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Johann Gottlieb Fichte
German philosopher
Johann Gottlieb Fichte (19 May 1762 – 27 January 1814) was a German philosopher, who was one of the founding figures of the philosophical movement known as German idealism, a movement that developed from the theoretical and ethical writings of Immanuel Kant.
- The infinitely smallest part of space is always a space, something endowed with continuity, not at all a mere point or the boundary between specified places in space.
- Grundriss des Eigenthümlichen der Wissenschaftslehre in Rücksicht auf das theoretische Vermögen (1795) GA I.3, as quoted/translated by Erhard Scholz, "Philosophy as a Cultural Resource and Medium of Reflection for Hermann Weyl" (2004).
- The correct relationship between the higher and lower classes, the appropriate mutual interaction between the two is, as such, the true underlying support on which the improvement of the human species rests. The higher classes constitute the mind of the single large whole of humanity; the lower classes constitute its limbs; the former are the thinking and designing [Entwerfende] part, the latter the executive part.
- The System of Ethics According to the Principles of the Wissenschaftslehre (1798; Cambridge, 2005), p. 320.
- "Whether there can be love without esteem?" Oh yes, thou dear, pure one! Love is of many kinds. Rousseau proves that by his reasoning and still better by his example. La pauvre Maman and Madame N____ love in very different fashions. But I believe there are many kinds of love which do not appear in Rousseau's life. You are very right in saying that no true and enduring love can exist without cordial esteem; that every other draws regret after it, and is unworthy of any noble soul. One word about pietism. Pietists place religion chiefly in externals; in acts of worship performed mechanically, without aim, as bond-service to god; in orthodoxy of opinion; and they have this among other characteristic marks, that they give themselves more solicitude about other's piety than their own. It is not right to hate these men,-we should hate no one, but to me they are very contemptible, for their character implies the most deplorable emptiness of the head, and the most sorrowful perversion of the heart. Such my dear friend never can be; she cannot become such, even were it possible-which it is not-that her character were perverted; she can never become such, her nature has too much reality in it. You trust in Providence, your anticipation of a future life, are wise, and Christian. I hope, I may venture to speak of myself, that no one will take me to be a pietist or stiff formalist, but I know no feeling more thoroughly interwoven with my soul than these are.
- Johann Fichte Letter to Johanna Rahn from Johann Gottlieb Fichte's popular works: Memoir and The Nature of the Scholar
- The new education must consist essentially in this, that it completely destroys freedom of will in the soil which it undertakes to cultivate, and produces on the contrary strict necessity in the decisions of the will, the opposite being impossible. Such a will can henceforth be relied on with confidence and certainty.
- Addresses to the German Nation (1807), Second Address : "The General Nature of the New Education". Chicago and London, The Open Court Publishing Company, 1922, p. 20.
- If you want to influence him at all, you must do more than merely talk to him ; you must fashion him, and fashion him in such a way that he simply cannot will otherwise than you wish him to will.
- Addresses to the German Nation (1807), Second Address : "The General Nature of the New Education". Chicago and London, The Open Court Publishing Company, 1922, p. 21
- Paraphrased variant: The schools must fashion the person, and fashion him in such a way that he simply cannot will otherwise than what you wish him to will.
The Vocation of the Scholar (1794)Edit
- The Vocation of the Scholar (1794) by Johann Gottlieb Fichte, translated by William Smith.
- Upon the progress of knowledge the whole progress of the human race is immediately dependent: he who retards that, hinders this also. And he who hinders this, —what character does he assume towards his age and posterity? Louder than with a thousand voices, by his actions he proclaims into the deafened ear of the world present and to come —"As long as I live at least, the men around me shall not become wiser or better; — for in their progress I too, notwithstanding all my efforts to the contrary, should be dragged forward in some direction; and this I detest I will not become more enlightened, — I will not become nobler. Darkness and perversion are my elements, and I will summon all my powers together that I may not be dislodged from them."
- Αs translated by William Smith, in The Popular Works of Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1889), Vol. I, Lecture IV, p. 188.
- Humanity may endure the loss of everything: all its possessions may be torn away without infringing its true dignity; — all but the possibility of improvement.
- "The Vocation of the Scholar" (1794), as translated by William Smith, in The Popular Works of Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1889), Vol. I, Lecture IV, p. 188.
Introduction to Fichte's Science of Knowledge (1797/1798)Edit
- Introduction to Fichte's Science of Knowledge (1797/1798) by Johann Gottlieb Fichte, translated by Adolph Ernst Kroeger.
- The representation of the self-sufficiency of the I can certainly co-exist with a representation of the self-sufficiency of the thing, though the self-sufficiency of the I itself cannot co-exist with that of the thing. Only one of these two can come first, only one can be the starting point; only one can be independent. The one that comes second, just because it comes second, necessarily becomes dependent upon the one that comes first, with which it is supposed to be connected. Which of these two should come first?
- p. 17-18.
The Vocation of Man (1800)Edit
- The "I" who speaks in this book is by no means the author. Rather, the author wishes that the reader may come to see himself in this "I": that the reader may not simply relate to what is said here as he would to history, but rather that while reading he will actually converse with himself, deliberate back and forth, deduce conclusions, make decisions like his representative in the book, and through his own work and reflection, purely out of his own resources, develop and build within himself the philosophical disposition that is presented to him in this book merely as a picture.
- P. Preuss, trans. (1987), p. 2
- Wenn ich nur dasjenige weiß, und von ihm überzeugt bin, was ich selbst gefunden, – nur dasjenige wirklich kenne, was ich selbst erfahren habe, so kann ich in der That nicht sagen, daß ich über meine Bestimmung das Geringste wisse; ich weiß blos, was Andre darüber zu wissen behaupten.
- If I only know what I am convinced of and have found out myself, if I really only know what I have experienced myself, then indeed I cannot say that I have the least knowledge about my vocation; I only know what others claim to know about it.
- P. Preuss, trans. (1987), p. 4
- If I only know what I am convinced of and have found out myself, if I really only know what I have experienced myself, then indeed I cannot say that I have the least knowledge about my vocation; I only know what others claim to know about it.
- Mit derselben Sicherheit, mit welcher ich darauf rechne, daß dieser Boden mich tragen wird, wenn ich darauf trete, daß dieses Feuer mich verbrennen würde, wenn ich mich ihm näherte, will ich darauf rechnen können, was ich selbst bin, und was ich sein werde.
- With the same assurance with which I count on the floor to support me when I step on it, and on the fire to burn me were I to approach it, I want to be able to count on what I myself am and what I will be.
- P. Preuss, trans. (1987), p. 4
- With the same assurance with which I count on the floor to support me when I step on it, and on the fire to burn me were I to approach it, I want to be able to count on what I myself am and what I will be.
- It is so by nature that the plant will develop with regularity, that the animal will move purposefully, and that human beings will think. Why should I take exception to recognizing also the last as the expression of an original force of nature, as I do the first and the second?
- P. Preuss, trans. (1987), p. 11
- The original thinking force of the universe progresses and develops itself in all possible determinations of which it is capable, just as the other original natural forces progress and assume all possible configurations. I am a particular determination of the formative force, like the plant; a particular determination of the peculiar motive force, like the animal; and in addition to this a determination of the thinking force: and the union of these three basic forces into one force, into one harmonious development, is the distinguishing characteristic of my species.
- P. Preuss, trans. (1987), p. 12
The Characteristics of the Present Age (1806)Edit
- Die Grundzüge des gegenwärtigen Zeitalters, as translated by William Smith (1847) Full text online
- The End of the Life of Mankind on Earth is this,—that in this Life they may order all their relations with FREEDOM according to REASON.
- p. 5
- Instinct is blind;—a consciousness without insight. Freedom, as the opposite of Instinct, is thus seeing, and clearly conscious of the grounds of its activity.
- p. 7
- Among other men Reason awakes in another form—as the impulse towards Personal Freedom, which, although it never opposes the mild rule of the inward Instinct which it loves, yet rises in rebellion against the pressure of a stranger Instinct which has usurped its rights; and in this awakening it breaks the chains,—not of Reason as Instinct itself, but of the Instinct of foreign natures clothed in the garb of external power.
- p. 8
- Science raises itself above all Ages and all Times, embracing and apprehending the ONE UNCHANGING TIME as the higher source of all Ages and Epochs, and grasping that vast idea in its free, unbounded comprehension.
- p. 11
- An infirmity which affects the whole race, is no proper object for the scorn of an individual who belongs to that race, and who, before he could expose it, must himself have been its slave.
- p. 12
- Every other art,—as poetry, music, painting,—may be practised without the process showing forth the rules according to which it is conducted ;—but in the self-cognizant art of the philosopher, no step can be taken without declaring the grounds upon which it proceeds.
