.

From “Anonymous”:

Yes, it does sound a lot like the USA since 911. Of course, its easier to see the speck in the other guy’s eye, ya know? Not that N. Korea isn’t much worse and very sad because it is. But do take heed because they are working on making the US into the same kind of place. Current attack is against free speech under the guise of protecting “real journalists” – warning, warning, warning. We all must have the same protections.

From “Anonymous”:

Funny post, but some of it sounds pretty similar to the place where I live:
1. The leaders are a really big deal…
Like the POTUS (Mr. Peace Prize Terror Tuesday, and all the others before him), and the Fed chairman?
2. Everyone lies about everything all the time…
Like saying “the recession is over!”, or “unemployment is going down!”, or “inflation is low!”, or “the FED knows what it’s doing!”, or “college is a good investment”, or “we stand for Freedom! Yeah!”, or “marijuana is bad for you! booo!”, or “the Terrorists are going to get us!”, or “our military is killing people over there so they won’t kill us over here!”, or “the government cares for your safety!”, or “fluoride is not bad for you!”, or “the Healthcare Act was written to benefit the people, not the insurance companies who wrote it!”, or “Syria bombed its own people with chemicals, so now we need to go over there and bomb their people with even more killing metals!”, or “Iraq has WMD’s”, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc.
4. Propaganda is absolutely everywhere…
Like chanting “allegiance” and singing songs about how great the country is and how the country is God’s favorite, to start every school day, and at church, and before every collegiate and professional sporting event? And parading soldiers out in front of everyone all the time to be admired? Like that?
7. The details of the leader’s birth (and college career, professional career, criminal history, etc.) is not a subject you should try to gather information on…
Hmm, too much to list on this one, about every leader this country has ever had.
8. The same physical place can be fancy and shitty at the same time…
Washington D.C., New York, LA, Chicago, Houston, etc.
9. Still talk about the Wars… all the ones we had no business starting or participating in?
12. Lacking a sense of humor about the places that hold the bodies of dead leaders… See #1…

From “Kacuncica Davidovic”:

Well in many bulletpoints North Korea is not much different than modern USA.

From “Anonymous”:

True. This piece of slanted propaganda is only meant to titillate those Americans that are already brainwashed. The biggest police state in the world is the USA. Only in the US would you be informed that you are being totally spied on and everything recorded and then not to worry about it! Mindless American bootlickers unite!

Okay. I’m going to break my earlier statement about not commenting. Let’s clear something up, just in case there was any doubts.

If you are able to complain about the “lack of freedom of speech” in a public forum, you still have freedom of speech. You’ll know when free speech is gone, because nobody will be able to say anything about it. (Complaining about the erosion of free speech is still vital, however, as it safeguards against that erosion.)

The day I know we’ve slid into an actual authoritarian police state will be the day when I do not see numerous books on the shelf in a public library accusing the current President of destroying the country, being an idiot, or just being evil in general. We won’t have a news networks that are pathologically dedicated to mocking everything the government does. Those things don’t exist in a police state. You don’t get to be a talking head on a popular news network, you get to be shot in the head.

Thus, it’s paradoxical, but I actually take comfort in seeing Fox News continue to be ridiculously anti-President (or CNN during times of Republican dominance; they like to change things up like that). As long as they’re around, I can be certain that the First Amendment is alive and well.

Yeah, there’s a lot that’s going wrong. The PRISM thing comes to mind as an example of a larger problem (although for most people, the idea of privacy is completely ridiculous considering our level of social media narcissism.) This whole “let’s play chicken with the debt ceiling” is somewhat troubling, especially since the Teabag core seems hellbent on nihilistic immolation at this point.

Still. All things considered, we’ve got it pretty good. South Koreans have it pretty good. Most of us in the industrialized world have it pretty good, admittedly to varying degrees of good.

Hopefully, someday North Koreans will have it pretty good, too.


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HTC Offers to Produce Local Videos

The Washington County HomeTown Competitiveness Team will be opening up their internship program this summer to include video production to help market and support locally owned small businesses and non-profits serving Washington County

This summer, HTC wants to add to their video series by providing the opportunity for locally owned small business and non-profits serving Washington County to promote their services as well and tell their story via video.  “Research and trends show that consumers are looking to the web first to find out information about tourism, moving, relocating, programs, services and shopping to name a few.” said Beth Armstrong, a member of the HTC Team and the supervisor of the internship program. “For me personally in my role at the YMCA, I know we are missing an opportunity to connect with our members and the community we serve by not having a video online to tell our story.”

Locally owned small businesses and non-profits serving Washington County are invited to submit an application by June 3rd at 5pm to the YMCA if they would like to have a video produced to market their business or organization.  There is a cost for the video. However, it is at a significantly discounted rate thanks to the support of the Salem Urban Enterprise Zone and the Washington County Community Foundation, the primary sponsors of the program. A non-profit rate and for-profit rate are outlined in the application.  Videos can range in length from 30 seconds to 3 minutes.

For questions please contact one of the following:
Beth Armstrong at (812) 883-5565 or via e-mail at
Emily Olesh at (812) 276-5808 or via email at, or
Kelsey Cooper at (812) 620-8476 or via e-mail at

HTC Video Production Agreement for Small Businesses and Non-Profits (pdf)


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Posts Tagged ‘labour’

Wage Slaves and Wage Thieves

There has been sporadic articles and documentation regarding the inflated salaries of corporate execs and how they dwarf the salaries of our most senior public servants. More outrage ensues. More condemnation from the liberal press pours forth as they use the previously mentioned comparison to offer some perspective on the gross inequality in pay that exists.

Seemingly, the implication here is the difference in pay within the higher, more senior brackets between public and private sectors is large, and it shouldn’t be. However, I do not want a comparison drawn between the bosses of each sector. A much more worthy comparison would be to analyse the pay and rights of an average worker against a boss.

