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Why Investors Should Consider Buying This Grocery Store
Kroger is among the largest grocery retailers in the US, and the company came up with strong quarterly results last week. This is a welcome change in the retail sector, which was in a nervous state after Wal-Mart posted lackluster quarterly results followed by a series of discouraging results from the apparel-retail industry.
Kroger has outperformed rivals in recent years by slashing prices. Despite stiff competition, the company has managed to increase its market share in nine out of 17 markets. Kroger's concept of adding more general merchandise in new categories to attract customers seems to be working in its favor.
Kroger operates stores in several channels. It has been expanding its operations with its marketplace format, which are supermarkets bordering on hypermarkets. This format has worked well for the company, as evident from the second-quarter results that it posted last week.
Earnings increased 17.6% from the same quarter a year ago to $0.60 per share. Revenue increased 4.6% to $22.7 billion. The market reacted positively to the results, and shares jumped 3%.
Looking ahead
The global organic-food market is expected to grow at an estimated compound annual growth rate of 12.9%, and is expected to be worth $104.7 billion in 2015. The North American organic-food market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 12% from 2010 to 2015. Kroger has also joined the organic- and natural-food bandwagon, and has sections of its stores dedicated to this category.
Moreover, jobless claims falling to a seven-year low augurs well for grocers and discount retailers, as more employed people means higher spending on grocery items. Kroger has maintained its full-year EPS guidance range of $2.73-$2.80. The company plans to achieve a long-term EPS growth rate in the range of 8% to 11%.
Same-store sales, an important metric for retailers, measures sales in stores open at least one year. Kroger raised its full-year same-store sales growth projection to 3%-3.5%, excluding fuel, from the prior outlook of 2.5%-3.5%
To prepare against stiff competition from Wal-Mart and Amazon.com in grocery home-delivery services, Kroger has been spending capital on reorganizing its digital-marketing efforts. It went on a hiring spree for this section and recruited talent from other big retailers.
Doing better than others
Grocers like Safeway and Supervalu have been disposing parts of their operations in order to improve efficiency and profits. Kroger, on the other hand, has been in acquisition mode.
For example, Supervalu recently sold close to 900 assets as a part of a restructuring exercise for a value of $3.3 billion. This resulted in a leaner company with a lower cost structure and a simplified business model. After this divestment, the company is on a comeback.
In the first quarter of fiscal 2014, it trumped earnings estimates by $0.04 per share. But the stock has already run up over 200% year-to-date, so investors should look for more signs of a turnaround before buying into the momentum.
Even Safeway sold off a part of its business under a restructuring initiative. In a deal worth $5.7 billion, it sold off its profitable Canadian business to Sobeys, Empire's Canadian food retailer. It is expanding in the U.S. through an apartments-over-stores format at new locations. The new Safeway store in Wheaton, with 486 apartments on top, is slated to be completed in October. This format should lead to better revenue, as residents would probably visit the Safeway store because of its convenient location.
The new Petworth store, with 220 apartments, is expected to open next summer. In the second quarter, the company managed to post $8.7 billion in revenue, which fell short of consensus estimates of $10.3 billion.
On the other hand, in July, Kroger announced the acquisition of Harris Teeter Supermarkets in a deal worth $2.4 billion. This will expand its reach in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic U.S. markets. There are, however, a series of lawsuits being filed to block the acquisition, so technically this isn't a done deal yet. This transaction is expected to go through by the end of this year, however.
Kroger's business is progressing well and the company has also increased its same-store sale growth expectations. Moreover, with a beta of just 0.7, Kroger is a defensive pick and also pays a decent dividend that yields 1.6%. So, there are a few good reasons why Kroger is a stock that might find a place in your portfolio.
The retail space is in the midst of the biggest paradigm shift since mail order took off at the turn of last century. Only those most forward-looking and capable companies will survive, and they'll handsomely reward those investors who understand the landscape. You can read about the 3 Companies Ready to Rule Retail in The Motley Fool's special report. Uncovering these top picks is free today; just click here to read more.
The article Why Investors Should Consider Buying This Grocery Store originally appeared on Fool.com.
ANUP SINGH has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of Supervalu. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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Hi! Since there has been a lot happening in the Debian Multimedia world during the Squeeze release, so we figured we should give you an update on that. Who are we? ~~~~~~~~~~ In the dark old ages, there were two teams involved in multimedia: the Debian Multimedia and Debian Multimedia Packages teams. Please note that neither of them is related to debian-multimedia.org[1]. During late 2008, both teams were merged into one, the Debian Multimedia Maintainers team, to avoid effort fragmentation. Since then, there has been a lot of work done: Consumer Multimedia in Debian ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Consumer Multimedia is about playing and, well, consuming multimedia. Squeeze will feature: * FFmpeg 0.5.2, finally uncrippled thanks to zack! No mp3/h264 encoder, though. (still in NEW). * mplayer 1.0rc3, finally with mencoder enabled. * VLC 1.1.3 * VDPAU hardware acceleration in ffmpeg/mplayer (but feedback is welcome!) * Guayadeque 0.2.5 * gmusicbrowser 1.0.2 Squeeze will not feature: * FFmpeg 0.6 (But already available in experimental) * Hardware acceleration with VA-API (packages also in experimental, for support on Intel hardware). Producer Multimedia in Debian ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Producer multimedia is software for producing multimedia. Squeeze will feature: End user applications: * Ardour 2.8.11 * Audacity 1.3.12 * Composite 0.006 * Csound 5.12. The QuteCsound frontend is also available. * FluidSynth 1.1.1 * Hydrogen 0.9.4.1 * Internet DJ Console 0.8.3 * Jokosher 0.11.5 * LiVES 1.3.4 * mhWaveEdit 1.4.20 * morituri 0.1.1 * QTractor 0.4.6 * Rosegarden 10.04.2 * SooperLooper 1.6.14 * Traverso 0.49.1 * X Jack Video Monitor 0.4.13 * Yoshimi 0.058.1 Platforms and technologies: * JACK versions 0.118 and 1.9.6 (aka, jackd1 and jackd2). You can choose to install any of them (but only one at a time). * LV2 plugins are supported. Ardour has support for them, and there are a bunch of them provided in Debian. * LADSPA plugins are still supported. * DSSI updated to 1.0.0, many plugins are available. * FireWire sound devices are supported with libffado, and is supported by JACK. Squeeze will not feature: * JACK session support. * Ardour 3 (it's not out yet, so it did not make it in time for squeeze). * SuperCollider. There is a package in the works, but did not make it to Squeeze. * Toonloop: This live stop-motion animation editor has been packaged only recently. * NASPRO: Convenient library to implement LV2 dynamic manifest plugins. It's available in Sid. * Mixxx: 1.7 series had RC bugs, and 1.8 was too late for squeeze. Debian Multimedia Blend ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There is also an effort to start a Debian Multimedia Blend to give a better overview about what multimedia applications are available in Debian. There is a short list[2] for a quick overview as well as a long package list separated in sections to give a more detailed overview (including translations, screenshots, popularity of package etc)[3]. You are invited to help improving the tasks either directly in SVN[4] or by sending patches to Andreas Tille <email@example.com> or email@example.com (see below). Note that not all of the packages listed in the tasks pages are maintained by the Debian Multimedia team, since they are aimed at producing useful package sets instead of showing only our own packages. For those who want to squash some bugs in multimedia packages there is also the bugs page generated by the Blends tools[5], or our team bug page[6]. Other activity ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The team has seen a lot of growth since the merger. Of the current 52 members of the alioth team, 20 were added during 2009 and 18 in 2010, many of whom are involved in upstream development as well as the debian packaging. The number of packages has also grown, with 112 of the current 205 git repositories in our team area having its first commit during 2010. Where to reach us ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Debian Multimedia Maintainers can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com, should you have any questions. We have also decided to repurpose the old firstname.lastname@example.com address for user and more general discussion. We would like to invite everyone interested in multimedia to join us there. Interested developers/packagers can also join us at the first address. Some of the team members are also in the #debian-multimedia channel on OFTC. Regards, Alessio Treglia on behalf of the Debian Multimedia Maintainers [1] That site is maintained by Christian Marillat, and is known to break current ffmpeg-based applications (like mplayer and vlc) in Debian Squeeze. [2] http://blends.alioth.debian.org/multimedia/tasks/packagelist [3] http://blends.alioth.debian.org/multimedia/tasks [4] svn://svn.debian.org/svn/blends/projects/multimedia/trunk/debian-multimedia/tasks [5] http://blends.alioth.debian.org/multimedia/bugs [6] http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?maint=pkg-multimedia-maintainers%40lists.alioth.debian.org -- Alessio Treglia <email@example.com> Debian & Ubuntu Developer | Homepage: http://www.alessiotreglia.com 0FEC 59A5 E18E E04F 6D40 593B 45D4 8C7C DCFC 3FD0
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Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) is a dynamic and effective national student organization that helps young men and women become leaders and address important personal, family, work and societal issues through Family and Consumer Sciences Education as determined by the state department of education. FCCLA has over 160,000 members and more than 5,300 chapters from 49 state associations, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. The organization has involved more than 10 million people since its founding in 1945. The Ultimate Leadership Experience is unique among youth organizations because its programs are planned and run by members. It is the only career and technical in-school student organization with family as its central focus. Participation in national programs and chapter activities helps members become strong leaders in their families, careers and communities.
