text:
Let's look now at the impact of some shocking revelations on the other side of the Atlantic. Britain's media has had a pretty rough year. First, the phone-hacking scandal that led to the closure of Rupert Murdoch's popular tabloid News of the World. Now the esteemed BBC is in trouble. Over the weekend, the head of the BBC resigned, plunging the world's largest public broadcaster into its second crisis within weeks. NPR's Philip Reeves has more.
PHILIP REEVES, BYLINE: Listen to this conversation. It's between a journalist and his editor - his editor-in-chief, actually. At issue is a big mistake that someone's made.
GEORGE ENTWISTLE: This tweet, I am afraid, was not brought to my attention. So I found out about this film after it had gone out. Now, to find out what happened...
JOHN HUMPHRYS: So, when did you find out? When did you find out?
ENTWISTLE: I found out about the film the following day.
HUMPHRYS: The following day? You didn't see it that night when it was broadcast?
ENTWISTLE: No, I was out.
REEVES: You'd think the editor-in-chief was the one doing the bawling-out, right? Isn't that what usually happens when someone's messed up? It's the other way round. The man asking the tough questions is John Humphrys, an anchor on the BBC's radio program, "Today." The guy taking the heat is George Entwistle, who was, when this exchange took place, the BBC's director-general. It gets worse.
ENTWISTLE: The second this was brought to my attention last night, I immediately started...
HUMPHRYS: Brought to your attention? Do you not read papers? Do you not look, do you not listen to the output?
ENTWISTLE: I saw this break on the Web, John. That's where I saw this. It's not a question of it being in the papers. But the second I saw it, I started to make the inquiries.
HUMPHRYS: Did you see the Guardian yesterday morning?
REEVES: That interview, broadcast by the BBC in Britain this weekend, sealed Entwistle's fate. Entwistle resigned on Saturday. He'd been on the job just eight weeks. Much of his time as director-general was spent struggling to contain a scandal over allegations that a now-dead BBC television presenter, Jimmy Savile, was a serial child sex abuser. But the trigger for Entwistle's departure was an editorial blunder. It happened on the BBC's prestigious current affairs TV show, "Newsnight," and became the show's lead story.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: A new crisis for "Newsnight." Tonight, this program apologizes. A key allegation in a report about child abuse was wrong. The abuse victim says he was mistaken.
REEVES: That baseless accusation of child abuse was leveled at Alistair McAlpine. McAlpine used to be a senior conservative party politician and close adviser to Britain's former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. He wasn't identified by "Newsnight," but McAlpine's name came out on the Internet.
His accuser said the abuse happened while he was at a children's home in the 1970s and '80s. He was not shown McAlpine's picture until after the allegations aired. When he saw one afterwards, he admitted his mistake and apologized. "Newsnight" did not put the allegations to McAlpine himself before airing them.
Historically, the BBC enjoys a reputation for top-quality journalism, earning a generally high degree of trust from its huge audience at home and abroad. It's now scrambling to limit the damage to that reputation. Chris Patten, chairman of the BBC's governing body, the BBC Trust, spent his Sunday touring TV studios. He told the BBC's "Andrew Marr Show" the erroneous "Newsnight" film was actually approved at a senior level.
CHRIS PATTEN: Apparently, decisions about the program went up through every damned layer of BBC management, bureaucracy, legal checks, and still emerged.
REEVES: Patten says there's a need for some serious editorial reforms.
PATTEN: If you're saying: Does the BBC need a thorough structural radical overhaul, then absolutely it does.
REEVES: This crisis is entwined with the earlier scandal over Jimmy Savile. The BBC is already under fire over a decision to drop an investigation - again by "Newsnight" - into Savile's alleged widespread child abuse. That's now the subject of multiple investigations. The BBC's mostly paid for by the British taxpayer. It enjoys a huge chunk of Britain's media market. Commercial rivals want the BBC cut down to size. They often gleefully highlight the BBC's blunders. This latest crisis is not a threat to the BBC's survival, but it has raised big questions about journalistic standards in the modern age. Philip Reeves, NPR News.