In our post-industrial, service driven economy, we are even outsourcing jobs citizens here are training to secure. This is freezing the price (wage) of labour here, and in some cases, driving it down (considering inflation). This is not only making society unequal by killing off any social mobility, it raises the top bracket of earners higher and higher above everybody else.

The attitude which manifests is one of spite towards the fellow/future worker who demands more via protest too. This is not so much a natural reaction, but one born of helplessness towards the rubbish we have to put up with. When we hear vacuous sound bites like “we are all in this together”, we tend to think, “we’re putting up with it, why aren’t they?” The answer is simple: none of us should, because the disconnect we are all feeling about the labour we offer and the fruits of it we receive is a very real problem that deserves our utmost attention.

This is not to mention the heavy cuts being implemented by the government, which will result in 500,000 public sector job losses, 50,000 of which will be in NHS, and the abolition of the UK Film Council which has produced Oscar winning films, among other wild swings of the axe. These are not just figures. They represent lives, mortgages, families, and a quality of life being squashed from above. Employment is the lifeblood of an economy. One can argue there are many superfluous jobs that should be shed – really?

The large size of the public sector here and other Western economies has become necessary to offset the deficiencies of the private sector, which has failed to provide not just sustainable growth, but sustainable employment. Until our casino finance sector stops operating in boom and bust cycles, the public sector will remain a dependable crutch for those who do not wish to gamble with lives. This brings me to the meat of this article: the attitude which the management class have tried to foster in their workforce and its economic consequences.

This can be first illustrated quite profoundly with a personal anecdote: I know someone who has earned well over £1,000,000 in product sales in the last business year, yet was only paid £22,000 for their troubles. This represents a 2.2% return of the value to the worker who was made solely responsible to shift the goods. Of course, there are other costs to account for, such as production costs and transport, but it would be reasonable to surmise that a large chunk of the profits made its way to the pockets of the directors and shareholders.

This is not only unjust, but symptomatic of the economic phenomenon in our age of globalisation: the value of a product is not simply determined by the seller in a simple transaction with simple market forces, but monopolised by those with the financial clout to keep workers dependent and hungry, effectively prostituting their labour as they see fit, while manipulating market conditions for their own benefit. This means that a worker in a Western country, who is no longer the producer of one given good, cannot readily identify the worth of a product outside their own contrived salary.

Detachment with the labour ensues, and apathy blooms.

This apathy is responsible for the incredible tolerance of the workforce to brave the gluttony and greed of the management classes. We simply do not care about what we do anymore because the reward is miniscule and our labour is undervalued. Corporations understand this problem, and the solution to protect their interests is not to improve worker conditions, but to drive them down further, so that workers become desperate, and finally grateful for their lot in life. After all, a starving man will think a dry biscuit is the best meal he’s ever had if there was nothing else.

Of course, this policy has two outcomes – March 26th is a testament to that.

Globalisation has fermented the economic shit-storm here and made it co-dependent on the labour situation in developing countries. Take the example of a £20 pair of jeans manufactured in South East Asia and sold on a UK high-street. The worker there is on slave pay and slave hours and just about gets by (if they’re not killing themselves en masse). The product is then priced according to the target market – in this case, the poor here. The poor producers create for the poor and the rich, it is worthy to note.

Keeping the example of the cheap pair of jeans: how about improving the pay and working rights for the outsourced labour? The price of the product increases, resulting in fewer sales and probably redundancies. All the while, the rich are unaffected and preserve their profit margins. The excuse is that the poor here cannot afford to purchase the now more expensive jeans, and have been priced out by concessions to labour movements elsewhere – which then effectively demonises development on these issues among local populations.

The sadly unorthodox reaction to such events is to support each other in a rather Marxist “workers of the world unite” fashion. It is starting to happen with messages of solidarity issued by those struggling for better conditions around the world. What needs to be remembered is that the consumers here are also producers, and the producers there are also consumers. We are not one or the other. We must not be only one or the other. The conditions one worker has to endure can be normalisedfor good or for worse. That is key.

If conditions improve for workers in the North China labour market, we should support them and demand similar. If the quality of life for the workers there improves, we should demand the same concessions and readjustments. In our globalised economy, isolated progression, i.e. one that is naive to the interconnectedness of the labour markets, will damage understanding of the true economic issues of our time. Moving together is fundamental to narrowing the chasm which exists between the classes.

A revaluation of labour is necessary for a successful redistribution of income. The general discord we have for many of our jobs finds solace in our apathetic approach to the opportunities and rewards we have available. If the poor worker/consumer here cannot afford those jeans anymore, they in fact should be paid more and given better working conditions. In effect, this unilateral progression of working rights will raise the bar for workers everywhere, while simultaneously lowering the astronomically high bar of the rich profiteers.

In a blog on Brazen Careerist, a hip career-based website, Whitney May Parker advises a worker to:

3. Never tell your boss “No, I can’t do that.” Obviously if your boss is asking you to do something illegal, immoral or otherwise, that’s a different case. But when it comes to professional tasks and responsibilities, bosses like to see a can-do attitude. Instead of reacting to a challenging assignment with a sigh and immediate reasons why it can’t be done, consider what resources you’d need to actually get the job done. Maybe you need an assistant, a bigger budget, more time, access to a special resources. Think of it as an opportunity to expand your responsibilities in a way that can lead to a raise or promotion at the end of the day.

The writer clearly has immeasurable awe for her superiors and its nauseating. It is almost as if a boss is to be viewed as a benevolent being, never wrong, omniscient and noble in their judgement. This kind of material is everywhere, and it all contributes to that feeling of gratitude the management class want to instil within the workforce. Workers must remember – they do not owe them anything. Labour is not free, and 100 workers have just as much value as 100 bosses. In reality, the ratio is 1 boss to 1000 workers, looking at salaries.

Of course, that cock-tease of a line always shows up: “It can be you! You can be the tyrannical boss one day!”.