The schedule of meetings is to be determined and the club is welcome to all students.


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Emotions in Motion
Source: Yoga Journal • Donna Raskin
You reach up and back, your chest opening into a supported backbend. Then, suddenly, you're in tears. How did you move from serenity to intensity in just one moment?
By Donna Raskin
Last summer, Danielle Pagano hurried to her favorite yoga class feeling rushed but happy. Everything was fine until it came time to relax into Child's Pose just before the end of class. With her head bowed and attention focused inward, Pagano, a 33-year-old vice president of an international investment company, began to cry. She spent the next few minutes struggling to contain herself, and wrote the experience off to exhaustion. When it happened again the following week—this time earlier in the asana progression—she was stunned.
What had at first been a relaxing hour for Pagano had become a stressful obligation. She realized that something significant had happened, but she refused to return to class until she felt confident that an emotional upheaval wouldn't occur again. Not comfortable talking with her yoga teacher about it, Pagano skipped class for a couple of weeks, choosing instead to discuss the incident with her therapist.
Though Pagano didn't know it, her experience is a common one, as are the concerns it raised for her: Was something wrong with her? When would she be able to stop crying? What did the people around her think? And why did this happen in yoga class and not, say, while she was eating lunch or taking a walk?
It's a Good Thing
"The holistic system of yoga was designed so that these emotional breakthroughs can occur safely," says Joan Shivarpita Harrigan, Ph.D., a psychologist and the director of PatanjaliKundalini Yoga Care in Knoxville, Tennessee, which provides guidance to spiritual seekers. "Yoga is not merely an athletic system; it is a spiritual system. The asanas are designed to affect the subtle body for the purpose of spiritual transformation. People enter into the practice of yoga asana for physical fitness or physical health, or even because they've heard it's good for relaxation, but ultimately the purpose of yoga practice is spiritual development."
This development depends on breaking through places in the subtle body that are blocked with unresolved issues and energy. "Anytime you work with the body, you are also working with the mind and the energy system—which is the bridge between body and mind," Harrigan explains. And since that means working with emotions, emotional breakthroughs can be seen as markers of progress on the road to personal and spiritual growth.
That was certainly the case for Hilary Lindsay, founder of Active Yoga in Nashville, Tennessee. As a teacher, Lindsay has witnessed many emotional breakthroughs; as a student, she's experienced several herself. One of the most significant occurred during a hip-opening class. She left the class feeling normal, but during the drive home became extremely upset and emotional. She also felt she'd experienced a significant shift in her psyche—something akin to a clearing of her spirit. Lindsay felt, as she puts it, released. "There is no question that the emotion came out of my past," she says.
By the next day, her opinion of herself had taken a 180-degree turn. She realized she was a person who needed to constantly prove herself to be strong and capable, and saw that this was partly the result of an image instilled by her parents. Her spirit actually needed to recognize and accept that she was a proficient person and ease off the internal pressure. This realization, Lindsay says, was life-changing.
Not every spontaneous emotional event is quite so clear-cut, however. Difficult and stressful breakthroughs occur most often when the release involves long-held feelings of sadness, grief, confusion, or another strong emotion that a person has carried unconsciously throughout his or her life.
"Whenever something happens to us as a kid, our body is involved," says Michael Lee, founder of Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy, which is headquartered in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts(see "Therapy on the Mat," below). "This is particularly true of trauma. The body comes to the defense of the whole being. In defending it, the body does things to stop the pain from being fully experienced.
"Emotional pain is overwhelming for small children, because they don't have the resources to deal with it," he continues. "So the body shuts it off; if it didn't, the body would die from emotional pain. But then the body keeps doing the physical protection even long after the situation has ended."
Painful experiences, Lee adds, can range from small, acute ones to intense, chronic problems. Still, the mechanism at play is unclear: "We really don't understand the body-memory thing," he says, "at least in Western terms."
The Body-Mind Connection
In yogic terms, however, there is no separation between mind, body, and spirit. The three exist as a union (one definition of the word yoga); what happens to the mind also happens to the body and spirit, and so on. In other words, if something is bothering you spiritually, emotionally, or mentally, it is likely to show up in your body. And as you work deeply with your body in yoga, emotional issues will likely come to the fore.
In the yogic view, we all hold within our bodies emotions and misguided thoughts that keep us from reaching samadhi, defined by some as "conscious enlightenment." Any sense of unease or dis-ease in the body keeps us from reaching and experiencing this state. Asanas are one path to blissful contentment, working to bring us closer by focusing our minds and releasing any emotional or inner tension in our bodies.
Though the ancient yogis understood that emotional turmoil is carried in the mind, the body, and the spirit, Western medicine has been slow to accept this. But new research has verified empirically that mental and emotional condition can affect the state of the physical body, and that the mind-body connection is real. (Newsweek and Time both dedicated issues to the topic last year.)
Many doctors, psychotherapists, and chiropractors are embracing these findings, and are now recommending yoga to help patients deal with problems that only a few years ago would have been viewed and treated solely in biomechanical terms.
Hilary Lindsay recently experienced this firsthand. "I woke up one morning with my body completely distorted," she remembers. "I went to see a chiropractor, who told me plainly, 'There's nothing wrong with you physically.'" The doctor suggested she try a Phoenix Rising session, which she did. The practitioner put Lindsay into some supported yogalike positions on the floor. "He did not focus on anything more than, 'Here's this pose and how does it feel?' I would say something; he would repeat my word and say, 'What else?' until I would say there was finally nothing else." The therapist never analyzed or discussed what Lindsay said, but still, she felt he helped her to see her problem.