MONTAGNE: You're listening to MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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subset: commoncrawl


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Cookie Usage
Colour Key
Sudden Death
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eMail Author
Photo Galleries
Design Lineage
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Science / Tech
Maps / Politics
Site Guide
What's New
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Title :
Rating :
Number :
Stardate :
First Aired :
Year :
Director :
Jonathan Frakes
Writers :
Rick Berman
Michael Piller
Main Cast :
LeVar Burton
Geordi La Forge
Michael Dorn
Worf Rozhenko
Jonathan Frakes
William T. Riker
Gates McFadden
Beverly Crusher
Marina Sirtis
Deanna Troi
Brent Spiner
Patrick Stewart
Jean-Luc Picard
Guest Cast :
F. Murray Abraham
Ahdar Ru'afo
Raye Birk
as Son'a Doctor
Tracee Lee Cocco
Lieutenant Jae
Mark Deakins
Kenneth Lane Edwards
as Ensign
Bruce French
as Son'a Officer
Breon Gorman
Lieutenant Curtis
Gregg Henry
Michael Horton
John Hostetter
Hars Adislo
Daniel Hugh Kelly
Peggy Miley
Regent Cuzar
Donna Murphy
Claudette Nevens
as Son'a Officer #2
Stephanie Niznik
Kell Perim
Greg Poland
as Elloran Officer #2
Joseph Ruskin
as Son'a Officer #3
Jennifer Tung
as Female Ensign
Michael Welch
McKenzie Westmore
as Ba'ku Woman
Logan White
as Young Batai
Zachary Williams
as Ba'ku child
D. Elliot Woods
as Starfleet officer
Rick Worthy
as Elloran Officer #1
Anthony Zerbe
Admiral Matthew Dougherty
In the TNG episode "Alleigance", one of the indicators that Picard is acting unusually comes when he asks Beverly if she would like to dance, and she responds "I thought you didn't dance?" But in this film, when Picard is expected to dance at a formal dinner Beverly states that "The Captain used to cut quite a rug!" So which is it?
When Data walks into the lake the kid asks if he can breathe in there. Picard replies "Data doesn't breathe." Yet in Birthright, Part 1, Data says "Yes. I do have a functional respiration system. However, its purpose is to maintain the thermal control of my internal systems. I am, in fact, capable of functioning for extended periods in a vacuum." So whilst it's true that Data doesn't use breath for the same thing as you and I, he does in fact breathe.
And while we're on the subject, Data's "I have been designed as a flotation device" contradicts Descent, Part 2, when Geordi reminds Data about the time "You decided to go swimming... and when you jumped out of the boat you went straight to the bottom." Data replies "I did not have enough buoyancy to get back to the surface."
Troi declares on kissing Riker that "I never kissed you with a beard before." Actually she has, many times during TNG. For instance in "Menage a Troi".
When Anij is injured, Picard urges her to "live in this moment" until rescue comes. How exactly is this supposed to help her? Surely it just prolongs her suffering?
Great Moment :
Riker's last minute heroics to save Worf and Picard are my favourites.
Body Count :
Just two people are actually seen to die - Admiral Dougherty and Ru'afo. The crew of one of Ru'afo's battleships would have been killed, and probably a lot of the crew of the other.
Factoid :
The original story had Ru'afo growing rapidly younger while he was on the collector battling Picard. Although the scene was cut, "Young Ru'afo" is still in the film's credits.