- p. 14
- The Present Age, according to my view of it, stands in that Epoch which in my former lecture I named the THIRD, and which I characterized as the Epoch of Liberation—directly from the external ruling Authority, indirectly from the power of Reason as Instinct, and generally from Reason in any form; the Age of absolute indifference towards all truth, and of entire and unrestrained licentiousness:–the state of completed sinfulness.
- p. 16
- The fundamental maxim of those who stand at the head of this Age, and therefore the principle of the Age, is this,—to accept nothing as really existing or obligatory, but that which they can understand and clearly comprehend. With regard to this fundamental principle, as we have now declared and adopted it without farther definition or limitation, this third Age is precisely similar to that which is to follow it, the fourth, or age of Reason as Science,—and by virtue of this similarity prepares the way for it. Before the tribunal of Science, too, nothing is accepted but the Conceivable. Only in the application of the principle there is this difference between the two Ages,—that the third, which we shall shortly name that of Empty Freedom, makes its fixed and previously acquired conceptions the measure of existence; while the fourth—that of Science—on the contrary, makes existence the measure, not of its acquired, but of its desiderated beliefs.
- p. 19
- The Age of Empty Freedom ... does not know that man must first through labour, industry, and art, learn how to know; but it has a certain fixed standard for all conceptions, and an established Common Sense of Mankind always ready and at hand, innate within itself and there present without trouble on its part;—and those conceptions and this Common Sense are to it the measure of the efficient and the real. It has this great advantage over the Age of Science, that it knows all things without having learned anything; and can pass judgment upon whatever comes before it at once and without hesitation,—without needing any preliminary evidence:—'That which I do not immediately comprehend by the conceptions which dwell within me, is nothing,'—says Empty Freedom.
- p. 20
- Each individual imagines that he can exist, live, think, and act for himself, and believes that he himself is the thinking principle of his thoughts; whereas in truth he is but a single ray of the ONE universal and necessary Thought.
- p. 21
Outline of the Doctrine of Knowledge (1810)Edit
- The Doctrine of Knowledge, apart from all special and definite knowing, proceeds immediately upon Knowledge itself, in the essential unity in which it recognises Knowledge as existing; and it raises this question in the first place — How this Knowledge can come into being, and what it is in its inward and essential Nature?
The following must be apparent: — There is but One who is absolutely by and through himself, — namely, God; and God is not the mere dead conception to which we have thus given utterance, but he is in himself pure Life. He can neither change nor determine himself in aught within himself, nor become any other Being; for his Being contains within it all his Being and all possible Being, and neither within him nor out of him can any new Being arise.
- Since it cannot be overlooked by the Doctrine of Knowledge that Actual Knowledge does by no means present itself as a Unity, such as is assumed above but as a multiplicity, there is consequently a second task imposed upon it, — that of setting forth the ground of this apparent Multiplicity. It is of course understood that this ground is not to be derived from any outward source, but must be shown to be contained in the essential Nature of Knowledge itself as such; — and that therefore this problem, although apparently two-fold, is yet but one and the same, — namely, to set forth the essential Nature of Knowledge.
- This Being out of God cannot, by any means, be a limited, completed, and inert Being, since God himself is not such a dead Being, but, on the contrary, is Life; — but it can only be a Power, since only a Power is the true formal picture or Schema of Life. And indeed it can only be the Power of realising that which is contained in itself — a Schema.
- Only through blind Instinct, in which the only possible guidance of the Imperative is awanting, does the Power in Intuition remain undetermined; where it is schematised as absolute it becomes infinite; and where it is presented in a determinate form, as a principle, it becomes at least manifold. By the above-mentioned act of Intelligising, the Power liberates itself from Instinct, to direct itself towards Unity.
- There is but One Principle that proceeds from God; and thus, in consequence of the unity of the Power, it is possible for each Individual to schematise his World of Sense in accordance with the law of that original harmony; — and every Individual, under the condition of being found on the way towards the recognition of the Imperative, must so schematise it. I might say: — Every Individual can and must, under the given condition, construct the True World of Sense, — for this indeed has beyond the universal and formal laws above deduced, no other Truth and Reality than this universal harmony.
- I know now that I shall. But all Actual Knowledge brings with it, by its formal nature, its schematised apposition; — although I now know of the Schema of God, yet I am not yet immediately this Schema, but I am only a Schema of the Schema. The required Being is not yet realised.
I shall be. Who is this I? Evidently that which is, — the Ego gives in Intuition, the Individual. This shall be.
What does its Being signify? It is given as a Principle in the World of Sense. Blind Instinct is indeed annihilated, and in its place there now stands the clearly perceived Shall. But the Power that at first set this Instinct in motion remains, in order that the Shall my now set it (the Power) in motion, and become its higher determining Principle. By means of this Power, I shall therefore, within its sphere, — the World of Sense, — produce and make manifest that which I recognise as my true Being in the Supersensuous World.
- The Power is given as an Infinite; — hence that which in the World of Thought is absolutely One — that which I shall — becomes in the World of Intuition an infinite problem for my Power, which I have to solve in all Eternity.
This Infinitude, which is properly a mere indefiniteness, can have place only in Intuition, but by means in my true Essential Being, which, as the Schema of God, is as simple and unchangeable as himself. How then can this simplicity and unchangeableness be produced within the yet continuing Infinitude, which is expressly consecrated by the absolute Shall addressed to me as an Individual?
If, in the onflow of Time, the Ego, in every successive moment, had to determine itself by a particular act, through the conception of what it shall, — then in its original Unity, it was assuredly indeterminate, and only continuously determinable in an Infinite Time. But such an act of determination could only become possible in Time, in opposition to some resisting power. This resisting power, which was thus to be conquered by the act of determination, could be nothing else than the Sensuous Instinct; and hence the necessity of such a continuous self-determination in Time would be the sure proof that the Instinct was not yet thoroughly abolished; which abolition we have made a condition of entering upon the Life in God.
- Thus then does the Doctrine of Knowledge, which in its substance is the realisation of the absolute Power of intelligising which has now been defined, end with the recognition of itself as a mere Schema in a Doctrine of Wisdom, although indeed a necessary and indispensable means to such a Doctrine: — a Schema, the sole aim of which is, with the knowledge thus acquired, — by which knowledge alone a Will, clear and intelligible to itself and reposing upon itself without wavering or perplexity, is possible, — to return wholly into Actual Life; — not into the Life of blind and irrational Instinct which we have laid bare in all its nothingness, but into the Divine Life which shall become visible to us.
Quotes about FichteEdit
- Berkeley, Hume, Kant, Fichte, Hegel, James, Bergson all are united in one earnest attempt, the attempt to reinstate man with his high spiritual claims in a place of importance in the cosmic scheme.
- We cannot hope to give here a final clarification of the essence of fact, judgement, object, property; this task leads into metaphysical abysses; about these one has to seek advice from men whose name cannot be stated without earning a compassionate smile—e.g. Fichte.
- Hermann Weyl, Das Kontinuum. Kritische Untersuchungen uber die Grundlagen der Analysis (1918), as quoted/translated by Erhard Scholz, Philosophy as a Cultural Resource and Medium of Reflection for Hermann Weyl (2004).
- Fichte, by his stubbornness in pursuing an idea, blind to nature and facts, was swept away into increasingly abstruse abstractions.
- Hermann Weyl, "Erkenntnis und Besinnung (Ein Lebensrückblick)" Studia Philosphica (1954) GA IV, as quoted/translated by Erhard Scholz, "Philosophy as a Cultural Resource and Medium of Reflection for Hermann Weyl" (2004).
- [Fichte is a] constructivist of purest water, who pursues his independent path of construction without looking right or left.
- Hermann Weyl, "Erkenntnis und Besinnung (Ein Lebensrückblick)" Studia Philosphica (1954) GA IV, as quoted/translated by Erhard Scholz, Philosophy as a Cultural Resource and Medium of Reflection for Hermann Weyl (2004).
- "Fichte laid it down that education should aim at destroying free will, so that, after pupils have left school, they shall be incapable, throughout the rest of their lives, of thinking or acting otherwise than as their schoolmasters would have wished" in The Impact of Science on Society (1952), SCIENTIFIC TECHNIQUE IN OLIGARCHY. NEW YORK, AMS PRESS, 1968, p. 50.


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iLins Project
The International Lipid-Based Nutrient Supplements (iLiNS) Project is a research collaboration that grew out of a shared commitment to accelerate progress in preventing malnutrition. We are conducting research projects in Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Malawi. Previous work with lipid-based nutrient supplements (LNS) in Ghana and Malawi indicated that such supplements could improve child growth and development in low-income populations. The iLiNS Project was designed to build on the previous work. We will evaluate the efficacy of new and less costly formulations, study the impact of providing LNS to infants and to pregnant and lactating women, and explore the economic dimensions of LNS used to prevent malnutrition.


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So, I just realized that I should probably post my army here. Also, I decided to add some TF2 guys here, because WHY NOT.