"When I drove off on my own, I realized my words had just painted a clear picture of my approach to life," she says. "I saw a power-driven maniac who was probably in the process of driving herself nuts."
As the day went on, she felt physically healed, and attributes that to the emotional outcome of the session, which the asanas helped her access. In other words, she was able to release the distortion in her body only by releasing her inner tension.
"I did not have any repeat of the symptoms," Lindsay adds, "and I felt the calm that comes with knowing yourself a little more than you did before. The awareness does not occur like the lightbulb over the cartoon guy's head. It doesn't come ahead of its time. The student has to be ready to receive it."
Forcing the Issue
Teachers are divided as to whether it's productive to actually try to raise difficult emotions on the mat. "One shouldn't really try to have an emotional release during asana, but if it happens, that's fine," Harrigan says, voicing what seems to be the majority opinion.
Ana Forrest, founder of the Forrest Yoga Circle studio in Santa Monica, California, is an experienced yoga teacher who has had her own emotional breakthroughs both on and off the mat. She is proud of her intention to push her students toward—and through—their own emotional blockages (see "Poses That Push You," below). "It's not that I push with my hands," Forrest explains. "But when I work with people, I really ask them to go deep, and I educate them along the way. I tell them, 'You're going to hit what's stored in there. Let it come up and be cleansed out of your cell tissue. It's a gift of the yoga.'"
At the beginning of each class, Forrest asks her students to "pick a spot that needs extra attention, so you can connect to that spot and then feel what emotion is connected to it." For example, when a student tells Forrest she's just had her heart broken, Forrest offers this advice: "Challenge yourself to make every pose about moving energy into your heart."
Her approach has worked well for many students, she says, but it's not without controversy. "People challenge me on this all the time," Forrest says.
Richard Miller, Ph.D., a yogi and licensed psychologist, says trying to cause an emotional release is a subtle form of violence, because it suggests that "you need to be other than you are." A true yogic view focuses not on change, he argues, but on self-acceptance on the student's part. "In that way, change and spiritual growth will unfold naturally," he says.
Miller, who is also a contributor to The Sacred Mirror: Nondual Wisdom and Psychotherapy(Paragon, 2003), a collection of essays by meditation practitioners and psychotherapists, stresses that it's important for teachers to neither comment on nor try to "help" a student through any release. "The moment we become helpers, we become hinderers," he says.
Forrest, however, believes that "most people need help with this, as our culture doesn't educate us on how to work in a healthy way with our emotions," and that without assistance, many people will remain stuck. Students trust her, she says, because of her own traumatic past (which includes sexual abuse, she openly shares) and her experiences working through emotions. "I've had years and years of therapy," she says. "I've still got twisty places inside of me, but I know how to accept and work with whatever memories need to come up."
Forrest tells her students, "I've walked the road you're on; I'm just about 10 miles ahead of you. But I still have a road to walk. I'm not enlightened, but I know what it is to have my spirit directing my actions."
And it's not just the student who learns from the teacher. Forrest says that through her students, she has grown from having "an emotional range of about four inches to a larger capacity—but there's always a lot of room for breakthrough."
Teardrops on the Mat
When a breakthrough does occur—even if it's much-needed—it can be hard for a person to cope with it. "If there is a release of emotion in a particular asana, according to Patanjali's Yoga Sutra[II.46–49], the thing to do is relax into the pose, regulate the breathing, and focus on the infinite to become centered in the deepest aspect of one's self," Harrigan advises.
Harrigan thinks teachers should encourage their students to find a comforting and inspiring word or mantra to turn to anytime during class and to correlate with their breathing. "This is a centering device that is always at the student's disposal, no matter how or when the emotional release occurs," she says.
"I also recommend that people taking a hatha yoga asana class keep a journal of not just the physical experience but what goes through their minds and their emotional states," Harrigan adds. "This way, they can consider the spiritual aspect of their lives very consciously."
When a student is facing a welling-up of emotion, the most powerful action teachers can take is to simply offer him or her quiet support. "I would teach the teacher not to judge the event but to observe it with the discriminate buddhi [wisdom] faculty," Harrigan says. In this way, teachers can help their students disidentify with the feeling but use it later for self-study, either in yoga class or out—as Danielle Pagano did with her therapist. It is always wise, Harrigan adds, for teachers to be on the lookout for students who might benefit from a referral to a psychotherapist.
It's important for students to use their buddha minds too, and to get help when they need it. Whereas Lindsay felt released and was easily able to process her feelings on her own, Pagano knew she needed to talk with someone. There are times when a good therapist—as opposed to a good yoga teacher—is the right choice, agree all the teachers interviewed for this article.
Better yet, says Richard Miller, is a combination of the two approaches. "Some therapists don't have an understanding of the universe as a oneness; instead, they often believe they are helping their clients to have better lives by supporting them in achieving certain goals or resolving specific issues," he says. "Meanwhile, yoga teachers who speak only of hamstrings or Pigeon Pose are not communicating a true yogic view of enlightenment or inner equanimity." The truth, Miller concludes, is that "we are not here to try to change ourselves. We are here to meet ourselves where we are."
Asanas are not prescriptive for emotional issues in the same way they can be for issues in the physical body. But most of the yoga teachers interviewed for this story agree that some poses seem to initiate emotional responses more than others.
"Camel, hip openers, and lunges" Ana Forrest suggests. "Camel because of its immediate impact in exposing the heart, hip openers because they tap into the vital feelings stored in the area, and lunges because there's a lot of unchanneled potential and power in the thighs." Twists and backbends can also trigger an emotional release.
However, what works for one person may not work for another. You cannot demand release and expect a response, although you can certainly, as Forrest asks of her students, listen to your body and discover where it needs to untie an emotional knot. If your heart feels heavy, if your stomach is constantly in turmoil, if your inner child needs comforting, you can create an asana and pPranayama program specifically for your condition, the same way you might practice inversions or balancing poses if you want to challenge yourself physically.
As a longtime devotee of both the therapy couch and the yoga mat, I was curious how the two blend together in Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy.
Michael Lee created Phoenix Rising specifically to help students cope with emotions. It combines assisted yoga postures, breath awareness, and nondirective dialogue based on the work of Carl Rogers, in which the therapist acts as a sounding board, repeating much of what the student says to allow her to stay with her own train of thought.
Lee drew inspiration from his own encounter with emotions on the mat in the early 1980s. He was living in an ashram where morning practice took place each day at 5:30. "Every day for a year and a half, the guy on the mat next to me would get about one-third of the way through class and begin to sob profusely," Lee remembers. "Some people found it disturbing. One day, I said to him, 'What's going on?'"
"I don't know," the man answered. "I just get overwhelmed by sadness. I try to hold back a little so I don't bother people." It turns out that he had been experiencing these intense outbursts every morning for 10 years.
"The guru had previously instructed the man to just stay with his practice, because he believed his emotions would work themselves out through asana alone," Lee recalls. "But even back then, I thought the experience required a more integrated approach."
Lee talked with the man extensively about his experience and, in helping him, created Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy. He launched the program at the DeSisto School for emotionally troubled teens in Lenox, Massachusetts, in 1986, building on his background in group dynamics from the psychology movements of the 1970s. (Lee is not a licensed psychotherapist.) Practiced by yoga teachers, bodyworkers, physical therapists, and psychologists, the method aims to bridge the gap between body and mind. Unlike traditional therapy—which might focus on eliminating a phobia or improving a skill, such as communication between spouses—Phoenix Rising sessions focus on helping people recognize their own body's wisdom and get to the source of emotions that may be causing aches and pains, physical or otherwise.