The film opens with views of life in an idyllic mountain village - children play, happy looking farmers tend the fields, women chat as they make the bread, etc. However, as the titles end things become more sinister. Shadowy figures are watching the village from within a nearby facility, and we become aware that suited figures are wandering the village, invisible to those living there. Things go from sinister to outright dangerous as we hear phaser fire approaching the village. A suited figure is on the rampage, knocking its fellows aside as it advances on the facility. The marauder turns out to be Data, who is injured and apparently out of control. As the shocked natives, who we will learn are called the Baku, look on he fights off several attacks by the other suited figures before firing his phaser on a nearby rock formation, revealing it to be a hologram hiding the control facility.
Meanwhile, on the Enterprise Picard is preparing for a meeting with some local diplomats. As his officers fuss over him he complains about how they never get to do any exploration any more, but cheers when Worf appears, on a visit from Deep Space Nine. The meeting goes well, but is interrupted when Picard is called by Admiral Dougherty. The Admiral tells him that Data has gone crazy and is holding a Federation / Son'a research team hostage on a planet in the Briar Patch. The Enterprise speeds to join Dougherty, despite not being equipped to operate within the Patch.
As the Enterprise is on its way we are introduced to the Son'a. They are Federation allies, but it is an alliance borne out of need rather than friendship. The Son'a are not Nice People - they have enslaved other species, and are said to use banned subspace weapons on their ships. The Son'a themselves are rather hideous, apparently afflicted with some form of disfiguring disease - or possibly advanced age, it's never made clear - which requires regular sessions of face stretching. As Dougherty talks to their leader, Ru'afo, their ship comes under attack. It is Data again, using a scoutship assigned to the project to study the Baku. He inflicts minor damage on the Son'a ship before heading off again.
As Picard arrives, Dougherty demands that Data be destroyed. Picard prefers to capture the android, but agrees to destroy him if necessary. He sets out with Worf on a shuttle, and they are soon under attack. Picard manages to distract Data by singing a song from HMS Pinafore, allowing him to dock with Data's scout ship so that Worf can immobilize him. Back on the ship Geordi determines that Data's malfunction was caused by a phaser hit, and that in his damaged state his ethical subroutines would have taken over - so his actions were what he considered to be right. Data can shed little light on the mystery - he has no memory beyond exploring the hills near the village.
Picard beams down to the Baku village with an away team and is surprised to find that they are not in fact holding the project members hostage. The Baku prove to be a peaceful people who are knowledgeable of technology but deliberately shun it. He apologizes and beams back to the ship with the 'captives'. Once on board the Son'a refuse to undergo routine medical exams, so Picard isolates them from the ships crew. Dougherty insists that they be returned to Ru'afos ship, and orders Picard to leave the area. Instead Picard takes Data down to the surface and, along with a couple of the Baku, heads out into the hills to find out what happened to Data. They discover a cloaked spacecraft sitting at the bottom of a large lake, which turns out to have a holographic recreation of the Baku village inside. Picard realizes that Dougherty and the Son'a are planning to remove the entire Baku population and put them on another planet without their knowledge. Meanwhile, Son'a reinforcements arrive in the form of two battleships and a much larger vessel.
At first the motive is unclear, but Picard realizes that The Enterprise crew are being rejuvenated by something in the area. The Baku woman Anji confirms that the locals are centuries old but metaphasic radiation in the planets rings prevent them from ageing. Picard meets Geordi on the surface and is amazed to discover that the engineers eyes have regrown under the influence of the rings. Returning to the ship, Picard confronts Dougherty and the Admiral admits that the Son'a have developed a method of harvesting metaphasic particles from the rings, but that the process will destroy all life on the planet. He claims that the Federation Council is in on the scheme, even though it violates the fundamental principles of the Federation.
That night Picard loads the Captains yacht with weapons and supplies, planning to take them down to the surface. Worf, Crusher, Troi and Data insist on going with him, but Picard orders Geordi and Riker to leave the disruptive effect of the Briar Patch and make the conspiracy known to the general public. Ru'afo convinces Dougherty to send the two Son'a battleships after the Enterprise while they proceed to evacuate the Baku by force, since Picard has erected transporter inhibitors around the village. Dougherty agrees to the pursuit of the Enterprise, but they decide to use drones firing isolinear tags to let them transport the Baku up through Picards interference.