But exploring even cheaper and grateful labour might very well be “the wave of the future of human resources” one CEO has mentioned recently:

People who work for free are far hungrier than anybody who has a salary, so they’re going to outperform, they’re going to try to please, they’re going to be creative

Kelly Fallis, CEO of Remote Stylist

They will definitely be hungrier. The scandal here is that they now want us to feel grateful for working for free, and many of us do – look at interns. Entitlement is the mentality of the management classes, and gratitude is the attitude they wish to foster in their underlings. It is reducible to slavery and it should inspire our deepest contempt. But universally, it doesn’t.

Divide and sell remains the mantra…

As Marx once commented on 19th C decadence in France:

"Since the finance aristocracy made the laws, was at the head of the administration of the State, had command of all the organised public authorities, dominated public opinion through the actual state of affairs and through the press, the same prostitution, the same shameless cheating, the same mania to get rich was repeated in every sphere, from the court to the Café Borgne, to get rich not by production, but by pocketing the already available wealth of others, clashing every moment with the bourgeois laws themselves, an unbridled assertion of unhealthy and dissolute appetites manifested itself, particularly at the top of bourgeois society – lusts wherein wealth derived from gambling naturally seeks its satisfaction, where pleasure becomes debauched, where money, filth, and blood commingle."

Such is the state of affairs now, but magnified one hundred fold. To an almost fever pitch degree of greed and debauchery by the rich, the workers are deprived of a fair wage, reside in filth, and give their blood, all for a pittance. The saga of the wage slaves and wage thieves which has blighted modern civilisation to a now exhausted extent simply must end.

And it will only if we fight in solidarity.

Iraq’s Assyrian Christians Betrayed by a Liberal West in an Identity Crisis.

27/11/2010 2 comments

Well over 100 people were killed by extremists in Baghdad alone during the last month, including over 50 Assyrian Christians on the Black Sunday of 31st October.

Mission accomplished? I don’t think so.

Condemnation by all groups and states was received in the events that followed. The media dribbled out an isolated article here or there. There were murmurings behind closed doors about plight of the “Christians of Iraq”. However, what remains clear is the massive disparity between the anguish felt by the sizeable Assyrian Christian communities in Diaspora around the world and the inaction of their respective governments to put pressure on the Iraqi government to do much more than it is doing to ensure our safety.

A series of demonstrations dubbed the Black Marches were organised around the world in more than 20 locations. Where is this reported? They generated a few whispers, but no on-going coverage, no 24 hour fascination typical of a lecherous around-the-clock media, and no special fieldwork assignments to discover why they were undertaken and what the goals were of the people demonstrating. This is not because the story itself was uninspiring, uncontroversial or timid. It was all of the opposite and more.

Chicago March Calls Protection Iraq Christians MPqK5Sxrtx9l

Symbolic display of those killed by volunteers in Chicago.

Why? This is my reasoning.

Western culture is increasingly becoming secular in all aspects of its society, be it politics, media, morality and communal society. This is important for a number of reasons. Chiefly, it has to do with this current perception and sentiment: the value of stories which are exclusively concerned with our humanity are more important and vital than other stories which are perceived to deviate from this norm. Its as if anything else would taint it with some nonsensical slant which would undermine its purity.

Take the story of the trapped Chilean miners – one of perseverance and strength of human spirit in a war of attrition with the earth itself. It was a simple isolated story, and it received unabated worldwide coverage with an outpouring of support from all countries. The miners survived, ensuring a happy ending and a victory for our humanity, strength of will and compassion in the face of adversity and improbable odds, all neatly packaged for us to consume. Nice.

Why was this more of a story than the Church massacre in Baghdad? This is a story where over 100 people were taken hostage in what represents an on-going assault on the Christians of Iraq. The dead had mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, wives, husbands, and children too. Where were their interviews? Where were the messages of support? Where was all of the aid and news coverage? Where was all of the coverage of demonstrations around the world which prompted tens of thousands to take to the streets?

Missing, as usual.

Aftermath of the Church massacre.

All of this greatly troubles me, and I have come to a number of conclusions.

My first conclusion is this: this event is painted as a religious conflict, and religious conflicts are notorious for bigoted opinions and endemic senseless violence. More importantly, religious conflicts are the stuff for savages in far away lands, not concerning us and our limited reserves of compassion we ration out when persistently prodded to by our fickle media. The siege against the Christians of Iraq is usually absorbed by the bigger picture and fuzzy message of “Hey, everyone is suffering. Everything is generally OK though”.

My second conclusion is this: the wall of apathy which manifests in light of these mass murders stems of the West’s inability to reach deeper inside this cauldron of supernatural folly (religion) and grasp the human element which lies at the heart of it. This isn’t just“one group of religious people killing another group in the name of religion”, this is one group of people being killed – for whatever reason. This is not simply a religious conflict, it is a human tragedy which is often overshadowed because of the now distasteful religious element.

Its almost as if “looking at the bigger picture” comes first now, with the particulars not even touched upon. This odd kind of relativist principle handicaps any meaningful appraisal of the problem.

The Western media is unable to report and comment effectively on this issue in Iraq. It also seems Western politicians are all too eager to downplay their power and influence when it suits them. If a picture requires a smile, expect everyone to be there. If not, you’re on your own, regardless of whether Western forces illegally invaded and rapidly accelerated the nationwide targeting and subjugation of the Assyrians. Where is the coverage of what these people want? Let us not forget the historical bond between Britain and the Assyrians too.

Thousands of demonstrators take to the streets in Sweden.

This is the reason why a mainstream liberal’s philosophy, as it is now, is bankrupt. This is also why there was (and still is) so much contempt for the Labour Party. All of this inflicts a grievous wound on my present sensibilities. After all, a liberal agenda is supposed to champion the rights of minorities and disadvantaged people. At the moment, these principles are hamstrung by a generalisation of the problem to project some kind of false grander, more worldly view. These problems are localised and considering them to be otherwise is criminal.