I wanted to experience the method for myself, so I turned to Carol S. James, one of 1,012 Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy practitioners around the world. We began by talking on a couch, where James asked me about my health, state of mind, and background. After telling her about a few things that were troubling my mind on that particular day, we moved to another area in the softly lit room, where we sat facing each other on a large, puffy mat. James asked me to focus on my breath, which brought me into the moment and allowed me to begin to talk.
Throughout the session, she moved me into very gentle supported poses (backbends, forward bends, and leg stretches), almost the way a personal trainer might stretch a client at the end of a workout. She asked me to tell her more about my thoughts, and repeated many of my words. The session sounded something like this:
"I feel sad that I'm 40 and alone."
"You're sad that you're 40 and alone."
"It's surprising. I didn't expect this to happen."
"You're surprised. Tell me more about that."
And so on, until I found myself leaning back, physically, directly onto Carol and telling her more—a "more" I had never gotten to before.
The experience of physically leaning on someone while revealing myself to the person was one of the most profound I have ever had. During my session, I felt a connection to my deepest self, the self that is at peace. The combination of discussion and touch was sweet and deep.
At the end of the session, my heart was as open with love toward myself as it had ever been. The emotional breakthrough was not traumatic but physically and spiritually enlightening. I hate to glibly paraphrase Bob Dylan, but I truly felt released, and as Richard Miller said, I met myself right where I was, with love.
Donna Raskin is a yoga teacher and writer in Rockport, Massachusetts, and author ofYoga Beats the Blues (Fair Winds, 2003).


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48in48 started with a goal to empower communities to help 48 local nonprofits in 48 hours by assisting their marketing and technology efforts through hackathon-style events.
This event began with two Atlanta-based CEOs, Jeff Hilimire of Dragon Army and Adam Walker of Sideways8, with an idea to provide highly skilled professionals in technology with an opportunity to use their skills for a philanthropic purpose.
48in48 proved to be a huge success for volunteers as well as for the participating local non profit organizations! In addition to website development, non profits also received logos, blog posts, web content, personal website training sessions, Adwords training and 6 to 12 months of hosting. Each nonprofit received $25,000 of value bringing the total value delivered by 48in48 volunteers to $1.2M over the course of the project! Because of this success, 48in48 has already received a national award from Points of Light, the world's largest organization dedicated to volunteer service.
The goal of this project is to bring 48in48 to multiple cities around the US while continuing to execute the event in Atlanta.


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Grass is Greener
Weed. Marijuana. Grass. Pot. Whatever you prefer to call it, America's relationship with cannabis is a complicated one. In his directorial debut, hip hop pioneer Fab 5 Freddy presents an unparalleled look at the racially biased history of the war on marijuana. A range of celebrities and experts discuss the plant's influence on music and popular culture, and the devastating impact its criminalization has had on Black and Latino communities. As more and more states join the push to legalize marijuana, this documentary dives deep into the glaring racial disparities in the growing cannabis market.


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About Me
- Russell Blackford
- Australian philosopher, literary critic, legal scholar, and professional writer. Based in Newcastle, NSW. My latest books are THE TYRANNY OF OPINION: CONFORMITY AND THE FUTURE OF LIBERALISM (2019); AT THE DAWN OF A GREAT TRANSITION: THE QUESTION OF RADICAL ENHANCEMENT (2021); and HOW WE BECAME POST-LIBERAL: THE RISE AND FALL OF TOLERATION (2024).
Monday, October 26, 2009
Response to Dr Dvir Abramovich
The article by Dr Abramovich reads like a series of random comments, dashed off in unreflective anger. It is so permeated by distortions and misrepresentations that there is no hope of exposing them all in a 300-word comment. I'll be highly selective.
First, Dr Abramovich appeals to the authority of Einstein and Hawking as if the writings of those physicists support theistic beliefs. Both made points by using the word "God" metaphorically, but Hawking is not a theist and Einstein was at pains to explain that he did not believe in a personal deity.
Second, Dr Abramovich displays a total insensitivity to literary tone when he reads the books of Dawkins and others. E.g., he fails to notice that The God Delusion is written thoughtfully, with a light touch, and is frequently humorous. Readers should judge for themselves whether the books that Dr Abramovich condemns match his simplistic and tendentious description.
Third, I am tired of the specious argument that various supposedly "secular" political idealogies also did enormous harm. Yes indeed, Hitler and Nazism were responsible for terrible atrocities. Likewise Stalin and Pol Pot. However, Hitler was no atheist - and in any event, contemporary so-called "New Atheists" (a mere journalistic label) are political liberals and pluralists. They oppose all structures of comprehensive, authoritarian, apocalyptic dogma, including Nazism, Stalinism, and Pol Pot's agrarian communism. Such structures of thought do tend to perpretrate horrors, precisely because they so closely imitate the monotheistic religions.
The article is riddled with error in every paragraph, and its author seems to be totally unaware of the current state of the debate that he is naively attempting to enter. Dr Abramovich is the one who is out of his depth and clearly floundering.
Russell Blackford
Co-editor, 50 Voices of Disbelief: Why We Are Atheists (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009)
Edit: Looks like it didn't get through. I tried again with a few words removed to make absolutely certain it wasn't over 300 words, and it's now on the site.
31 comments:
- Brian said...
I read the article and it was like a hodge-podge of the many times refuted lies and canards. Actually, it reminded me of something Barney Zwartz wrote about 2 years or so ago. Even Barney seems to have moved on since then. Where's this guy been?
- 26 October, 2009 11:21
- Em said...
I'm glad I wasn't the only one to think this article was just a poorly constructed collection of old misinformation and flat out lies.
- 26 October, 2009 11:26
- Janet's Dad said...
Doesn't look like Einstein is using the word "God" metaphorically here.
Barney would say that Luther believed in a god that no one really believes in. - 26 October, 2009 11:44
- NewEnglandBob said...
It is also covered on richarddawkins.net
- 26 October, 2009 11:49
- MosesZD said...
Man! That was well done!
- 26 October, 2009 12:08
- Russell Blackford said...
Quite so, Scott. He was well aware of different uses of the word.
- 26 October, 2009 12:35
this article was just a poorly constructed collection of old misinformation and flat out lies.
Care to be specific? - 26 October, 2009 21:05
The Nazis were atheists plain and simple, like their Communist enemies. A.N. Wilson in "God's Funeral" comes very close to laying the horrors of the 20th century at the feet of the atheistic philosophers of the 19th century. He sites two main philosophical branches of 19th century atheism that bore bitter fruit in the 20th: the Carlyle/Nietzsche branch in which God is replaced with the hero or superman, and the Hegel/Marx branch in which heaven is replaced with a workers utopia. The first gave us the horrors of the far right, the other the atrocities of the far left.
The Nazis, Hitler especially, despised Christianity as a belief fit only for weaklings, not for the coming amoral Superman (that they misread Nietzsche on this issue is besides the point). With the possible exception of Himmler and his bizarre paganism, the Nazi ruling circle was composed of atheists.
Though he called himself a Christian in Mein Kampf and in several speeches, it is well to remember that these were pronouncements for public consumption and were made by a consummate liar/politician. No politician could have hoped to get himself elected in Weimar Germany as a self proclaimed atheist. In his public pronouncement concerning his religious faith, Hitler did the sensible thing, he lied.