Picard evacuates the village as the drones begin to pick the Baku off one by one, heading for the hills where mineral deposits will prevent any more beam-ups. Meanwhile the Enterprise is caught by the Son'a ships and a battle ensues in which the Starship suffers considerable damage. When the Son'a use subspace weapons, Geordi is forced to eject the ships warp core and detonate it to seal a 'tear' in space. Riker turns to fight, scooping up a huge cloud of metreon gas and dumping it in front of the enemy ships. When they fire the cloud detonates, destroying one ship and badly damaging the other.
On the surface the Baku head through some caves to hide from the drones. Although Picard and Anji are trapped by a rockfall, they are quickly dug out and the band reach the other side of the caves and the last leg of their trip into the mountains. Some Son'a attempt to stop them, but Worf uses a shoulder mounted weapon to defeat them. When scanning the bodies, Crusher learns a startling fact... unfortunately, the drones quickly catch them and both Picard and Anji are captured by the Son'a.
On the Son'a ship, Picard informs Dougherty of what Crusher learned on the surface - the Baku and the Son'a are the same race. The Federation has let itself become involved in a blood feud. Shaken by the news, Picard tells Ru'afo that their plan is coming apart and they will have to come clean. Ru'afo refuses, and a fight ensues in which Dougherty is killed.
Picard manages to convince one of Ru'afos henchmen to give up the vendetta, and they come up with a plan. Data uses the Captains yacht to attack Ru'afos ship, but he shrugs it off and initiates the metaphasic collector. The device works perfectly, but Ru'afo soon suspects that something is wrong - and realizes that during Data's attack Picard beamed him and his senior officers to a recreation of his bridge on board the holoship. Picard attempts to disable the collector, but it is impossible to do from the ship. He beams over to the collector to destroy it, leaving Worf in command.
Ru'afo manages to beam himself over to the collector from the holoship, and fights with Picard. As the remaining Son'a crew on his own ship break onto the bridge and overpower Worf, Picard triggers the self-destruct and the collector begins to explode. The Enterprise swoops in at the very last second and beams Picard aboard, leaving Ru'afo to die in the blast. Riker then blasts Ru'afos ship, knocking out the life support systems and forcing them to surrender. With the conspiracy shattered, Picard returns the Baku to the surface and says his goodbyes before heading off into space once more.
The basic plot paints a fairly simple picture of ethnic cleansing - you could substitute anybody from the American Indians to the Bosnians to the East Timorese for the Baku, which at least makes it eternally topical! But there are a few elements of the morality that don't make a lot of sense - Dougherty claims that the Federation controls the planet but the Baku don't even seem aware of the Federation, let alone being a member world. Surely this would make the whole thing illegal, so how can the Federation Council have authorized it? Unless there is an arms-for-hostages style conspiracy going on amongst at least part of the Council, with Dougherty as an Ollie North figure. But there is limited exploration of this one way or the other.
The films attempts to portray the Baku as "noble savages" is also a little heavy-handed. The locals claim that "when you design a machine to do the work of a man, you take something away from the man". All the Baku are shown as simple village people living their simple village life, while the Son'a are the opposite - ever more dependant on technology while their bodies and spirits rot away. This is all, of course, blatant nonsense. The Baku claim to shun technology, but the village fields are irrigated, with the local lake apparently an artificial one complete with a dam. Doesn't this "take away" from the people who would otherwise presumably have to walk great distances to bring back water? For that matter, doesn't the very idea of farming take something away from the hunter-gatherers who have been replaced by this technology?