Newspapers which used to represent general reading for me like The Guardian have betrayed their own objectives with convenient double standards. An unlikely ally in all of this has been the Conservative base, with their appreciation of the “Christian factor” and its preservation in a hostile environment. However, as mentioned previously, this is a human tragedy. Spitting fire about those abusing Christians will not improve their lives. This energy must return its focus to the needs of the people who are being oppressed.

These “Christians” have names too, a unique culture, a unique language, and a unique history – let us not concede to the Arabisation campaign. As the first inhabitants of ancient Iraq, Assyrians have suffered at the hands of Ottoman Turks, Kurds, Nationalist Arabs and Islamic extremists. However, they are resolute in the face of this long-lived adversity. They have heart and they have spirit. They will not break, and we all must support them to finally alleviate them from the third-class citizenship they experience in their ancestral land.

Northern Iraq, loosely translated: No matter where the hand of evil reaches, we are not guests in this country, we are natives and we will stay.

Anything less would be a grand betrayal, dwarfing even the broken promise made by the Allies after WWII to finally grant their steadfast Assyrian allies a homeland. What is happening now is a threat on the Assyrians’ existence. The scattered Diaspora communities are strong, but nothing is certain without any presence in their place of origin. This highlights the key failing of today’s liberal agenda – it has no grasp, and therefore, empathy of the suffering of persecuted minorities such as the Assyrians of Iraq.

It sadly resembles something of a liberal fascism. Edges are wrongly straightened in an attempt to appear intellectually receptive to larger ideas and longer perspectives. This should not be the case. A liberal should be proud and stalwart in defending the rights of minority groups without feeling they are betraying some abstract holistic principle which has become obscure to the point of contempt. It is a sacrifice made in the mainstream of liberal media and politics. It is a wrong sacrifice to make, for liberty must be defended as well as granted.

The sacrifice is ultimately made because of an unhealthy preoccupation with the guilt only an educated westerner could feel at the colossal mess of oppressive nationalist dictatorships, ruling monarchies, and theocracies which populate the Middle East. Sadly, because this preoccupation originates in shame, great crimes are glossed over and unreported in an attempt to remain impartial. Thus, the line being towed by mainstream liberals is often one of (rightful) anger directed at Bush and Blair and their frankly stupid adventure in the region.

However, focusing the frustration on this issue is favouring the easy option of pointing the finger over actually cleaning up the mess. “Fine, but what else?” must naturally follow. The other side of the coin involves focusing on the extremists and making derogatory comments about Islam itself. This is highly unhelpful and in some cases extremely damaging for the people who have the suffer the consequences of these kind of revenge fantasies. So you have two reactions: first, “damn Bush and Blair”, and second, “damn those bloody Muslims…”.

What’s lost in all of that vitriol? The very people who are subject to the suffering.

So here is some coverage of their torturous plight now:

– There were reportedly 1.4m Assyrians in Iraq 10 years ago, now fewer than 500,000 remain. Genocide? No! “natural immigration”.

– 66 Churches have been bombed or attacked since 2003. Targeting? No! All Iraqis are suffering equally.

– Over 800 Assyrian Christians killed since 2003. Come on, this must be targeting! No! We don’t bother with population statistics and ratio of attacks when it doesn’t suit our hazy argument.

– Thousands of refugees congregate in ghettos in Syria, Jordan and Iran, stricken in poverty, with no help, employment, or voice – positively in Limbo, ready to move again. What about their stories? No! We don’t know what to ask them at this point anyway.

– Thousands more look longingly to the West, most afraid to criticise in fear of being rejected asylum and sent back to their nightmare life without rights, security and a fair shot at life. Refugee crisis? No! Ok maybe, but, er, *rewind* there are other people suffering too.

– Assyrian Christians are said to make up 3-5% of Iraq’s population, yet reports from international NGOs state they represent 40-50% of the Internally Displaced Peoples (IDPs) and refugees in surrounding territories and the West. How about now? Bigot!

Our story is simply lost amid generalisations. Iraq is viewed as a blanket mess not worth sifting through. There is no doubt that all Iraqis are suffering, but none are suffering more than the Assyrian Christian ethno-religious minority, and that must be made clear. More must be done as this is the case. What we get here is a hollow liberal agenda which condescendingly overlooks particularities and complex problems, and a conservatism more often concerned with attacking our persecutors than empowering the very people who are being attacked.

So, who says there is too much bad news? The fact is there isn’t enough.

“Downsize your Dreams”, we are Told.

I have come across a podcast today on the Guardian website entitled Careers Talk – The Graduate Job Formula and I have to say, I was livid. (Predictable, yes, but I wouldn’t be writing this if I was delighted, would I?)

The podcast was conducted by four girls who chuckled more or less throughout, in what I believe was a botched attempt to take this serious matter seriously.

The situation presented is a familiar one:

Art student finishes enjoyable degree and enters the employment world ambitious, creative, full of ideas, and impatient to start working in a field he or she loves. Art student then finds most of the very few positions already filled by Oxbridge candidates or those who had the resources to undertake free work, travelling, and all manner CV building unrelated to the person’s actual ability. Art student, dejected and crestfallen, retreats into obscurity and works odd jobs until dream can be realised.

Unfortunately, the dream is often not realised because of the webs we are woven into.

These girls disagree. They say working in a call centre, for example, can be a very positive experience where many skills can be fleeced in return for some cognitive downtime.

The positives which were mentioned were as follows:

The training. Oh yes, the training. Knowing what button on the phone unit to press and how to speak to people, yes, I did not learn these things when I was a child, I must have been too busy dissecting Lego from my arse.