For his real views on the subject see his "Table Talk", surreptitiously recorded by Martin Borman and never intended for the public. These statements represent his real views (more on this below). Statements made in confidence to a circle of cronies is obviously a better indicator of the man's thinking than statement made to woo the public.
Hitler had every intention of destroying the Christian faith and replacing it with Nazism when the time was ripe. His accommodations with the Roman Catholic Church and German Protestant churches were purely tactical. For a more in depth look at this issue see the OSS post war report on Nazism and the churches at www.lawandreligion.com run by Rutgers University. For a shorter version, see pages 477-478 of Weinberg's A World at Arms (IMHO the best single volume history of the war).
"Secondly, all their plans for cities and towns had one common characteristic: there would be no churches in post-war Germany's urban areas. Here one can see the architectural expression of a goal close to the hearts of the leadership of National Socialist Germany. Whatever temporary accomodations might have to be made in wartime to the objections of the churches to euthanasia, to removal of crucifixes from the school, and to the maintenance of a structure of chaplains in the army, once victory had been obtained in the war, the existence of the Christian churches in Germany could safely be ended. And if anyone objected, the Gestapo would see to their punishment."
Religious faith was the common enemy of atheistic regimes of both the far right and the far left.
An historical article from Christianity Today sums up the conclusions of the OSS report quite nicely:
"Donovan's Nuremberg report undermines the assertion, made by Feldman and so many others, that because several key Nazis had ties (however tenuous) to a church, and because the Nazis advanced insidious policies, then those insidious policies must be inherently Christian. To what extent elements of popular Christian ideology fed Hitler's anti-Semitism is a separate and valid question, but the "if A then B" connection fails because insidious anti-Christian policies do not fit the syllogism above. A plan to eradicate Christianity can hardly be construed as Christian, and persons supporting such a plan can hardly be considered believers of any standing." - 26 October, 2009 21:16
- Zachary Voch said...
Hm... "Anonymous" decided to post that same little misleading rant on several other blogs.
- 26 October, 2009 21:48
If I believe in a certain creator of the universe, that I will be subjected to an eternal afterlife – the quality of which depends on how observant I was of the creators desires – and that the creator recommends that I stone a woman who isn't a virgin on her wedding night, then the cost of me not following his recommendation (a terrible afterlife for ETERNITY) will certainly tip the cost benefit scales, and so I will stone her.
No such logical progression links non-belief in astrology, Zeus, Thor or Yahweh to the murder of millions of people or indeed any act which is widely considered to be 'evil'.
Dvir: "And what about weapons of mass destruction such as nuclear and biological bombs developed by scientists? Does that mean that all atheists and scientists are evil?"
Those who developed nukes and other such weapons were acting as engineers, not scientists. This distinction is emphasised in particular by Feynman.
Science is concerned with the accumulation of knowledge in the form of theories which produce empirically verified predictions (and which haven't been falsified), not how the knowledge is used. - 26 October, 2009 22:12
- Russell Blackford said...
Here we go again. Long-winded Anonymous has turned up. That's enough for one day, matey. Go and play on your own blog.
- 26 October, 2009 22:30
- Russell Blackford said...
Meanwhile, I see that the article is now getting a few defenders over on the original site - folks who evidently haven't seen these canards before and imagine that creating a pastiche of them serves some useful purpose.
- 26 October, 2009 22:33
- This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
- 26 October, 2009 22:35
- This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
- 26 October, 2009 22:40
- This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
- 26 October, 2009 22:59
I am one of those folks commenting on SMH. Like you, Russell, I felt frustrated by the 300 word limit. Unlike you, I agree with the general thrust of the article- even if I don't agree with every point made.
- 26 October, 2009 23:00
the 9:48 comment by anonymous starting with "If I believe in a certain creator of the universe..." seems to oppose dvir and seems kinda pro atheism
- 26 October, 2009 23:00
- This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
- 26 October, 2009 23:02
- Russell Blackford said...
I'm usually pretty easy going. But I've warned long-winded Anonymous before about spamming my blog with long, multiple posts. I just gave him (I assume that someone with this obsessive style is male; few women are like that) a specific warning relating to this thread.
When I give a warning I expect it to be followed.
Anonymous has defied my politely-expressed wishes for the last time. I've just deleted two of his posts and I'll delete any posts that I see in future which display the same posting style. I've had enough of these attempts to hijack my blog with material that belongs on the commenter's own blog. No one can say I wasn't patient. - 26 October, 2009 23:02
Sorry, I should've clarified- I was NOT making any anonymous comments- just in case anyone wondered that after reading my last post 5 minutes ago.
However, I have made about 5 contributions to the SMH article comments, that most of you will no doubt vehemently disagree with. - 26 October, 2009 23:05
- Russell Blackford said...
Yes, the post made at 9.48 seems to have been made by a different person. Okay. It would be good if people would create accounts and stop posting as "Anonymous" or at least sign their posts so I can tell who is who.
Meanwhile, I've left the substantive post by long-winded Anonymous. He made it before the warning, so it can stay - unlike his whining about getting a warning. For those who don't know, he's got a lot of previous form.
We'll see how this goes, but there are limits to my patience which this person has tested in the past. He really needs to create his own blog and post there. - 26 October, 2009 23:12
- Sean Wright said...
@ Trav, what was the general thrust of the article?
- 26 October, 2009 23:24
The general thrust being that New Atheists are a bunch of hypocrites.
That, I believe, would probably be the best way to summarise his point. Although, the article aimed to cover a lot of bases and so I'll happily concede that many rational people could have a different take on it.
By hypocrites, I mean the following: Dawkins chides fundamentalists, while at the same time showing himself to be a vitriolic fundamentalist, albeit of a different stripe. Dawkins also berates Evangelical Christians for ignoring the evidence surrounding evolution, but then he shows that he's completely ignorant of history, and hasn't a clue about theology or philosophy. In fact, ignorant is probably a relatively complementary term to describe his historical exploits, when you consider how his shockingly errant blunders have been shown in some detail. And on philosophy, his philosophical prowess has not only been questioned by Christians like Alvin Plantinga and William Lane Craig, but it's also been discussed in VERY negative terms by atheists like Julian Baggini, Michael Ruse, Thomas Nagel and many more.
In a roundabout way, Abramovich aimed to show that the fundy new atheists are short sighted and can't see any point of view outside their own limited worldview. And I agree. - 28 October, 2009 22:01
Also there was an AGE article written in response to Abramovich, by James Richmond of Melbourne University. As yet, my comment hasn't been added but I'll paste it in here anyway:
The article: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/atheists-are-good-humans-too-20091027-hibc.html
And my response (in 300 words):
As a Christian, I happily concede that James's article is well written and generally coherent, and that he has effectively countered many of Dr. Abramovich's points. However, there's a couple of issues that need to be taken up.
Regarding morality, Jimbob is correct in pointing out the bigger issue underpinning James's discussion. If you are an atheist naturalist (AN), there's actually no such thing as objective evil. When you think through the AN worldview and it's logical consequences, you'll quickly realise that choosing between moral act X and moral act Y is as subjective as choosing between ice cream and yoghurt. It's ultimately of no consequence, other than whatever ramifications you may face for choosing whichever course of action suits you. To me, this undermines the credibility of the AN worldview because it undermines my deepest intuitions.