However, such nits don't really make all that much of an impact on the film because ultimately this is more a comedy than anything else. Most of the humour centres around the effects of the crews rejuvenation - Worf regresses to puberty, getting a huge pimple on his face and raging hormones. Riker shaves his beard and he and Troi start acting like a couple of teenagers, while Picard gets his youthful hearing back and starts dancing in his quarters. On this level the film is fairly successful - Data is the straight guy for most of it, and his reactions to Rikers clean shaven appearance and Beverly and Troi's discussion of their rejuvenating breasts is hilarious. On the first run-through I did begin to get a sense that this was all not quite right, that these people really don't act this way. But once you know that the planets rings are causing these kinds of effects it gets a lot easier to accept - as a result I enjoyed this film a lot more on the second viewing, and overall I liked it enough that I saw it at the cinema six times, more than any other Trek film.
The actions scenes are both better and worse than those in First Contact. On the one hand First Contact was an action film, so the relative brevity of the battle sequences was a bit of a let down. In Insurrection the space battle scenes are also fairly brief, but it's not such a big deal since this just isn't that kind of film. So much for quantity then, what about quality? Once again the E-E doesn't really get to strut her stuff - we see the ship fire only two photons and a couple of phaser shots throughout the entire film, which makes some sense given that the Enterprise wasn't supposed to be destroying the ships, but rather escaping from them. The effects are quite impressive, what with the subspace weapon, the warp core detonation, and the Metreon cloud explosion. The self-destruct of the Collector is also very nicely done. The surface fighting consists mostly of the crew taking pot-shots at drones while the Baku get picked off - no orbital bombardment or anything, which is again fairly reasonable since both sides are trying to do this operation with zero casualties.
Overall then, there's nothing really seriously wrong with this film and there are quite a few moments which are well done or better. It's not a classic, but I don't think it's the total stinker that some claim either.
© Graham & Ian Kennedy
Page views : 125,721
Last updated : 20 Jan 2023


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So I set myself the task of picking five great works of software. The criteria were simple: How long had it been around? Did people directly interact with it every day? Did people use it to do something meaningful? I came up with the office suite Microsoft Office, the image editor Photoshop, the videogame Pac-Man, the operating system Unix, and the text editor Emacs.
Each person has his or her own criteria for these sorts of things, but in my view, this list is woefully inadequate. If it were up to me, I would pick these, in no particular order:
- A-0 System: the first ever compiler, written by Grace Hopper in 1951 and 1952, for the UNIVAC I.
- UNIX: This one's a given.
- WorldWideWeb/CERN HTTPd: the first web browser and the first web server, both written by Tim Berners-Lee. Also a given.
- Xerox Star: this one is actually a tie between the Star, its research predecessor the Alto, and Douglas Engelbart's NLS. These three combined still define the way we do computing today – whether you look at a desktop, a smartphone, or a tablet. I decided to go with the Star because it was the only one of the three that was commercially available, and because it's so incredibly similar to what we still use today.
- Windows: you cannot have a list of the greatest software of all time without Windows. You may not like it, you may even hate it, but the impact Windows has had on the computing world – and far, far beyond that – is immense. Not including it is a huge disservice to the operating system that put a computer on every desk, in every home.
This leaves a whole bunch of others out, such as Lotus 1-2-3, DOS, the Mac OS, Linux, and god knows what else – but such is the nature of lists like this.


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Engineered wood flooring is a common choice among homeowners because of its homely and beautiful appearance which is also economical with various designs available in the market. Hence, this type of flooring has been widely used in every home because of its main advantages – hence, take note of the main advantages below:
Advantage #1: Prevent the wood from bending over long period of time
Basically, engineered wood flooring is made of sandwich of several laminations of wood which comprises both finish wood (on top) and unfinished plywood (underneath). Each layer of the material is meticulously arranged and placed to form a cross-grain construction which contributes the sturdiness and durability of the floor and making it withstand high moisture conditions.