Understanding the legal issues. Call centres can be very challenging places to work in. A tech support call centre have an influx of distressed people with broken computers or broken lives which require real expert advice. But lets face it, you won’t be in a call centre like that because that requires years of training and probably a degree, and most importantly, some kind of passion for it. You’re more likely to be working in a sales role smiling your face off at a cold computer screen. Legal issues? Yeah, don’t swear at the idiot on the phone, which leads me nicely into…

Learning how to deal with difficult people. “We all have to deal with difficult people at some stage in our career…” was how this positive was framed. Indeed, we do. However, a difficult person being difficult about something you could not give a crumb of crap about is far different from a difficult person being difficult about something you are enthusiastic and passionate about. Chances are, you don’t care for that insurance you’re shotting, or the cable deal, or mobile phone, or whatever modern trinket we busy ourselves with these days.

And my favourite:

Future employers will know you are very hardworking. I can’t fault them here, they are right. You must be very hardworking, determined, dogged, resolute, and all of the other superlatives which also fit well with the Catholic Church’s attitude in covering up its child abuse scandal. Working in a call centre is textbook training for being another expendable entity in a system which is intent on maximising the commodification of labour, creating worker bots who simply generate wealth for the elites. Basically, your future employer will know you will do all your work, and usually theirs, without complaint or call for better treatment.

imageYou’ll be sitting next L9JKV811.

By the way, I’m actually a balding, pugnacious man who hates you.

We are told we would be “work ready” after our ordeal. Having our ambitions bludgeoned by big business, who wouldn’t be ready for the particular employment market which awaits our fall from grace?

We are told to present our experiences at these call dungeons “intelligently” on our CVs, with the assumption that we won’t naively on their minds. What else are we to do? Write down we hated everything about it to the point where we daydreamed about suicide in our breaks?

“No, be honest, it was good for you. You just don’t know it.”

These four girls, who are expanding their journalism portfolio and are, from what I can surmise, doing what they want, have the cheek to preach to recent graduates about the CV goodness of putting down “Call Centre” as past or present employment, let alone actually enduring life as a call centre agent.

This is all presuming you can freely quit whenever you want, and have little debt to pay off in the inevitable gap between jobs where you have no income.

It is remarkably patronising and counter-productive to advise arts students to “be realistic” about their career prospects without simultaneously addressing the negative, oppressive system they are graduating into. Of course, as usual, it must be the graduate’s fault, or the low income worker’s fault, or the unemployed person’s fault – wealth is out there, go get it like everyone else is. They almost want to say stop sucking at life.

It is infuriating having such short-sighted people exercise some kind of false authority in this subject when they are clearly ignoring the public mood and have no idea about the global picture—and at the same time carve a career out of it in such an important field—journalism.

The most ironic part of the whole turgid conversation had later with a Professor was when he listed the key ingredients to give your job hunt the best chance. What ranked higher than anything else, according to him, was having good contacts. How worrying it is that graduates are expected to already have contacts without being previously employed.

“Dad, who was that guy you said would be interested in taking me on for a bit?”

Plainly put, we are becoming increasingly tired of papering over cracks, of having drivel being fed to us as news, of bailing out exploitative and opportunistic banks and funding illegal wars with public money, with government forever placating corporatists, with cementing the plutocracy, and with these geriatric “experts” making us feel like they “understand”.

The more we have people like these girls telling us to see the positives in slaving away in enormous call centres for people who view you as a screw in their wealth machine, the more desperate our society will become in overhauling itself.

Where is the identification of the new workforce and what it desires to do? If a lot of people are now taking arts based degrees, for example, where is the increase of arts based jobs? We are already seeing government cuts to these kind of jobs, with the Murdoch empire hovering like vultures over the BBC and any Tory plans which may call for its downsizing.

Collectively, people should determine what they want to do, and not corporations. There is a massive disconnection with the employment “market” and what people wish to do and study. We peer out of our university gates after three years only to realise these kind of jobs “are not there” and be told “not everyone can be artists”.

Of course they couldn’t; there would be no-one left to work for the elites who offer little material reward or fulfillment. There would also be even more competition for these journalism jobs.

The “Win-Win Situation” That Destroys Social Mobility.

20/08/2010 2 comments

I sit here a bitter man. Not because I have been recovering from a bout of food poisoning which has hampered my contributions to this space or an unexpected computer virus which compelled me to format my computer, but more crucially, unpaid internships continuing with no real sign of being reined in.

Graduates gain an experience and employers gain free labour – what’s the problem?

Unpaid internships ruin the chances of graduates from poorer families gaining valuable experience during their course and after they finish university. They contribute greatly to the very real brick wall that manifests as companies look for individuals who can basically pay them for the “experience”.

What good is it graduating from university with a degree which was at least part subsidised by the state through capped tuition costs and helpful low interest loans, only to emerge looking for a job in an employment environment populated by organisations who largely offer only unpaid internships?

The result of this process is the creation of two working worlds – one for the rich and one for the poor. Both the public and private sectors are guilty of this practice.

Below is the job description of a post I have recently found.

jobdesc1 …and make us a coffee. Cheers.

Now, that seems like a decent amount of work suitable for a graduate in their second role. The above is actually a position advertised on a British website inviting graduates to apply to an internship in the heart of Berlin. To compensate the graduate, a monthly “honorarium” of 500 EUR is offered to cover costs. Clearly, 500 EUR is not nearly enough to cover rent in the heart of Berlin, let alone the flight there and living expenses (nevermind actually doing the above).

This occurs everywhere, and nobody is really that bothered. Given the saturated job market due to the number of graduates, there must be some mechanism to filter out the applicants who do not make the grade required yet(?). This is necessary in today’s working world, but I believe the practice of unpaid internships unfairly discriminates against those who cannot even apply because they know they cannot afford it.

I don’t have to go to Berlin for such an example either, there are plenty much closer to home. With Thatcher’s realignment of everything valuable being in the heart of London and nowhere else, businesses have had to “go where the money is” and set up base in London, depriving the rest of the country from outlets graduates can apply to to practice their skills.

For example, a graduate from the North East of England who wants to start his career must be able to afford an internship in London to gain a foothold in their industry of choice. They cannot compete with those who are from London because Londoners simply have more opportunities to start and grow their career through unpaid internships they can afford.