Secondly, James goes to pains to argue that the brain is purely the product of natural selection. There's a problem though. Natural selection, under AN, is part of a causally closed system of atoms and molecules. Yet, the scientific enterprise itself actually requires the existence of rational inference, and previously uncaused causation between mental events. In other words the mere existence of science undermines the idea that everything is physically causally closed. It seems to me that firstly, John Lennox was right when he suggested that all attempts to derive rationality from irrationality (or non-rationality) are ultimately doomed to fail and that secondly, CS Lewis (in Miracles) was correct in arguing that the AN worldview refutes itself. It cuts off the branches it claims to be sitting on.
The atheist naturalist worldview promoted by James in this article is both highly counter intuitive and logically self refuting. Hence, it should be rejected. - 28 October, 2009 22:02
- Sean Wright said...
Thanks for the clarification. If that was the central point of the theologians message, it would have been nice if he had included examples to back up his claims - 28 October, 2009 22:27
- Sean Wright said...
Regarding morality, Jimbob is correct in pointing out the bigger issue underpinning James's discussion. If you are an atheist naturalist (AN), there's actually no such thing as objective evil.
Is that not taking James out of context? He is using the term in a sense that it is commonly understood. Can you link Stalin's actions to the fact that he had no belief in god? Does it matter if we call these actions evil or harmful when we are trying to prove a causal link?
I have no belief in a god, but I have an aversion to killing people. This stems not from some fear of punishment from god or man but from empathy. - 28 October, 2009 23:30
So what if you're not feeling particularly empathetic, on any given day?
- 30 October, 2009 12:56
- Sean Wright said...
I would argure that, the empathy(perhaps that is the wrong word)is always there,always on and only in extreme circumstances can it be overidden.
I have trained to fight and injure people even when I defeat an opponent and we have been beating the crap out of each other I feel a measure of sorrow for for the other guy.
I see this aversion as ingrained, an evolved trait that society builds laws and mores around to bolster.
But perhaps we should refine what sort of killing we are talking about. It can be dreadfully easy to kill someone when you are only angry and lashing out. Are we talking about cold premeditated murder?
On reflection to its probably more than just an aversion, likely a combination of
1) absence of motive/reason/desire
2) aversion to hurting other people
3) training in avoiding conflict
4) conflict free circumstances
5) experience of the resultant pain and anguish of violence
Can I conceive of a situation where I might make the choice, or be given no choice but to kill someone - maybe, but it's highly unlikely.
So what stops you from killing people Trav? That it's against the law or against god, or as I suspect for the same or similar reasons I have outlined above. - 30 October, 2009 14:38
To add what I think is an important thing to this discussion, I would like to point out that apart from wrongly claiming that Hitler was an atheist, Abramovich and many other religious polemicists a profound misunderstanding of what the term "secular" means.
"Secular" does not mean atheism. It does not necessarily imply disbelief in god; in fact it does not in itself indicate any particular religious belief or the lack of it. It is possible to be a secularist, in the sense of supporting the concept of a secular society, and be a Christian, a Muslim, and atheist or anything else.
Secularism fundamentally means two things
* supporting the right of all to freedom of conscience - to follow and practice the belief system of their choice;
* supporting the concept that religion and the state should be separate, and that it is not the role of the state of government to advocate for or impose any religious belief system.
Secularism is about fundamental human rights, and essential to a truly free society.
Abramovich and others are completely wrong when they say that Hitler and Stalin were secular, or that they imposed secular belief systems. Quite the opposite, they were NOT secularists in that they did not support the freedom of their citizens to follow the belief systems of their choice, and used the state to impose their own ideologies on their populaces.
I myself am an atheist, but I do not believe it is the role of the state to spread atheism. Neither would I support an atheist statement in the constitution, or have atheist imposed as a belief system in schools, or the idea of an atheist statement of atheist belief being read at the opening of parliament.
Yes, there have been horrible ideologies that have done enormous damage during the 20th Century. Some of them have been religious and some have not. None have been secular.
In opposition to them we should support the concept of fundamental and universal human rights, and central to this is support for secularism. - 01 November, 2009 09:40
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- 29 January, 2010 08:15


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Holiday Activities That Your Senior Can Participate In
The holiday season is a busy time of year for everyone. With parties, family get-togethers, and new and old traditions, there's plenty of opportunity to connect with others and share your gratitude in thoughtful ways.
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3. Visit a Local Indoor Holiday Display
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Consider going at times of day when you anticipate smaller crowds and more light, as this should make it easier for your senior to access the event with you.
4. Throw "A Cup of Christmas Tea" Party
The book A Cup of Christmas Tea was written by Tom Hegg. It's actually long rhyming poem that truly encapsulates the spirit of the holidays. For a low-key gathering, make a pot of tea, set out some baked goods, and read and discuss this book together.
Other great holiday books to read together with your senior and other family members include:
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- How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Suess
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer by Robert May
- Amazing Peace by Maya Angelou
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Anything that the grandkids and the grandparents can enjoy together is a great idea for promoting the holiday spirit! A few creative craft ideas you might want to try include:
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Working alone or together with others to create a miniature holiday scene can be a rewarding experience, especially for seniors who are religiously inclined. You can opt to simply use pre-made nativity or holiday set, or create your own figurines and other features.
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A Grand Day for Chile: Tompkins Conservation Signs Historic National Park Pledge
In March, we celebrated the incredible accomplishment of Kris and Doug Tompkins: a one million acre pledged donation of parkland to the Government of Chile, the largest land donation in history from a private entity to a country. Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, with great generosity, committed an additional nine million acres of federally owned land to create five new national parks—including Pumalín Park and Patagonia Park—and expand three others.
Among those in attendance at the small protocol signing ceremony at Pumalín Park were Yvon and Malinda Chouinard, Rick and Jennifer Ridgeway, and Jimmy Chin. The crew had intended to visit Patagonia Park to climb the famed Cerro Kristine—named for Kris by her late husband and partner in conservation Doug—but found themselves rerouted at the last minute for the signing ceremony.
Patagonia Park has been intertwined with Patagonia, Inc. for decades, from Yvon and Doug's first trip to Patagonia in the 1960s to employees who volunteered to remove fences on old sheep ranches to filmmakers, runners and explorers who shared inspiring stories of the good work happening in Chile.
At this pivotal moment, let's take a look back—to both the near and distant past—and reflect on the projects, people and campaigns that supported the largest park creation effort in our lifetime.
"There were 150 of us—team members, high government officials, our delegation from Ventura and, standing at attention, the local fire department—all grouped in a semicircle at the Pumalín Park headquarters. When Kris and President Bachelet appeared walking hand in hand down the road to the signing there wasn't a dry eye in the group, including me, and I never cry!"
—Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, Inc., March 2017
"This represents an enormous milestone for Kris, who, alongside her late husband Doug Tompkins, has worked for more than two decades to protect some of the most ecologically diverse and stunningly beautiful landscapes in the world from development so future generations can continue to enjoy the pristine nature of the Patagonia region of Chile and Argentina. The Tompkins's tenacity and passion is a major inspiration for us all as our company continues to fight for the protection of Bears Ears and other public lands here in the United States, as well as conservation efforts in every corner of the world."
—Rose Marcario, CEO of Patagonia, Inc., March 2017
"When first we started thinking about Valle Chacabuco becoming a national park, it was overrun and overgrazed from years of sheep ranching. Since then, volunteers from around the world have removed over 400 miles of fencing so native guanaco can have the freedom to roam. Condors and puma have rebounded, the endangered huemul deer is making a comeback and even more unimaginable success stories can be attributed to Kris and Doug and the creation of these parks."