Heroes. I decided to adopt a more roguish feel for Rick Saber.
A RED transport truck, in this case holding two scouts. Light cargo capacity, light cargo protection, but it's fast and it can hit hard with those twin machine guns.
A Mandozer. It has a detacheable cargo bay which can hold ~5-6 men.
A Muslim Brotherhood minigunner in front of a tank. I just thought that this looked ossum.
The dreaded RED janitor and his guard, the Heavy.
Everything except for one BLU sniper.
So I believe that someone once said that my faction was too small to have any real effects in the Immortal War. I plan to correct that.


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U.S. Department of Transportation Declares Georgia-based Top Class Bus Company an "Imminent Hazard," Ordered to Immediately Shut Down
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has ordered Atlanta-based Top Class Bus Company, LLC, to immediately cease all passenger transportation services for blatantly disregarding federal safety regulations and putting the company's own drivers, passengers, and the motoring public at risk.
The imminent hazard/operations-out-of-service order issued today by FMCSA prohibits Top Class Bus Company from any type of commercial passenger service and it blocks the unapproved use of its buses by another company or any driver.
"Bus companies that operate outside the law, putting lives at risk, will be immediately taken off the road and closed for business," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
"Yesterday, Secretary LaHood and I announced a nationwide safety crackdown on high-risk motorcoach companies," said FMCSA Administrator Anne S. Ferro. "While this particular investigation was initiated earlier, it symbolizes our commitment to take immediate action and shut down an entire company if it willfully disregards the law, jeopardizing the safety of everyone."
During an unannounced, four-day investigation, a team of FMCSA safety investigators found that Top Class Bus Company, which operates fixed-route passenger service primarily between Atlanta and New York City, failed to monitor and ensure that its drivers comply with drivers' hours-of-service requirements. FMCSA's investigators also found that Top Class failed to comply with records-of-duty status requirements, qualification requirements, and controlled substances and alcohol use and testing requirements.
FMCSA safety investigators further found that Top Class Bus Company permitted its drivers to falsify records-of-duty status in an attempt to conceal hours-of-service violations. The company owners were also found to have ignored critical vehicle equipment deficiencies identified by their drivers on required daily inspection reports.
A copy of the imminent hazard out-of-service order can be viewed at www.fmcsa.dot.gov/documents/about/news/2013/Top-Class-Bus-Company-IH-Order.pdf.


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Committees and Boards
ESA has three types of committees. For more information on each type of committee – including descriptions of each committee's function, composition, current roster, and terms of office – please select from the list below.
To volunteer to serve on a committee, contact your Branch or Section president or vice-president using the online committee listing to see what positions are available.
Standing Committees report to and make recommendations to the Governing Board, develop objectives and operational procedures, and assist the Board and Headquarters in implementing various programs and activities.
Presidential Committees may be appointed as needed by the President to serve during his/her term as President and undertake a particular tasking.
Special Committees are established from the membership of the Society by a majority vote of the Governing Board to conduct a specific task for a specified period of time.
The Society also has several boards that carry out various functions. For information on these, please select from the following:
Publications Council & Editorial Boards


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Cantor Emeritus
Cantor Emeritus Sidney Derner was a founding member of
Congregation B'nai Israel, served as our first President and was our Hazan for
over 40 years.
At the age of 4 years old he began his Cantorial education. He was drafted into a High Holiday choir and sang with them until the age of 18. At 8 years old, he was Cantor for the children's Talmud Torah of the Sea Gate Sister Hood, in Brooklyn, NY. At his Bar Mitzvah he had the honor of being Cantor at the Sea Gate Sister Hood temple.
At 18 he was drafted into the Air Force. He wasn't permitted to fly on Saturday and his gunner was
not permitted to fly on Sundays as they both conducted religious services.
After 37 missions over Germany they were the only two men left in the original
409 Group. After leaving the
service he went to Philadelphia University, and graduated with top honors, but
he continued singing in his High Holiday Choir.
In 1949 he married the love of his life Bunny, and in 1957 they moved to Emerson. His full Cantorial training was by Rabbi I. Margolies. Besides training a Temple Choir, he had the pleasure of preparing some students for their Bar/Bat Mitzvah, chanting Shabbat services and performing weddings and funerals. What he enjoyed the most was when the choir, he trained, sang the most beautiful High Holiday Prayers, Cantor Derner volunteered his time and skills to B'nai Israel for over 40 years. In 1990 he retired from business and moved to South Jersey. He continued to lend his voice to his temple for an additional 8 years before stepping aside and welcoming Cantor Lenny Mandel to the B'nai Israel bimah.


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Political Violence and the Left in Latin America, 1967–1979
Aldo Marchesi
In the late 1960s, several leftist political movements in Latin America began to claim the use of political violence as a means of social transformation. This second wave of leftist political violence was distinct from an earlier wave—composed of rural guerillas inspired by the Cuban Revolution, roughly a decade and a half earlier—in several ways. The later proponents of armed struggle emphasized the importance of cities in armed actions, not just rural settings. They also advocated interaction between armed organizations and other actors in social movements, including far-left nationalist and populist factions within traditional political parties and the Catholic Church. Armed action was seen by such groups as a valid response to increasingly repressive governments, and to limitations on political action that made social change through peaceful means impossible. The use of violence provided a way to develop collective action in the hostile environment of the Latin American Cold War, which was marked by extreme political and ideological polarization.


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Have been using program for a week. All of a sudden I am no longer able to view movie files. It detects the folder and previously viewed times, but the nothing within the file is displayed.
I have re-installed program, removing old folder local C: where it installed the last time.
Any suggestions??


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Social entrepreneurs who want to start a new venture quickly confront an important question: What type of legal structure should I create? Should I start a traditional nonprofit, a for-profit, or something in between? This is not a simple question to answer, and it is in some ways becoming more difficult with the proliferation of new legal structures like the B corporation that are intended to allow entrepreneurs to meet financial, social, and environmental bottom lines.
I have started successful and unsuccessful for-profit and nonprofit ventures. My goal in writing this article is to help other social entrepreneurs navigate these waters. I am not, however, a lawyer, and I cannot offer legal advice about creating a venture. Rather, I want to guide you through the issues that you need to consider before you even begin to think about choosing an attorney or getting help structuring your social venture.
The first thing to remember is that the legal structure is simply a tool for accomplishing your goals. Deciding structure first may lock you into a direction that won't get you where you want to go. It is important to take the time to explore your idea first; then answering the legal structure question will be easier.
Selecting a legal structure is not a question of moral purity. I am structure agnostic: I believe that for-profit and nonprofit structures can both be good vehicles for improving society. You should look seriously at both as part of your toolkit as you're creating your new social venture.
If personal wealth is a primary motivation and changing the world for the better is a nice benefit but not fundamental, it is pretty clear that you should create a for-profit structure. Being a for-profit typically gives you more flexibility and control, especially if you're the sole or controlling shareholder. This flexibility gives you the freedom to completely change your business if you spot a new and more lucrative opportunity. And you can still create an ethical and responsible for-profit. If giving away money or providing services at below cost and feeling good about it is your primary or only motivation, then your answer is similarly easy. The U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit structure was created to serve this purpose. If your ideas fall somewhere between making lots of money and giving most of it away, there are many ways to structure a venture to accomplish these goals.
Before looking at what type of legal structure to create, you need to explore the four issues that will illuminate your ultimate decision: what your motivation is for starting the venture, what market you are targeting, how you plan to raise capital, and what type of control you want over the venture.
Most new ventures fail. If you are going to take on the risks and responsibilities of a new venture, you need to be motivated to succeed. That is why it is important first to understand your motivation for starting a new social venture and your definition of success. Social entrepreneurs are typically driven by the goal of making positive change in society, but other factors may also influence your motivation. Almost all ventures change dramatically during their formative periods. It's certain that several things that you know for sure right now about your venture are wrong. You just don't know which ones. In the face of that uncertainty, what is going to remain constant and guide you in making the hard decisions?
How fundamental is the social mission? Assuming that your motivations are not purely financial, you need to understand how essential the social mission is to the success of your venture. Is your primary goal social change? Are you willing to pass up lucrative financial opportunities that would take the venture away from social change? How will you prioritize the social bottom line if the venture is in peril? Does your venture exist if the social impact is removed or minimized?
What are your personal financial objectives for this venture? Many entrepreneurs make financial sacrifices in the course of creating a start-up. These sacrifices are often justified to oneself or to one's family by the promise of an eventual financial payoff. As you approach a social venture, you need to be clear what your financial parameters are. How much of your own money are you willing to invest in the venture, either in the form of cash or in forgone wages (compared with your market value)? Even successful social ventures that reach financial sustainability (break even on an ongoing basis) may never recoup the initial investment. Can you (or the investors) live with that possibility? It's possible to make a decent living running a social venture, but you are not likely to get rich. Is that okay?