This is not meritocratic; it is basically dynastic.

There remains little incentive for businesses and organisations to offer paid internships when there are affluent graduates who can depend on their parents to subsidise the “impressive” unpaid work they can choose undertake home and abroad. This is especially true in the nigh impregnable NGO sector where elitism is rife and managers tend to “revert to type”.

Many such organisations more recently complain of the economic downturn as the reason for the cycles of free labour they employ. Plain lies. I have seen very small organisations who comply with law by granting the National Minimum Wage, and I have seen some of the largest organisations make it explicitly clear they will not even pay expenses.

None are more guilty than the United Nations. Their internship offers no expenses whatsoever, despite the requirements of a flight to New York, rent and living expenses (a quoted sum of $5,000 for the internship in total). Not only do you have to pay this hefty fee to work for them for nothing, you have to be currently enrolled in graduate study.

This means the student will just have to have the money if they want the experience, with no option of working to save up for it available given the requirement to be already in full time education. Daddy’s wallet comes into play and the affluent graduate has their edge against the competition. If this isn’t simply buying experience, I don’t know what it. How is this fair?

UN Internship “Thanks dad!”

The simple fact is this: nobody should have to pay to be employed. When someone has parted with money to gain experience, a market system is in place where none should be. Of course the demand is high for careerists to scribble “United Nations” on their CV, but the supply of that experience should never be determined by how much money the applicant has to offer.

This is why interns must be paid at least the National Minimum Wage.

The employment process has lost its integrity given its marketisation. Tuition fees are capped for a reason – so the top universities in the country cannot charge more than the smaller less established universities. This is fair because admission should be primarily based on merit, not quantity of payment. Employment should operate similarly, but it doesn’t.

Whenever there is an avenue to influence, to gain and demonstrate power, and to accumulate wealth, the rich will devise ways to segregate the population and distract us with other problems. Powerful positions are simply reserved for those who have the “material pedigree”. Social mobility is intrinsic to what a democracy actually means, but it is lying dead in the water.

It must be said, the common myth is that social mobility has been in sharp decline for the last 20 years. This isn’t true; it has merely stabilised – not improved or worsened noticeably. The sharp decline commenced because of the free-market religion created during the height of the Cold War, with the unholy alliance of Thatcher and Reagan, its two most prominent advocates.

What we’re experiencing now is a “don’t rock the boat” approach undertaken by market-speak neo-liberals who are bereft of ideas. The answer always seems to be “charge for it” if it is free, or “charge more” if it is supposedly in high demand. The only market regulation which seems to exist is to deprive the poor of the product or opportunity to maintain its value.

Fairness is must be rooted in equal opportunities. It is those first few jobs which shape our attitude to life and help us identify what we truly want to do. When opportunities are unnecessarily limited at this stage, we “settle” for things we otherwise would not settle for. Our dreams become distant and naive, and we accept exploitation as if it defined maturity.

It doesn’t; it simply defines exploitation.

An old funny tweet created to rib conservatives goes: “if you have inherited hard all your life, you should be able to pass it on to your children”. Too right; here’s a load of money, my mansion, the keys to the BMW and your first job. None of these things bother me at all apart from the last gift enabled by our “job market” – that phrase alone is turning my stomach again.


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Uncle Sam’s Farm: “One grand, ocean-bound republic”

Here’s one of our favorite The Hutchinson Family songs, “Uncle Sam’s Farm”:

Uncle Sam's Farm

SOURCE = “Hutchinson Republican Songster” (1860)

In this lyric, Jesse Hutchinson, Jr. presents the westward expansion of US territory as an international opportunity for common people — “a general invitation to the people of the world” (although presumably not for Native Americans).  Hutchinson wrote the lyrics to fit the popular minstrel stage tune, “History ob de World” (a.k.a. “Walk in the Parlor”).

Here are resource links for certain lines:

TUNE.–Walk in de Parlor and hear de Banjo Play.

Of all the mighty Nations, in the East or in the West,
Oh! this glorious Yankee Nation, is the greatest and the best;
We have room for all creation, and our banner is unfurl’d;
Here is a general invitation, to the people of the world.

Come along, come along–make no delay;
Come from every nation; come from every way;
Our land is broad enough–don’t be alarmed,
For Uncle Sam is rich enough to give us all a farm.

St. Lawrence marks our Northern line, as fast her waters flow,
And the Rio Grande our Southern bound, way down to Mexico;
From the great Atlantic Ocean, where the sun begins to dawn,
Leaps across the Rocky Mountains, away to Oregon.

Come along, come along, &c.

The South may raise the cotton, and the West the corn and pork,
New England manufactories shall do up the finer work;
For the deep and flowing waterfalls that course along our hills,
Are just the thing for washing sheep, and driving cotton mills,

Come along, come along, &c.

Our Fathers gave us liberty, but little did they dream,
The grand results that flow along this mighty age of steam;
For our mountains, lakes and rivers, are all a blaze of fire,
And we send our news by lightning, on the telegraphic wire.

Come along, come along, &c.

Yes, we are bound to beat the nations, for our motto’s go-ahead,
And we’ll tell the foreign paupers that our people are well fed
For the nations must remember, that Uncle Sam is not a fool,
For the people do the voting, and the children go to school.

Interestingly, this songsheet lacks a verse (appearing in Asa Hutchinson’s 1858 collection of Hutchinson Family Singers’ lyrics  and again in John Hutchinson’s 1860 Republican Songster) that references Bleeding Kansas:

A welcome, warm and hearty, do we give the sons of toil
To come to the West and settle and labor on free soil;
We’ve room enough and land enough, they needn’t feel alarm –
O! come to the land of freedom and vote yourself a farm.

“Uncle Sam’s Farm” appears briefly in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s By The Shores of Silver Lake — Pa sings it as the family heads out onto the prairie; in fact, Laura marks it as “the song he sang oftenest”!