—Malinda Chouinard, co-author of Family Business: Innovative On-Site Child Care Since 1983, March 2017
"I was so proud of Kris, as I've known her since she was a teenage surfer girl living next door at Mondos Beach. She was our CEO at Patagonia during the very early high-growth tumultuous years. Doug I've known since he was a school dropout at 15, learning to climb in the Shawangunks with our vulgarian friends. To have these two juvenile delinquent/entrepreneur friends go on to create nearly 11 million acres of new national parks in Chile is a historical event without precedent. In comparison, Yellowstone National Park is only 2.3 million acres."
—Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, Inc., March 2017
"Kris and her husband Doug have built this park using private donations and philanthropy. It reminded me of a sign that Doug used to have above his desk when he owned the woman's apparel company Esprit. It said, 'Commit and then figure it out.'"
—Rick Ridgeway, Vice President of Public Engagement for Patagonia, Inc., June 2015
"After multiple ferry rides, two days driving on dirt roads, we have arrived at Estancia Valle Chacabuco, in remote Patagonia. Kris Tompkins, as part of the Patagonia Land Trust, purchased the former sheep and cattle ranch in 2004. Overgrazing had taken its toll on the land so all the farm animals have been relocated. The goal is to restore healthy soils and open wildlife corridors by removing the 450 miles of fence line that winds through the 170,000 acres of mountains and valleys. The Patagonia clothing company has a program that encourages its employees to volunteer three weeks of their time down here, pulling up fences, all expenses paid. Makohe, Keith, Yvon and I showed up just in time to put in our time as well."
—Jeff Johnson, excerpted from the book 180° South, May 2011
"Our mission for the first half of our stay was to remove exotic plant species from one section of the park. Thistle, lamb's ear, and Cicuta were our main targets. Their seeds tend to travel along the road, carried by livestock or vehicles. The purple thistle flowers and yellow lamb's ear blooms were easy to spot, but it was the never-ending groves of tall, fibrous Cicuta that nearly broke us. You could spend an hour freeing a cluster of trees, only to round the corner to find another grove 20-feet wide."
—Colin Pile and Alison Kelman, Patagonia employees, May 2014
"That is where we spent the majority of the next three weeks, with views of Andean glaciers and ice fields. I expected we would spend some time pulling fence, but did not expect to be fully entrusted with long tracts for days at a time. We spent hours pulling and coiling wires, pulling pickets and posts, moving and piling everything. We got dirt under our fingernails, in our ears, in our hair, and down our backs. We got sunburned, bug bitten, and covered in burrs. We thrived on Nescafé, mutton and cheese sandwiches. We drank mate, vino, pisco and cervezas. Nights were filled with laughter and aching groans."
—Andy Mitchell, Patagonia employee, March 2007
"The wind gusts, blowing spray from the water lapping on the banks of Lago General Carrera. Here I stand, eyes closed, feeling the cool mist on my sunburnt cheeks. When I open my eyes it's still there, it feels like a dream, but it's not—Patagonia spreads out all around me. I've long dreamt of seeing this place and now it's blowing my mind. After imagining over and over what it would be like, how it would smell, how it would feel, it is far more than I had imagined it would be. The previous 39 hours have been a blur of driving, airports, flying, airports, loading gear, and more driving. But now it's quiet, except for the sound of the wind blowing across the lake."
—Luke Nelson, Patagonia ambassador, December 2014
"This section was so spectacular that we couldn't help yelling to each other "Look there!" or "Crazy!" or "I can't believe this place!" Mountain running takes you to a lot of special, wild places, but this one was beyond words. I only hope to take my kids back there some day to see it."
—Jeff Browning, Patagonia ambassador, March 2015
Plan Your Visit
Pumalín Park and Patagonia Park offer the adventurous traveler a plethora of opportunities for exploration, wildlife-watching, learning and relaxing. Both parks are open all year, however, October through April are the best months to visit, as those are the warmer, more travel-friendly times with ample daylight. Please visit the websites for Pumalín Park and Patagonia Park to learn more and plan your visit.


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Musical innovation can arise from pushing the boundaries of traditional musical instruments or inventing entirely new instruments. The opening concert of the 2018 Outsound New Music Summit featured two groups whose work falls squarely in the latter category.
Tim Thompson is a longtime innovator in the space of expressive control of music using custom hardware and software. His latest creation is the Space Palette Pro, a panel with four highly sensitive touchpads that control sound and visuals via MIDI. You can hear Tim's explanation of his invention in this video:
The Space Palette Pro is an evolutionary step from the original Space Palette, which allowed users to move their hands through holes in a large panel to drive music and visuals via a Kinect motion sensor. The newer incarnation is smaller in size and replaces the space with pads, but in many ways uses the same principles of three-dimension gestural control. Indeed, much of the software from the original was repurposed for the new version. But the Pro is definitely more of a performance instrument, rather than a "casual instrument", as Thompson explained both in the video and at the concert.
Musically, his performance was a series of several movements that segued from one to the next. Each had its own sonic and visual palette which Thompson performed in real time. So in a sense, this was an improvised performance, but one that was constrained by the sound, visuals, and patterns in each section.
The first section was soft with spare graphics, while the second was more pointed and percussive with geometric shapes. Further movements featured lush timbres and graphics, and popular-music idioms with synthesizers and electronic drums. Many of the segments were "quantized" to fixed scales and harmonies (as well as rhythms), though Thompson could introduce new pitches and scales into the mix using a MIDI keyboard, along for more melodic and harmonic variety.
The focus during the performance was squarely on the screen and the live visuals. These were beautiful and captivating. I would have liked to be able to see more of the performer and the instrument as well, as it was for me an important part of the set.
The second set brought us (mostly) out of the electronic world and back into the realm of acoustic musical instruments, albeit instruments of unique design. Pet the Tiger is a Bay Area collective of musical instrument inventors. Their recent work has centered around a set of instruments that use strict harmonic-series tuning. Together the instruments and musicians comprise a "harmonic-series gamelan." You can see a demonstration of some of their instruments in this video.
The music is anchored by the harmonic compass, a set of metallophones designed and built by Stephen Parris and commissioned by group director David Samas. However, there were a wide variety of instruments, including string and wind instruments by Bart Hopkin and Peter Whitehead, and even a series of meticulously tuned loose plastic tubes.
For this concert, the ensemble performed an interpretation of the fairies' subplot of A Midsummer Night's Dream, which includes many of the plays most memorable lines (including Puck's final soliloquy). The text was subdivided into several songs, and they were indeed songs with melody and harmony, albeit in the slightly alien world of the harmonic series, which can be simultaneously soothing and anticipatory at the same time – it always feels like it is waiting to go to the next note. The songs were in a variety of styles and alternately song by Samas, Hopkin, and Whitehead. The instruments and their playing gets most of the attention, but I think the singing deserves praise as well. All three have great singing voices, and working in an alternate tuning is no small feat. I was particularly impressed with Bart Hopkin's return to his songwriting roots, singing against a harmonically tuned guitar of his own making. And David Samas' voice is always rich and sonorous. I have known this group and its members for several years now, and I have watched not only the instruments grow in precision and sophistication, but also musicianship in putting together an entire performance like this. The audience were very clear in their appreciation and approval as well.