How do you define success? Success does not need to be defined as personal riches. For many entrepreneurs, the drive to succeed is about proving oneself and making a difference. External forces, however, can shape what becomes your organization's definition of success. If you take on a venture capitalist as a partner there will be intense pressure to define success in terms of delivering the required returns to your investors. If you take on a foundation as a partner, they will define success by social impact. Families and society often define success in terms of material attainment, and you may encounter strong social pressure to focus on personal riches rather than on social good.
Entrepreneurs must understand their market. Just about every social question and issue you may address can be recast into market questions, such as: Who is the customer? What is the value proposition? And who is the competition? Understanding your customers, their environment, and their needs is crucial to any social venture. Determining how to best serve your customers will shape your decision of how to structure your venture.
Who are your customers? One of the most important questions you need to answer as a social entrepreneur is who your customers will be. What is the need your venture is going to fill? What community are you serving? How are you going to access expertise about the needs of your customers? What activities are the customers doing now that will influence the use of your product or service? Are the users of your product or service the same as the people who pay for it? Will you need to find a new payer for your idea to work (for example, funders to directly purchase goods or services for the actual beneficiaries)?
Who or what is the competition? Notwithstanding the frequent claim of start-up entrepreneurs that they have no competitors, even if there isn't something precisely like your proposed product or service, there are other ways potential customers are spending their money or time to meet their needs. For example, if for-profit business competitors are exploiting a community, a nonprofit venture may be given the benefit of the doubt and have the opportunity to enter the market. Or if the nonprofit sector is not being responsive to a community's needs, a business approach that treats people like customers might be more successful in making change. The organizations filling the existing need may even become a distribution channel for your new solution.
What is your value proposition? You must understand how you are going to differentiate your product or service from the competition. Are you presenting an incremental value proposition (my product is 10 percent better or 10 percent less expensive) or a revolutionary value proposition (it's 10 times better or a tenth the cost of the existing option)? If you plan to offer a product or service that the for-profit sector already provides, be prepared for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to ask why they should issue you a tax exemption letter. Providing something below cost makes getting your nonprofit exempt status easier, but that may not mesh with your business plan and would generally require fundraising to close the gap between revenues and costs. On the other hand, a revolutionary value proposition might create the opportunity for high profitability and great scale, potentially making a for-profit structure appealing.
What is the market size and how profitable could you be serving that market? How much money can be or is being spent a year on addressing the need your organization is going to meet? It is easier to build a for-profit business when the market size is in the tens of millions or billions of dollars than if it is only $500,000 per year. Profitability is also important. Businesses with low profit margins are generally tougher to sustain because they can be quite sensitive to revenue fluctuations. If you know you're going to lose 10 percent on every sales dollar, it is clear that you should consider a nonprofit rather than a for-profit structure.
Capital requirements often play an important role in the decision to be a for-profit or a nonprofit. If you aren't plausibly going to be able to pay back the money to investors or lenders with an additional return, the only for-profit investor you may be able to get is yourself. If you can't raise or don't have the capital you need, then you need to look seriously at the nonprofit structure, or reworking your business plan to start more slowly with less money.
How much money do you need to get your venture launched? Is it possible to start the venture with less than the amount you imagine and get to your destination more gradually, or does your business plan require accomplishing certain costly objectives before you can launch? Once you have a handle on the amount and timing of your funding needs, you need to seek out your options for finding that capital. If you need only $100,000 to get your venture off the ground you have many options. If, however, you need tens of millions of dollars, your degree of flexibility is vastly reduced.
How much money will you need to keep the business growing? How will your capital needs change over the first two, five, and 10 years? Unless you are lucky enough to hit upon a model that allows you to bootstrap your venture, it will take additional outside capital to bring your venture to profitability (as a for-profit) or sustainability (as a nonprofit). And profitability or sustainability does not necessarily end the need for capital. If you want to expand to new markets or scale up the organization, you will likely need more funding.
Will you have assets you could borrow against? Debt is a practical option for nonprofit and for-profit ventures that have or plan to acquire assets that can be used as security for the repayment of the loan. Ventures with substantial assets, such as those in the housing and microcredit sectors, have an easier time obtaining loans. Smaller working capital loans are available for those ventures with accounts receivable to borrow against. One significant difference between being a for-profit and a nonprofit is that foundations are more likely to make loans at below-market interest rates to quality nonprofits. These loans have to meet the requirements for a program-related investment (PRI), where the loan advances the charitable purpose of the foundation and income is not a significant purpose of the loan (typically satisfied with a below-market interest rate).
Will tax structure affect your business significantly? Nonprofits often have the benefit of being exempt from income and property taxes. But what if your venture is unlikely to have much income or property? Being exempt from taxes won't make a big difference to your choice of structure then. If, however, the amount of income or property taxes would have a big impact on the viability of a venture, choosing a nonprofit form could make a significant difference in the venture's long-term success. If your main practical source of capital is philanthropy, then becoming tax-exempt will make it much easier to raise capital in the form of grants. Government often creates programs where only nonprofit organizations are eligible to apply. If a government funding stream is essential to the viability of your venture, then that's a strong case to organize as a nonprofit.
For-profit and nonprofit structures have very different control and governance regimes, so it is important to determine how much control you need to have over your venture. Nonprofit structures are generally less flexible than for-profits, because of the requirements to qualify for nonprofit status.
How important are confidentiality and secrecy to you and your venture? Privately held for-profits can be very secretive about their business information: tax returns are confidential, salaries are confidential, profits are confidential, and business plans are confidential. For some entrepreneurs, this is a privacy question. For others, control of this information is part of gaining a competitive advantage. Nonprofits, however, are legally required to operate with a much greater degree of transparency. All but the smallest U.S. nonprofits have to file a detailed tax return every year that is public information, disclosing assets, income, expenses, and top employee salaries. Moreover, this information is often freely available on the Internet or from organizations like GuideStar.
Can you run and fund your venture yourself? If you completely control the venture, you have a great deal of flexibility to run the organization the way you want. You may choose to run at break-even, never pay a dividend, or even give away your profits to a separate charity. As soon as you start sharing control with others, you create the possibility of a split. You may believe that parents, siblings, spouse, life partner, close friends, or mentors are good partners, but many ventures have split these personal relationships. Disputes over money are often at the root of these splits. Thinking these shared control issues through at the beginning reduces the chance of a schism forming.
Will you need to share control with investors? Typically, the ultimate authority in a venture is vested in a board of directors. The investors may or may not hold a majority of the board, but once you have a return-oriented investor, your degree of flexibility is reduced. In most cases, you have a very serious obligation to your investors to keep their best interests in mind. This is a legal obligation known as a fiduciary duty, and it requires you to place your obligation to your investors above your own interests. There is a growing movement in the United States to incorporate larger stakeholder interests in corporate structures and provide the board with some protection if it chooses to balance the interests of the shareholders with another valid social interest such as the environment. But this doesn't obscure the complications from accepting capital from investors or lenders who have a legitimate expectation of being repaid with returns based on risk.
Will you need or want to share control with the public interest? When you operate a nonprofit, the board is acting primarily in stewardship for the public interest. As an entrepreneur, you need to recognize that as you move from sole control to shared control, you are placing your fate and the fate of your venture in the hands of others. Founders are often ejected from their ventures by boards whose primary obligations are to the venture itself, investors, or society. When choosing partners, investors, or board members for your venture, you need to choose people who share your vision for your venture, and who can be trusted with stewarding what may become your life's work.
After answering the previous questions you are ready to think about what type of legal structure you want to create for your organization. Once you begin to consider a particular legal structure seriously, you will want to consult a lawyer, but first it is useful to consider all of the various options. What follows is an overview of five basic organizational structures, looking at both their advantages and disadvantages, along with examples of organizations that have adopted those structures. These particular structures are from the United States, but their analogues exist in many other countries.
| For-Profit | Social ventures can take on standard for-profit structures, such as a C corporation, limited liability company (LLC), or sole proprietorship. One of the principal advantages of a for-profit is that it can tap the large pool of investment capital. Because the social mission is not part of the legal structure, however, it is up to the board of directors and entrepreneur to make sure that the company fulfills its social obligations. The decision about what type of for-profit to create is often driven by tax considerations. Venture capitalists are almost always interested in investing in C corporations, even though profits can be taxed at the corporation level and again as dividends at the investor level. Some individual investors prefer LLCs because they are a pass-through for tax purposes and therefore do not have double taxation.
- Well-known structure that doesn't need to be explained
- Relatively easy to raise money as equity or debt
- Can tap U.S. Small Business Administration grants, loans, and technical assistance
- Easy to sell or shut down (as long as you pay your creditors)
- Can convert to a nonprofit more easily than a nonprofit can convert to a for-profit
- Extensive precedents on best practices for managing for-profits
- The social bottom line is not built into the structure, but is instead dependent on the leadership
- Income and property subject to tax
- Governance is primarily focused on serving the shareholders, creating a strong fiduciary duty to act in the shareholders' best interests by making money for them
- Cannot accept foundation grants or nontaxable contributions
- Compartamos Banco is a Mexican microcredit bank that converted from a nonprofit to a for-profit, and then went public.