And of course, we have this powerful quote from the end of Stephen A. Douglas‘s hour-long opening speech at the third Lincoln-Douglas Debate (Jonesboro, Illinois, September 15, 1858):

I now come back to the question, why cannot this Union exist forever divided into free and slave States, as our fathers made it? It can thus exist if each State will carry out the principles upon which our institutions were founded, to wit: the right of each State to do as it pleases, without meddling with its neighbors. Just act upon that great principle, and this Union will not only live forever, but it will extend and expand until it covers the whole continent, and makes this confederacy one grand, ocean-bound Republic. We must bear in mind that we are yet a young nation, growing with a rapidity unequaled in the history of the world, that our national increase is great, and that the emigration from the old world is increasing, requiring us to expand and acquire new territory from time to time, in order to give our people land to live upon. If we live upon the principle of State rights and State sovereignty, each State regulating its own affairs and minding its own business, we can go on and extend indefinitely, just as fast and as far as we need the territory. The time may come, indeed has now come, when our interests would be advanced by the acquisition of the Island of Cuba. (Terrific applause.) When we get Cuba we must take it as we find it, leaving the people to decide the question of slavery for themselves, without interference on the part of the Federal Government, or of any State of this Union. So, when it becomes necessary to acquire any portion of Mexico or Canada, or of this continent or the adjoining islands, we must take them as we find them, leaving the people free to do as they please-to have slavery or not, as they choose. …

Why should we not act as our fathers who made the Government? There was no sectional strife in Washington’s army. They were all brethren of a common confederacy; they fought under a common flag that they might bestow upon their posterity a common destiny, and to this end they poured out their blood in common streams, and shared, in some instances, a common grave. (Three hearty cheers for Douglas.)

Note the unfixed national borders of Douglas’s politics — he speaks at a time when the United States could (indeed, in his mind, should) grow to encompass most of the hemisphere.  Juxtaposed (seemingly without irony) atop this expansive vision of territorial acquisition (conquest?) is his stated commitment to let each state “do as it pleases”.  Douglas frames the argument for popular sovereignty as a conservative position, preserving the original US Consitution “as our fathers made it” (with slavery intact, if local voters so wish).

Several updates to this song appear during the war, including one (from 1861?) that boasts of “gallant” Northern officers & politicians in the early days of the war:

We might note also that the wartime verses have, in verse 3, replaced a lingering look at rivers with a proud recognition of the value of iron mines and wheatfields, both of which were needed by the growing Union armies …

So it appears that both anti-slavery Free Soilers like the Hutchinsons, pro-Union patriots, and proponents of popular sovereignty all rallied around the image of the boundless American West.  But would these new western dynamics protect & strengthen the Constitution, or tear the old Union apart? …

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the meddler bottle.jpg

Melbourne Moonshine

Melbourne Moonshine's distillery is secreted away in an unassuming warehouse in the heart of South Melbourne. It is the place where time is taken to do things right... Making liquor for the love of it, charring barrels for the fun of it and blending botanical bitters for the taste of it.

Claire collaborated with Melbourne Moonshine for the Meddler, a barrel aged moonshine released in May 2017.


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Volume 1
Curtain, curtain liners, fabric, books, paper, thread, yarn, buttons, found objects

Volume 1 is a mixed-media installation based on an exploration of the book form and themes of time, value, collection and accumulation. It was exhibited at the Anna Leonowens Gallery in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Photos by Mary Ellen Oxby.


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Watercolor Arsenal Splatter Photoshop Brushes

These Watercolor Arsenal Splatter Splotch Photoshop Brushes are perfect for adding a touch of whimsy and artistry to your digital scrapbook layouts, art journal, altered art, photos and other creative projects, whether it be childish paint splatters or arty brush splatters, the choice is yours. The Watercolor Arsenal Splatter Photoshop Brush set includes both the original .png digital stamp image files and Photoshop Brushes (.abr). Experiment with a variety of colour and blend modes to maximize the versatility of this set.

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Balancing my life vs. my child’s: Until my dying breath…

This is going to be a tough post. I might chicken out and not even publish it. I don’t want it to be a pity party: “You parents go through so much. You are Saints.” God Forbid!

See Aaron playing the key?

I am hoping this message will give other families a chance to take a breath and allow themselves a little slack. For those of you who are professionals, I hope it gives some insight into the choices families make–usually at a cost.

Families make hard choices all the time

All parents of young children, and adults who are caring for their elderly parents experience these same dilemmas. The sandwich generation is a well known problem in our culture and effects most families.

What is different for parents whose children are adults with disabilities? This intense care is usually not discussed or understood. It is not a time-limited situation where your child grows up or your parent dies.

Aaron is 39 years old and as I get older this is a growing issue. We are talking about–well, until my dying breath.

First Sign of Growing Old

I’ve been having lumbar back pain and had to begin a series of injections and other stuff. This is the first major medical issue I’ve ever had, so I have no right to complain. Plus my philosophy is that anytime a Doctor can actually “fix” a situation, I consider it a temporary problem and a medical victory.

BUT the bottom line was that for the first time ever I had to cancel Aaron’s doctor appointment.

I consciously chose my needs over my child’s.

I’ve had pain before, sure. But that has never stopped me, so why was this time different?

What was I thinking?

* There was the 50 mile round-trip drive to Aaron’s Doctor, the only one I trust who takes a medical card…

* Aaron goes every three months and didn’t have any major issues…

* We bring Aaron home with us every Saturday night. Whenever we take Aaron to the Doctor, we keep him both Saturday and Sunday nights and try to schedule on Monday morning…

* Monday mornings are the busiest day for the Doctor so there is always a long wait in a room full of sick people… Aaron is not a good “waiter”…

* I feel bad about the last minute cancellation to Aaron’s doctor, we try to be respectful of his time. If we have to pay the $30. charge, so be it.