In all, it was a beautiful night of music and instrumental innovation. We conclude with an exchange that occurred during the pre-show question-and-answer session when Outsound director Rent Romus asked the performers "why bother with the complexity of creating entirely new instruments?" I found Bart Hopkin's answer quite memorable.
There are a lot of reasons to stick with conventional instruments. You could write a pretty convincing paper on why to stick with convention instruments including ones you might not normally think of…When you work with conventional instruments and you write for it, you can simply hand someone the score because there are trained musicians who can keep one eye on the score, one eye on the conductor, and "another eye" playing the instrument. They don't have to look at their hands. There are a million advantages you wouldn't even think of to working with conventional instruments. BUT, you know, with unconventional instruments you find musical territory you probably wouldn't have found otherwise. And that really makes it worthwhile.
We at CatSynth agree and look forward to more unconventional musical territory in the future.


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A great tonnage of fabricated metal components requires joining in some form or other. These joining methods may include welding, brazing, soldering, riveting, or bolting. Titanium, therefore, in order to be a useful structural metal for such applications as aircraft, bridges, pipes, tanks, vehicles, and ships, must have the ability to be joined to it self and to other metals.
A joint, in order to be useful, must possess mechanical properties which meet the service requirement specifications of the end product. Intensive research and development of the techniques of titanium joining have reduced a seemingly insurmountable problem to one of practical solution with precautionary techniques.
With careful choice of materials, sound welds embodying strength, ductility, and resistance to impact loading can be achieved. A selection of material of low interstitial content, as indicated by chemical analysis, should permit a sound weld with good properties as-welded, provided additional contamination is not introduced by the surrounding atmosphere, and the beta content is not too high.
With low interstitial content, unalloyed titanium is readily weldable. However, the typical alpha-beta alloys, containing manganese, chromium, iron, vanadium, and molybdenum, when welded usually have a much lower bend ductility and notch toughness. This bend ductility and notch toughness decrease severely as the total alloy content of beta stabilizing elements exceeds 3%. Such alloys may contain amounts of the alpha stabilizers, aluminum and tin, to permit a greater alloy content without further loss of ductility.
Resistance Welding. Spot, seam, and flash welding are all resistance-welding processes, which have been successfully applied to titanium. Resistance welding is a pressure welding process wherein the heat is obtained by the resistance of the metal to the flow of electric current. In spot welding the heat is restricted to a fairly small section of the lapped area of the parts to be joined.
In flash welding, the heat is obtained from an arc established between the pieces to be welded by electrical resistance. When sufficient heat for proper welding is obtained, pressure is applied to consummate the weld. This procedure is applicable to both unalloyed and alloyed titanium. In the case of the alloyed material there is some loss in ductility which may be restored by post-heat treatment.
Pressure Welding. In this method of welding, the metal is joined under high pressure with or without heat. In cold welding titanium, the metal surfaces arc brought into intimate contact, and high pressures are applied to produce a high strength bond across the weld. The deformation, in the form of upset or bulged metal, is removed to restore the original shape.
The pressures required are dependent upon the size and type of material. The process also requires at least 85% deformation for a high strength bond and thus necessitates using ductile material. Fairly strong bonds of titanium with itself, copper, and steel have been produced.
Fusion Welding. The most common method of welding is the fusion technique. Fusion welding involves various processes in which metals are joined together by contact in the molten state at the surfaces to be joined. This is accomplished either with or without the use of a filler metal and without the application of mechanical pressure.
The most common production method employs a welding torch designed to permit the inert gas to flow through it. This technique develops an envelope of protective gas around the electrode and weld metal. The envelope moves with the torch and thus is constantly covering the new weld puddle. This movement of the shield, however, uncovers the solidified hut still hot weld deposit and here some contamination is picked up.
Helium is particularly effective for hacking because it is lighter than either air or argon and consequently lies up against the underside of the weldment. Because of the very great reactivity of titanium at elevated temperatures, the inert-gas shield must be of high purity or it will in itself be a source of contamination.
Fusion welding of titanium, therefore, differs from that of other metals in that its high reactivity requires careful control of the surrounding atmosphere. The problems encountered in joining titanium to dissimilar metals by welding methods still remain to be resolved. However, joining of titanium to dissimilar metals by methods other than welding has shown better promise.
Soldering, on the other hand, employs filler metal which melts at less than 800°F (430°C) and is commonly applied to thin-gauge material or wire.
Of the conventional metals employed in the brazing of steel, only pure silver and aluminum have been applicable to titanium with satisfactory results. High strength aluminum alloys have produced brittle impractical joints. Other metals such as zinc and tin will not adequately wet the titanium surface.
Gas Brazing. Of the many methods for gas brazing other metals, only the oxyacetylene gas has been found effective to date with titanium in that the gas employed does not embrittle the material. With a similar brazing method employing pure aluminum in place of pure silver, reasonably ductile but low strength joints are obtained.
In gas brazing aluminum to titanium, the titanium part is dipped into molten aluminum; the aluminum-clad titanium is then brazed to the aluminum part by conventional aluminum brazing techniques.
Furnace Brazing. By brazing in a furnace with a protective atmosphere, the complexity of the gas brazing procedure is simplified. In place of the special fluxes a simple mixture of silver chloride and potassium chloride or manganese chloride and potassium chloride is sufficient. Also, multiple brazing operations are capable of being simultaneously performed with heat applied uniformly to all surfaces of the part.
These advantages, however, are applicable only to small parts limited by furnace dimensions. Longer time cycles are required in furnace brazing because of the absence of localized heating. This results in thicker melting layers which somewhat decrease ductility and strength, especially with the aluminum-brazed joint.
Resistance Brazing. Resistance brazing differs from resistance welding in that a low melting metal is placed between the two surfaces to be brazed. Water-cooled copper electrodes have proved preferable to graphite and other high electrically resistant but contaminating materials. Titanium in itself has sufficient electrical resistance necessary to heat the surfaces. With high currents, short times, and low pressures, strengths superior to those obtained in gas brazing have been achieved in a pure silver.
Soldering. The successful soldering of titanium has been demonstrated. To obtain a rapid economical joint requiring little strength, soldering is preferable to other methods of joining. Samples should be prepared by depositing of thin films of silver, copper, or tin on titanium from their chloride salts. This is usually accomplished by heating the chloride salt-coated titanium in a helium atmosphere furnace. The resultant film can he wetted with either a 60% tin-40% lead or a 50% tin-50% lend solder employing commercial soldering fluxes.
Titanium is being riveted with stainless steel, Monel, high strength aluminum, and titanium rivets by conventional techniques. With titanium rivets the driving time is increased 65% over that employed for high strength aluminum rivets. Rivets are cold-driven, and rivet holes require the maintenance of close tolerance to insure good gripping. When it is necessary to have flush-head rivets, dimpling is carried out at temperatures of 500 to 600°F (260 to 315°C).
When riveting titanium to dissimilar metals or when riveting titanium with aluminum rivets, precautions must be taken to suppress galvanic corrosion.
Bolting. In this method of joining, the mechanical bond can be readily removed without destruction of the part. Titanium can be joined to itself or dissimilar metals with titanium bolts or with cadmium-plated steel bolts.
With titanium bolts, the locknuts are plated with rhodium or silver to prevent galling and seizing of the nut to the bolt. Some increase in galvanic corrosion has been noted with the application of the cadmium-plated fasteners. Teflon coatings on the threaded parts have been reported to reduce greatly seizing and galling of titanium. Galvanic corrosion is also minimized by the corrosion resistance of the teflon.