- D.light design is a privately held company that sells affordable solar-powered LED lights in the developing world. It has received investments from a variety of Silicon Valley venture capitalists.
- Grameenphone offers affordable cell phone service to Bangladesh. The founder raised angel capital in New York City before signing partners Grameen Bank and the Norwegian telecom company Telenor. Grameenphone's initial public offering in Bangladesh was oversubscribed and the country's largest to date.
- Whole Foods Market Inc. is a publicly held company that contributes 5 percent of its profits to charity.
| For-Profit with a Social Overlay | These ventures take the for-profit structure and make significant tweaks toward the social objectives. There are numerous ways of doing this. Some of these structures have been in place for decades, such as cooperatives (which can be for-profit or nonprofit) and employee-owned firms. Other structures are new, such as benefit corporations (enacted in Maryland) and low-profit limited liability companies, or L3Cs (now legal in several states). Other for-profit options include socially controlled stock structures in which a community has a controlling interest in the company though a preferential class of stock, non-stock companies, and the flexible purpose corporation (under consideration in California).
- Same advantages as standard for-profit
- Ensures some level of commitment to the social objectives of the organization through the governance structure
- Additional options for raising capital (for example, it is easier for foundations to invest in an L3C through a PRI)
- Marketing benefits from having a social orientation
- Control can be more diffuse (for some social entrepreneurs, this is considered an advantage)
- The social overlay may not hold through adversity or legal challenges
- Investors may not want to invest in these forms without strong social motivations
- Exit options may be more constrained than a standard for-profit
- Equal Exchange (a cooperative) sells fairly traded and organic coffee, tea, chocolate, and snacks from farmers around the world.
- Impact Makers (a non-stock company) is a management consulting company that donates all of its profits to charity.
- Maine's Own Organic Milk Company (an L3C) was created by family farmers and investors to sell the farmers' organic milk.
- Seventh Generation (a B corporation) manufactures nontoxic cleaning products and donates 10 percent of its profits to charity.
| Hybrid | Rather than being limited to choosing either a for-profit or a nonprofit structure, some organizations take advantage of both by creating governance structures and contracts that bind a for-profit and nonprofit together in a hybrid structure. Sometimes the for-profit creates the nonprofit. For example, the for-profit brokerage firm Charles Schwab & Company created Schwab Charitable, an affiliated nonprofit that handles the donor-advised fund operations. In other instances, the nonprofit creates the for-profit. Typically, this is to pursue an activity that looks more like a business.
- The nonprofit and the for-profit entities each retain the advantages that are unique to those legal structures
- Creating a subsidiary can protect the nonprofit status of the parent by removing the unrelated income (if it becomes too large relative to the parent's size)
- The subsidiary shields the parent from liabilities arising from the subsidiary's activities
- The for-profit subsidiary can be sold at the nonprofit's discretion
- Once assets are in the nonprofit, they are locked into the nonprofit sector and cannot be transferred back to the for-profit
- Shutting down the nonprofit affiliate requires its net assets to be transferred to another nonprofit
- Care needs to be taken that benefits flow from the for-profit to the nonprofit (and not the reverse) and that charitable restrictions are respected
- If the for-profit is the main source of funding for the nonprofit, it can be difficult to diversify the funding base of the nonprofit
- Additional overhead for two organizations
- Hewlett-Packard Company Foundation is the nonprofit foundation affiliated with Hewlett-Packard Co. Although corporate foundations are formally separate from the corporation, often there is de facto control by the corporation.
- Greyston Foundation is a Buddhist charity. Greyston Bakery is a wholly owned affiliate that employs disadvantaged people who make the brownies for Ben & Jerry's ice cream.
- The nonprofit Mozilla Foundation, makers of the Firefox Web browser, created the for-profit Mozilla Corp. to handle sales and distribution of the browser. It did this when Google started paying Mozilla tens of millions of dollars as part of an advertising agreement, putting the nonprofit status of the foundation at risk.
| Nonprofit with a Mission-Related Enterprise | These are typically tax-exempt nonprofits that have earned income that is clearly related to the social mission. Many types of nonprofits earn income from the sale of products or services, including theaters, museums, colleges, and thrift stores. Any income earned from the enterprise must be used by the organization to further its mission. In contrast to a for-profit, the income cannot be distributed to investors or shareholders (although it can repay loans).
- No taxation on mission-related income
- Ability to raise philanthropic money to fill the gap between the costs of providing the product or service and the revenues
- Opportunities for creating a selling advantage based on the charitable nature of the enterprise
- Two bottom lines means that sometimes there are tradeoffs
- Access to capital limited to traditional nonprofit resources, such as philanthropists and debt
- Benetech operates almost exclusively mission-related enterprises with a mixed-income structure. Revenues from product and services are usually not enough to pay for the full cost of operating the enterprises, so grants and donations fill the gap.
- TransFair is the main fair trade certification organization in the United States that collects certification fees from the supply chain of fair trade commodities like coffee, bananas, and cocoa, which pay for the majority of the organization's budget.
- Goodwill is a national network of local nonprofits that operates recycling, product sales, and employment training services.
| Nonprofit | The social mission of traditional nonprofits is clear and unambiguous. They raise all of their money through donations of money, products, or time, and do not have any earned-income enterprises. Examples of traditional nonprofits include 501(c)(3) charities and 501(c)(3) foundations.
- No conflict between the venture and the social objectives
- People receive a tax deduction for donations that are used to directly help the disadvantaged, or in the case of foundations, used to help other charities in the form of grants
- Dependent on traditional fundraising to operate the organization
- The Robin Hood Foundation receives donations from thousands of people each year that are consolidated and given as grants to nonprofits to help alleviate poverty in New York City.
- Mercy Corps receives grants, donations, material aid, and government funds that it uses to fund disaster relief efforts and economic development projects.
- Music in the Schools Foundation pays for music classes in the low-income Ravenswood School District in East Palo Alto, Calif.
The world is facing big problems. More and more people are turning their attention to solving those problems. The old models of traditional for-profits and charities no longer are sufficient tools for meeting these challenges. The future is far more likely to be dominated by businesses that are tracking more than their financial bottom line, and nonprofits that see enterprise as a fundamental part of large-scale social change.
Policymakers are responding to the changing times by embracing new forms of social action that fall between the two poles of traditional business and traditional charity. Expect to see new organizational forms exhibiting these increasingly hybrid characteristics. I believe that the new generations of business and social leaders will fundamentally reject what they see as a false dichotomy of the past, and adopt new structures that can transparently deliver more social benefits. Both business and the social sector are going to change in these directions, and society will be the better for the change.
Author's note: The idea for this paper came during a meeting hosted by the Social Enterprise Alliance and the Aspen Institute in 2007, just before the alliance's annual Social Enterprise Summit. I want to thank the social enterprise and legal leaders who made that such an inspirational gathering. I also want to thank Jeff Rauenhorst, Joan Mellea, and Barbara Morrison for their assistance in researching and drafting this essay. Finally, I'd especially like to thank Joshua Mintz, vice president and general counsel of the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and Robert Wexler, partner at the law firm Adler & Colvin, for their assistance with the final draft.
Jim Fruchterman is a MacArthur Fellow, former rocket engineer, high-tech entrepreneur, and social entrepreneur. After starting two successful Silicon Valley for-profit technology companies in the 1980s, he founded Benetech as a deliberately nonprofit technology company in 1989 to develop solutions that respond to market failure in the fields of literacy, environment, and human rights. Fruchterman was a co-founder of the Social Enterprise Alliance and has served on three federal advisory committees in the field of disability.


text:
Bread and Roses Poetry Award 2017
The Bread and Roses Poetry Award, sponsored by Unite in partnership with Culture Matters, was instituted this year. The idea is to stimulate the writing of poetry about working class lives and communities, by people who otherwise might not write or enter competitions.
We're very pleased that it has been a tremendous success, although we were almost overwhelmed by the quantity and quality of submissions. Several hundred poems were sent in, of all kinds and from a wide range of writers across Britain and indeed across the world: America, India, Nigeria and Australia, to name just a few. Many entries were accompanied by notes saying how grateful the writers were to Unite and to Culture Matters for opening up what can seem a very exclusive and elitist artistic practice.
Two judges kindly agreed to the difficult task of studying, sifting, and judging the poems. They were Andy Croft, the poet and publisher of Smokestack Books, and Mary Sayer, an official from Unite working in the field of cultural education. In the light of the high quality of so many of the entries, the judges decided to divide the prizes equally between three poems, submitted by Helen Burke, Mair De-Gare Pitt, and John Wright. They will each receive £285.