* I always bring flowers to the receptionist in the Doctor’s office. She takes a special interest in Aaron and always gives him hugs and makes him smile. (I know, I know, amazing that I would spend energy on flowers for the receptionist–but she is one of the few people who get excited to see Aaron so that makes me happy too)…

* Going to the doctor takes a full morning…

* After the doctor visit we take Aaron out to lunch and then drop him off at his day program….

* Monday is the “community outing” day at the day program–so when they actually do what they say they are going to do (we won’t go there)…that means the group may or may not be in the building when we want to drop Aaron off…

* If the day program group is not there then we have to leave Aaron with the director who just puts Aaron with a book in a separate room and ignores him, a safety worry…

* The day program has Aaron’s noon medication, so the good thing is he will get his noon meds on time…

* The bad thing is I will have to be face-to-face with the director, who is a good person just has no resources. This means I will ask, “How is Aaron doing?” and the director will tell me they strongly think Aaron should be in diapers and have his meds increased… which will lead to… (let’s just say) be stressful for both of us and reinforce my reputation as “EVIL Parent and Day Program Public Enemy Number 1″….

I wrote this all out in stream of consciousness because this site is about climbing every mountain and mountains always have streams– did you like that analogy? 🙂 But, like most people, I think our conscious run streams of pros and cons with every decision we make.

Second and Third Thoughts:

I accept it, but I am not proud I made the decision to think of myself first. When we took Aaron back to his house on Sunday night and I was hardly able to walk on Monday morning I knew I did the right thing. There is no way I would have been physically able to give Aaron his bath, breakfast, and go through all the steps outlined above.

So Aaron will live, I’ll get better. But how soon will it be that either myself or my husband will have some serious condition where we require medical care and can’t take care of Aaron?

I look at Aaron’s housemate’s parents. They are in their 90s. They have done an admirable job, but age has now made them just as vulnerable as their son. Soon it will be my turn.

Damn! Why is this so hard? Why do I feel Aaron’s quality of life is ONLY in the hands of his family?

We are fortunate to have some good professional people in Aaron’s life. But why do the thousands of dollars being given to the agencies–who are supposed to be providing Aaron care–don’t care?

There is a huge difference between providing “care” and “caring”.

Okay, getting old is tough for everyone, share what you are thinking. Do you think it is more intense for a family with a child with a disability? Is it harder as the child grows into an adult?

Keep Climbing: Onward and Upward
All my best,

Related Articles: BTW: Lori Foster 2013 register now.


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Daily Archives: March 18, 2011

Honoring Baron Davis

On Saturday March 19,2011 at 12:30pm the Clippers will be hosting the Cavaliers and Clipper Nation wants to honor him by coming to the game with something Baron Davis apparel on and we will take a group picture after the … Continue reading

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• Client-side
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Leading Niche Online Retailer

Up to £45,000 DOE

Are you au fait with the process, tools and practices required to create excellent Marketing Analytics? Want to work for a global company which positively contributes to both the environment and the charity sector?

Establishing their HQ on the south coast in 2000 and more recently securing offices in London and expanding their large warehouses in both the north and south of England; this company successfully generated over £1.2 million for UK charities last year. In addition to donating millions of their products, the business makes an annual contribution to charities and schools all over the world.  The passion behind the business has resulted in them being a global leader in their niche, now delivering to over 190 countries. In response to the continued growth, their commitment to new projects is huge, most recently having launched their Australian website and the USA site scheduled for early 2019. We support these growth plans in hiring a Marketing Analytics Manager into the team.

Reporting to the Chief Marketing Officer, as Marketing Analytics Manager you are responsible for the development and delivery of analytics for the marketing function. With your activity directly impacting the investment levels and the wider team focus on business performance, you will in a consultative approach set up new systems and improve existing processes. In your forward-thinking approach, you will build strong relationships with external agencies, track and report key metrics across brands, recommend marketing initiatives and propose new ways to look at data within the business. All with the goal of digging deeper into understanding the business through analytics.

  • 3+ years’ marketing analytics experience in a relevant, test-driven field
  • Good understanding of performance marketing, conversion and online customer acquisition
  • Excellent experience in using analytics tools including advanced Excel, Tableau, Google Big Query & SQL
  • Proven operator in a complex business environment
  • Analytical thinker with a hands-on approach to work
  • Strong CRM experience, driven by clean data
  • Able to explain complex information in the form of simple insights

Part of a well established and still growing, fast-paced business – you will be based in superb co-working office space in central London, surrounded by culture and arts close to Waterloo station. You’ll have regular support from the south coast head office with occasional visits to the site. Thriving in an urban work-lifestyle campus, you’ll enjoy working for a global business creating significant data whilst having a positive impact on the environment. You’ll be joining a like-minded team who are passionate about their work, the brand and its values. In addition to being the instigator to creating better use of the company’s marketing data, you’ll be helping the business make better decisions as a whole. In addition to your salary, benefits include a generous company pension scheme, access to a company discount and perks scheme as well as 20% staff discount!

If you are a great analytics all-rounder with exceptional skills to drive an analytics department and delivery of a growing global organisation, this could be the job for you! To apply, please use the contact form below or email your CV to Natasha via jobs@clockworktalent.com quoting job reference 1001075.

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Espen T. Hangard

Espen T. Hangard - Elementaer

Only three months after the release of the solo debut Primaer, Oslo based producer Espen T. Hangard presents his second LP Elementaer. Bristling with funky, playful and braindance influenced electro, Elementaer is a companion release to the 2018 debut. While Primaer leans towards tougher and more stringent stylings, Elementaer takes on a melodic and layered approach, with lush pads, acidic bass lines and trippy beats flowing through the album. The short and effective tracks on Elementaer all display a punchy, melodic nature, and the expressive programming gives them each a life of their own. Hangard's pure approach results in bouncy, fun music with a timeless and personal edge.

LP Galleberg Forlag: GFLP03 € 18,49


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