The judges were extremely impressed by the entries. Here's what Mary Sayer wrote to us afterwards:
What a delight this has been – reading my way through the hundreds of remarkable poems entered into this competition. None of us had any idea there would be so many entries of such a high standard.
All of the poems were very readable and most of them were a real pleasure to read. I felt genuinely humbled having to 'choose' between such passionate and interesting poems. All were political and heartfelt - often funny and deeply moving - inspiring; I had no idea that there were so many articulate politicos out there.
But more than anything, as I read - I began to appreciate what a privilege it was to share the outpourings of so many committed and caring individuals. It was almost impossible to shortlist, and we did so on the understanding that we could highly commend a long list of entries and do justice to the rest by publishing as many as possible, in an anthology.
Thanks to Culture Matters for involving me in this competition and to my union Unite for sponsoring it. As co-ordinator of 'Unite in Schools' programme, this has inspired me to run a similar poetry competition in schools and colleges, around the campaigns and political issues chosen by students in our sessions.
We will be publishing many of the poems sent to us, both online and in a printed anthology. We are very grateful to Unite for sponsoring the Award; to the judges, for all their hard work; but most of all to the hundreds of poets who sent in such wonderful poems. Please continue to send us poems that you wish to be considered for publication, especially on topical issues.
Here is one of the poems sent in, by Fred Voss. Fred works as a machinist in a metalworking shop in Long Beach, California, and has been published by Bloodaxe Books and by Culture Matters.
Billie Holliday Crooning a Rose Opening
by Fred Voss
All our lives we have known about great men
Teddy Roosevelt
on Mount Rushmore Paul Revere
riding his horse the marble eyes
of Lincoln looking out so wisely from his monument
but can standing at a grinding wheel 10 hours a day until your fingertips are scraped raw
be great
can holding onto a jumping pounding jackhammer
until your spine rattles
be great
in his 3-cornered hat is great Orville Wright gliding
over the sands of Kitty Hawk is great the top
of the Empire State Building and the Rock of Gibraltar
and Lindbergh stepping out of his airplane to ride down Broadway in his tickertape parade
are great but can oil cans
and concrete floors and twisted backs and crane hooks and whoops
of crazy delight from the throats of men who have run machines in the corners of tin buildings
for 40 years be great
can missing the dawn sun
as 2-ton drop hammers explode behind tin walls at 6 am and fists
that never give up closing around monkey wrenches and hammer handles and spirits
of men that can never be broken even after 7
layoffs and a thousand screams
of foremen in their faces
be great
can gnarled hands and ticking time clocks and greasy shop rags hanging out of back pockets
and men
who've clawed their way out of prison cells straightjackets
skid row gutters gangs and grabbed
machine handles and smiled again
be great
John Barrymore crossing a stage Caesar in a helmet Shakespeare holding his quill pen the tiger
leaping through jungle moonlight
are great but are the 3 teeth
left in the head of the engine lathe operator who lifts his wrench and laughs like he's the luckiest
man on earth great is the man
who took the heroin needle out of his arm and learned to dial the razor-sharp edge
of a cutting tool into brass round stock and shave it
to a finish beautiful
as any solo
Miles Davis ever blew out of his trumpet
how can the sun a Joe Louis punch a marlin hanging in the air
above the sea Billie Holiday crooning a rose
opening any man
who ever worked his heart out to feed his child not
be great?


text:
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City – Music Ripping Guide
PlayStation 2
Music Ripping Guide by Splintax
Version: 1.2.2 | Updated: 07/09/05
Please maximise the window to ensure proper display of the guide. The font you
are using should be set to "Courier New", or else the ASCII will look very
IMPORTANT! Please read ALL of this!
This guide is NOT for the Xbox or PC versions of Vice City. It ONLY works on
the PS2 version.
For the PC version: http://www.codenamevice.co.uk/file_category.asp?ID=57
With a little bit of luck, you should be able to use the tool, but there is no
support for it at the moment, so please do not email me asking how to use it.
Basically you need to use it to open the .ADF files in the install directory of
Vice City and convert them to MP3s.
I know of no way to rip the music from the Xbox version, sorry.
Also, you may have noticed that this guide is in the Vice City section. Yes,
VICE CITY. Not any other Rockstar game (except to some extent GTA3), not any
other PS2 game, and definitely not any other PC, GameCube or Xbox game!
Whilst it is possible to rip the music from most other PC and PS2 games, I am
not going to tell you how to do it. And as far as I know it is not possible to
rip Xbox music.
However, if you scroll down to the FAQs section there is a mini-FAQ on ripping
other PS2 games - however it WILL require lots more work on your part.
I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO RIP THE MUSIC FROM GTA: SAN ANDREAS. Don't message me
about this easier. I don't know. The files are .PAK packfiles and I can't
open them. If you know about video game packfiles, maybe you can hack it. Do
everyone a favour :-) Also, the radio stations are dynamic. That means each
individual song is stored separately. Good luck.
UPDATE: Ripping San Andreas
Read this page, this software allows you to rip music from San Andreas, albeit
in a rather strange way.
One last part, PLEASE. DO NOT EMAIL ME ABOUT THIS GUIDE UNLESS YOU HAVE READ
You can email me at [email@example.com].
+{ _ _ __ __ ______ ________ _______ }+
+{ | \ / | | | | | / _____| |___ ___| / _____| }+
+{ | \ / | | | | | | | | | | / }+
+{ | \_/ | | | | | \ \___ | | | | }+
+{ | |\ /| | | | | | \___ \ | | | | }+
+{ | | \_/ | | | | | | \ | | | | | }+
+{ | | | | \ \___/ / _____/ | ____| |__ | |_____ }+
+{ |_| |_| \_____/ |_____/ |________| \_______| }+
+{ }+
+{ _ _ __ _____ _ __ _________ _ _ ______ }+
+{ | | | | / \ / ____| | | / / |___ ___| | \ | | / ___ \ }+
+{ | |___| | / /\ \ | | | |/ / | | | \ | | | / \_| }+
+{ | ___ | | |_| | | | | | | | | |\ \ | | | | ____ }+
+{ | | | | | __ | | | | |\ \ | | | | \ \| | | | |_ | }+
+{ | | | | | | | | | |___ | | \ \ ___| |___ | | \ | | \____| | }+
+{ |_| |_| |_| |_| \_____| |_| \_| |________| |_| |__| \________| }+
+{ }+
+{ ______ __ __ _________ _____ ________ }+
+{ / ___ \ | | | | |___ ___| | _ \ | ______| }+
+{ | / \_| | | | | | | | | \ | | |__ }+
+{ | | ____ | | | | | | | | | | | __| }+
+{ | | |_ | | | | | | | | | | | | | }+
+{ | \____| | \ \___/ / ___| |__ | |_/ | | |_____ }+
+{ \________| \_____/ |________| |____/ |_______| v1.1.0 }+
+{ }+
ASCII by Splintax
Music Hacking Guide
by Splintax [email@example.com]
Versions and Updates
- version 1.2.2 uploaded to GameFAQs. Moved the ripkit elsewhere. I won't be
updating this guide any more -- just wanted to reduce the number of emails I
receive asking for the ripkit.
- version 1.2.1 uploaded to GameFAQs. Added some info about San Andreas, fixed
the ripkit AGAIN (wow these updates happen a lot..)..
- version 1.2.0 uploaded to GameFAQs. Added a notice about San Andreas, fixed
my email address, and fixed the ripkit (again...)
- version 1.1.1 uploaded to GameFAQs. Took my email out, too much spammage.
Also I moved the server for the ripkit.
- version 1.1.0 uploaded to GameFAQs. There was a little confusion about using
the Xbox / PC games with the guide (you can't do this), as well as the
double-packs. Also a lot of people were asking me how to rip music from other
- version 1.0.3 uploaded on GameFAQs. For some reason although I was told the
FAQ was rejected you can still (obviously) download it here. More contributors
registered and a few typos fixed.
- Version 1.0.2 posted on GameFAQs - slightly different to 1.0.1, with a few
contributors added.
Version 1.0.1 released! This is the first version of the Music Hacking Guide.
It will be updated when I get user comments. I also have a few more things to
add that I am working on at the moment:
- A guide on burning the files to CD
- A complete update to allow this guide to be used for GTA3 as well.
- The MFAudio section (Part Three of the Hacking Walkthrough) will be far
easier to do...I'm going to completely change the method.
The latest version of this guide should always be found at
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Legal Matters
3. System Requirements
4. Hacking Walkthrough
5. Frequently Asked Questions
6. Thankyou
1. Introduction
Welcome to my first FAQ. Yes, that's my first ever attempt at ASCII art. ;-)
Vice City, a great game by Rockstar Games, has one of the best soundtracks
I've ever seen (or rather heard) in a game. I decided that I'd like to get the
music that you can listen to on the radio in the various cars of Vice City on
CD, so I could listen to it whilst working or doing things other than playing
Vice City, which, unlike some people who use the GameFAQs message boards, does
not take up ALL of my time. ;-) So I had a look on the Internet for some of
the sound files...and I found that Rockstar had already published a 7-CD
soundtrack. I didn't want to pay for this soundtrack when I already had the
music on my Vice City disc, so I looked around some more, and learned how to
hack the game files and get the radio stations, as MP3s, on my hard drive. And
this is what I've produced.
2. Legal Matters
A: Regarding copying the music off the Vice City disc.
As far as I know, this is perfectly legal. You are merely making a backup copy
of what you already own and leaving it on your hard drive for future use.
However, it is ILLEGAL for you to put any of the music you have copied onto the
Internet. This includes, but is not limited to, placing the sound files as
downloads on your personal homepage or a corporate music collection or sharing
the files on a peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing network such as Kazaa, iMesh and
Grokster. You may NOT distribute these files between you and other
acquaintances through an electronic file transfer (via a network or the
Internet), or removable media such as CDs, DVDs and floppy disks.
I have now ascertained that the legality of this MAY depend on your country's
piracy laws. You should check out all relevant laws in your country before
attempting anything in this guide.
### NOTE: I have NOT confirmed this information with a qualified legal
advisor. Until I can do this, you should assume that anything you do as a
result of this guide is ILLEGAL and you are assuming all responsibility for
your actions.
### Any help you can provide with the above matter would be much appreciated.
If you have a legal problem with this guide please notify me and I will attempt
to sort out the problem.
B: Regarding the use of this guide.
As mentioned above, at this stage, anything you do as a result of this guide is
completely your responsibility, and neither the author or any other third party
will take responsibility for your actions.
Further, this guide is for HOME USE ONLY. You MAY NOT use this guide in a
corporate, government or educational facility without notice from the author.
Please, if you want to use this guide for any other purpose than home use,
please send me an email at [firstname.lastname@example.com]. I will be more than happy
to grant you permission, but I would like to know what my guide is being used
You may save ONE copy of this guide to your computer's local hard drive,
providing that hard drive is not accessed by a third party through the Internet
or antoher network. You may also print as many copies of this guide as you
wish for your own use, but these copies MUST NOT be distributed to a third
party. Each person who uses this guide must download it separately.
You MAY NOT place this guide on your website without first asking me permission.
If you modify this guide, you MUST NOT distribute it to a third party without
first getting my permission as described above. If you have fixed typos, etc.
please send your updated version to me and if I feel that the changes you have
made are useful then I will upload a new version to GameFAQs.
If you see this guide on any website apart from www.GameFAQs.com please notify
me. It is important to me that I know where my guide is being displayed. I am
NOT going to grant permission to upload this guide to any other websites as it
is too much trouble to keep it updated.
3. System Requirements
Before you can follow the instructions give in this guide, you need several
things on your computer, as well as the Vice City DVD. These are listed below:
1. A DVD-ROM drive, or any other optical drive that is able to read DVD data
discs (no, NOT a CD-RW. It MUST be able to read DVD movies.)
2. Internet access, in order to download my ripkit (obviously you have this
already - you downloaded my guide)
3. At least 600MB of free space on your hard drive. Leave as much as you can,
4. Microsoft Windows OS - Windows 98 or higher
4. Hacking Walkthrough
I've tried to keep this guide as simple and automated as possible. More
advanced users might see easier or more efficient ways to do this, but I'm
trying to make this easy for newbies too. Later I will split this guide into
an easy and a more advanced method. At the moment it's somewhere in
between...I could easily have completely automated the process so that you run
one program to get all the music...but that's not as fun, and some more
advanced users may want to do the whole thing themselves.
Part One
Before you can rip any music from the Vice City disc, you'll need to install
some software. Rather than sending you to various sites to download programs,
I have created a simple ripkit for you to use. Download it at
- there should be no spaces; GameFAQs auto-truncates the URL.
- file size is about 130KB. You
must extract this ZIP file to a directory of your choice. Keep ALL of the
files in it intact. Once they are all safe in a separate folder on your hard
drive, double click the "install.bat" file to copy the neccesary files to your
computer for the rip - it copies files to a folder called "C:\VCRIP\files".
NOTE: On some computers, you may not see "install.bat", just "install". Make
sure that the file you are double-clicking has a small picture of a cog in the
icon. Remember this in future, because you will need to run more ".bat" files
later on. The same rule applies for all of them.
Part Two
Now you need to decide which stations / tracks you want to copy to your hard
drive. The following stations can be copied:
Name of station Station filename
Stadium Backing Music D:\AUDIO\MUSIC\DIRTRING.VB
Emotion FM D:\AUDIO\MUSIC\EMOTION.VB
Radio Espantoso D:\AUDIO\MUSIC\ESPANT.VB
Fever 105 D:\AUDIO\MUSIC\FEVER.VB
Flash FM D:\AUDIO\MUSIC\FLASH.VB
"The Ocean View" Hotel's Music D:\AUDIO\MUSIC\HOTEL.VB
KChat D:\AUDIO\MUSIC\KCHAT.VB
North Point Mall Backing music D:\AUDIO\MUSIC\MALLAMB.VB
"The Malibu" Club's Music D:\AUDIO\MUSIC\MALIBU.VB
"Mission Complete" tune D:\AUDIO\MUSIC\MISCOM.VB
Police scanner D:\AUDIO\MUSIC\POLICE.VB
"The Pole Position" Club's Music D:\AUDIO\MUSIC\STRIP.VB
Taxi scanner D:\AUDIO\MUSIC\TAXI.VB
VRock D:\AUDIO\MUSIC\VROCK.VB
Wave 103 D:\AUDIO\MUSIC\WAVE.VB
Wildstyle Pirate Radio D:\AUDIO\MUSIC\WILD.VB
Note that D represents the usual letter for a DVD-ROM drive. However, you may
wish to double-check - if you have multiple drives, etc. it could be different.
There are a few more, but I considered them all to be negligible - they were
things like the backing wind and waves when you're standing at the beach, etc.
Feel free to listen to the other files on the disc too (with MFAudio in the
next step), if you want, but in my opinion, they're really not worth your time
(and hard drive space).
Part Three
Now, rip the music to your hard drive. To do this:
1. Click Start, then click Run.
2. Type in "C:\VCRIP\files\mfaudio.exe" (WITH the quotes), then press Enter.
3. The MFAudio window opens. Click Options at the bottom left and set yours
like so:
Sony ADPCM - Use Extended Flagging? YES
PSS - Scan whole file for streams? NO
PSS - Scan up to ? MB? 8
VAG - VAG version number? 0x3
RAW - Default PCM frequency? 32000
RAW - Default ADPCM frequency? 32000
Set as default player for? None of the options.
Setting these options like so will make it faster for you to convert Vice City
3. The MFAudio window appears. Click "Open" at the top right, and navigate to
your DVD-ROM drive. You'll see the folder "AUDIO". Open it. You'll then see
the folder "MUSIC". Open that. Now double-click the file for the radio
station you want to copy - refer to the list above for filename details.
NOTE: If you could not find the AUDIO folder, only a VIDEO folder, you have
the Xbox version of the game. As I said before, the guide won't work for Xbox.
Or PC.
4. Now, replace the other values in the dialog box with the following (under
"Input Audio File"):
File Format: For all files, "RAW - Raw Sound Data - Compressed ADPCM".
Frequency: For all files except POLICE.VB, VCPR.VB and KCHAT.VB, it should be
set to 32000, but for the three exceptions, set it to 16000.
Samples: For all files, 16 bits.
Channels: For all files, 2.
Interleave: For all files, 2000. >>> Double-check this one, it is often
incorrectly entered as 20000 (twenty thousand, not two thousand).
Offset: For all files, 0.
Stream: Should be greyed out. If it isn't, then check your settings - you've
done something wrong.
Click Play, and if the music sounds right, click Stop. If it sounds wrong,
click Stop and review your settings - you've done something wrong.
5. Then, fill in the values in the "Output Audio File" section:
File Format: For all files, "WAV - Microsoft RIFF - Uncompressed PCM".
Frequency, Samples, Channels and Interleave should be the same as what you
chose for the input file - EXCEPT you should ALWAYS choose the output frequency
as 32000Hz, even for KChat and VCPR. Interleave will be greyed out if you
chose WAV as instructed above, so you shouldn't have to worry about it.
Click "Save As" and navigate to the folder "C:\VCRIP" (it was created by the
"install.bat" file previously). All of your Vice City rips will go here for
the time being for simplicity's sake when encoding, later. You can move them
and delete VCRIP if you wish, once encoding is complete. Go into VCRIP and
type in a filename for the station or music track, then click Save.
NOTE: If you don't place the files in VCRIP, the encoding process will NOT
work and you will have to encode the WAV files that MFAudio produced yourself.
6. Now, finally, click Process. When the blue bar reaches the end, your file
conversion is complete. This time varies greatly depending on your computer's
specs and the length of the track you are copying.
WARNING: This will save a .WAV file to your VCRIP folder. This file is very
large - the VRock one is 562MB, for example. So, make sure you have the room.
Don't rip any more music until you are sure you have the space - assume each
track could use up 700MB for safety. If you don't, before copying any more
music, skip to Part Four and run "encode.bat" as described below after ripping
every music file from MFAudio. This brings them down to a much more reasonable
size - about 80 - 90 MB. This is the reason I reccomended you have a large
amount of hard drive space available, as it is easiest to run the "encode.bat"
file that is described in Part Four once, and encode all the WAVs in one go.
7. Rinse and repeat for each file you want to copy, staying aware of what I
just said about hard drive space.
Part Three
The next step is to encode the .WAV files into MP3, reducing the file size
dramatically. This ONLY works if you placed all the files form MFAudio in the
C:\VCRIP folder. First, SHUT DOWN ALL OTHER PROGRAMS. Then, double-click the
"encode.bat" file that you got out of the ripkit you downloaded.
This could take a while. After the black window disappears, the WAV files will
be gone and they will be replaced with much smaller MP3 files.
Part Four
Now, the files are ripped onto your computer. Remember, these files should NOT
be shared with friends, uploaded to the Internet or shared on peer-to-peer
networks. If you like, you can now move the files to another folder for
whatever reason, and you can delete the VCRIP folder. (If you do this, you
will no longer be able to use BladeEnc and MFAudio and thus this guide).
5. Frequently Asked Questions
Here I'll post some of the frequently asked questions regarding Vice City and
the music ripping process that I receive.
Q: How do I rip the music from <another game>/<a DVD>/<any other
technology-related object>?
A: Well, it depends. To rip the music from another PS2 game, you just need to
follow the process above...with a couple of changes. First, you'll need to
find the AUDIO folder (or similarly named folder) and the MUSIC folder, these
could be anywhere so you may have some exploring on your hands. (Usually they
are in a reasonable place, though). Then you need to find out which type of
file the music is. Yes, it could be ANY of the file types such as "RAW - Raw
Sound Data - Compressed ADPCM" and the other ones in the drop-down menu. Then,
you also need to guess the other settings. A couple of hints:
- If you're trying to rip the music from GTA3, follow the exact same process
above. The only trouble you may encounter is when choosing which files to rip,
but you can always preview them. Also, note that CHAT.VB is the ONLY file in
the music directory with a frequency of 16000Hz, because it's a chat station.
(Note that all the chat stations in Vice City are at 16000Hz as well).
- Remember to try ALL of the sound filetypes, some of them don't need as many
settings to be tried.
- Usually the offset is 0.
- If you get stuck, try holding the mouse over one of the white boxes that you
enter data in and the hints may help you.
- Make sure you read the hint (as described above) for the Interleave box.
- Usually the Freqency is set to 8000, 11025, 12000, 16000, 22050, 24000,
32000, 44100, or 48000.
- Samples is always set to 16 bits.
- If the sound is too high-pitched or too low-pitched you should adjust the
frequency (higher frequency = higher pitch).
- Usually the Channels is set to 2, if the below options don't work adjust the
interleave and leave it at 2.
- If everything is playing TWICE, eg: "It's LazlowIt's Lazlow on VRockonVrock,
the homethe home of all rebellionof all rebellion", try changing the Channels
from 1 to 2.
- If some things are missing out, eg: "It's Lazlow, the home of all rebellion",
try changing the Channels from 1 to 2.
- If its similar to this but none of the above options work, try adjusting the
Interleave to the recommended settings in the balloon that pops up when you
hold the mouse over the box.
- If you get something that sounds like the games music but its all messed up
and intersects with other tracks, ALL the music is combined into one file.
Annoying, eh? You need to adjust the offset, and that's as difficult as the
ripping gets.
- If all else fails, go to the message board for that game, see if there are
any audio buffs there and tell them you're trying to rip the tracks from the
game, does anybody know what the frequency, interleave, file format, etc is?
Good luck, you're going to need it!
Q: How do I split the radio station up into separate sections?
A: What you need is called an "MP3 Splitter". The best (free) tool that I've
found would have to be Audacity, an open-source project that can be downloaded
for free from [http://www.sourceforge.net]. You're going to need to look a
little while for it, though. Also you'll need to download an MP3 encoding DLL
file from somewhere to export the split files to new MP3s, or else you can save
WAV files into your VCRIP directory and run encode.bat again.
Q: I don't have a DVD-ROM/My DVD-ROM is broken/Other excuse, so can you send
the music to me?
A: NO, only if you have the Vice City PS2 disc. And you can't prove that to
me. Besides, even if I could do that legally, it would take ages. My
connection only uploads at 128Kbps, which equates to roughly the time it would
take to listen to the track to send it, providing you have broadband. Your
best chance is to do it at a friend's place, providing you have any friends
with a DVD-ROM.
Q: How can I get the music off the double-pack/Xbox/PC version off the game?
OR I don't have a AUDIO folder/All I can see is ADF files.
A: Sorry, this guide is for the original PS2 version only.
<quote from above section that you should already have read>
For the PC version: http://www.codenamevice.co.uk/file_category.asp?ID=57
With a little bit of luck, you should be able to use the tool, but there is no
support for it at the moment, so please do not email me asking how to use it.
Basically you need to use it to open the .ADF files in the install directory of
Vice City and convert them to MP3s.
I know of no way to rip the music from the Xbox version, sorry.
</end quote>
Q: How can I get the music from Vice City / VCPR / any other radio station
onto a CD?
A: If you had read this guide you would have some idea of the answer to this
question. If you read what's above you'll learn how to rip the music and talk
radio shows off the Vice City DVD and create MP3 files of them on your hard
disk. I'll expect that you know how to burn an audio CD from the MP3 files, if
you don't, read up on it on the internet. A future version of this guide may
include a section on burning the music to audio CD, but don't hang out for it.
NOTE: Newbies to burning MP3s to CDs will find Acoustica MP3 CD Burner very
helpful. It costs about $30AUD to buy (that's about $22, $23 in the US), but
it has a free trial that lasts for 14 days - enough to get your VC MP3s onto a
CD! Get it at:
Q: Does ripping the music damage the disc?
A: No, ripping the music does no more damage than playing the game normally.
Even if you do that to the Xbox or PC disc (which the guide is not designed
for), while you won't gain any music, you won't lose anything on the disc
Q: Don't I have to buy the Vice City Soundtrack?
A: No, you don't, that is a waste of $40 or so if you already own the game and
have access to a PC with a DVD-ROM.
Q: Is this legal?
A: I believe so, at this time I am not sure, so you assume all responsibility
for your actions as a result of the use of this guide.
Q: Can I post this guide on my site?
A: No, I am not going to accept any more requests for guides to be placed on
your site. It is too much trouble to keep it updated, and I don't care if you
say that you'll check for an update every day on GameFAQs. If you see a site
with this guide on it or run a site with this guide on it please remove it ASAP
(unless you run GameFAQs =) )
Q: I don't understand how to do the stuff in Part Three. Can you help?
A: Please send me an email with the question in detail, and I will do my best
to help you.
Q: This guide is stupid. Why don't you tell me how you ripped the music
instead of insulting my intelligence by giving me poorly-written batch files?
A: First of all, some people find it more difficult to understand this whole
ripping thing and I'm trying to make it easier for them. If you don't like my
batch files, write your own or don't use the guide at all.
Q: How do you rip the music from GTA: San Andreas?
A: See the top of the FAQ. I don't know. :-(
Q: Some guy ripped off your guide and put it on the Vice City page.
A: PRudoff produced an "Audio Extraction Guide" for Vice City on GameFAQs.
I know of his guide and endorse it, it explains how to rip the voice clips
from the game, though why you would want to do that I don't know.
As I get more questions from people, I'll post them up here.
6. Thankyou
Thanks to all the people below for helping to make this guide possible.
garcha2 - for finding a few mistakes
magmafox - for providing an alternate place to host the guide
Gibby - for confirming that the guide works on Windows 98
Marco - for confirming that the guide works on Windows ME
Martin Laursen - for confirming that the guide works on Windows 2000 and for
assistance with the legality of the guide
Lots of other people for sending me questions. All though you annoyed me, you
gave me valuable assistance with the FAQs section.
Rockstar Games for producing this great game
Tord Janssen for the great MP3 encoder "BladeEnc", which is what you've used to
create the Vice City MP3s
MuzzleFlash for producing MFAudio
Anybody who took the time to read this guide or supported it
If you contribute to this guide in any way, I'll put your name up here.
Copyright (c) 2003 Scott Young [email@example.com]
All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their
respective trademark and copyright holders.
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