Advantage #2: Resist high moisture conditions
Unlike traditional wood flooring, this particular flooring is perfectly installed in most of the rooms including bathroom and kitchen – as these rooms usually have high moisture and you need to choose flooring materials which has good threshold to water and dampness. In other words, you do not have to worry about your floor when it is exposed to high moisture, or it is overly wet.
Advantage #3: Easy and fast installation for homeowners
Normally, most engineered wood flooring is available in prefinished form. It means that upper layer of the floor is already been sanded and sealed so that you can walk on it after installation. Therefore, you can save up installation cost because you can practically install it on your own. Its instant installation feature has caught attention of many DIY-enthusiasts to add-in aesthetic value to their property by installing such flooring with various designs (differs from the types of hardwood species used) including hickory, oak, bamboo and maple wood flooring.
Advantage #4: Nail-less flooring installation – lengthy panes and tongue and groove type
Although this flooring has a range of installation methods including staple, nail, glue, or float – most homeowners prefer nail-less installation and the common installation choices available are either the "floating" style – which lengthy panes are installed (by gluing or snapping them together) without nailing down the sub-floor, or the "tongue and grove" style – which the planks are joined together lengthwise as the "tongue" (projecting part along an edge's center) of one board fits into "groove" (also known as the slot along the edge) of the other board. It is much easier as compared with solid wood flooring.
Advantage #5: It can be sanded (but only for a limited time of sanding only)
A little-known fact about engineered wood flooring is that it can be sanded when there are scratches, ding and dents on the floor. However, sanding can only be done only for 2 times – which is solely based on the thickness of the floor. If you are unsure whether you should perform sanding, it is appropriate that you call a flooring expert to perform such task.
By knowing the advantages of having engineered wood flooring, you can start comparing prices among the same flooring product as this product is manufactured by different flooring companies. Be sure that you get the right product at affordable price.


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Caught on Tape: Mike Caveney
John Lovick talks with Mike about the Long Beach Mystics, old magic books and takes us on a tour of the Egyptian Hall collection
Jon Armstrong Small Things, Big Difference
Everyone should have a trick they can do in thirty seconds
Garrett Thomas Try This At Home
Give your pinky a workout with the pinky coin palm
David Kaye a.k.a Silly Billy Kid Show FUNdamentals
Why "What's Next!" is still a great trick
Simon Lovell Simon Said It!
Cheap ?#@?! business cards
Wayne Kawamoto Choice Cuts
School for scoundrels' Whit Haydn on street scams
David Regal Tricks of the Trade
A voice in the wilderness on how to count the cards
Bonus Tricks:
James Prince "Card Over/Under and In Matchbox"
From Menu of Miracles Vol. 1 published by RSVP Magic
Mark Mason "Foot & Mouth"
From Decade published by JB Magic
Alexander de Cova "Chinese Money Mystery"
From Treasures Vol. 1 published by Murphy's Magic Supplies
Move Monkeys:
Alex Giser "The Reno Change"
Mark Tams "Slice with a Twist"
Geoff Williams "Jackie Chan Backhand Catch"
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President Barack Obama is pushing Congress to authorize more federally funded research into clean energy technologies that can wean automobiles off oil.
Obama proposed the idea of an energy security trust last month in his State of the Union address, but he was putting a price tag on the idea during a trip Friday to the Argonne National Laboratory outside Chicago—$2 billion over 10 years. The White House says the research would be paid for with revenue from federal oil and gas leases on offshore drilling and would not add to the deficit.
The money would fund research on "breakthrough" technologies such as batteries for electric cars and biofuels made from switch grass or other materials. Researchers also would look to improve use of natural gas as a fuel for cars and trucks.
The proposal is modeled after a plan submitted by a group of business executives and former military leaders who are committed to reducing U.S. oil dependence. The group, called Securing America's Future Energy, is headed by FedEx Corp. Chairman and CEO Frederick W. Smith and retired Marine Corps Gen. P.X. Kelley. The nonpartisan group says its goal is to "break oil's stranglehold on the transportation sector" through alternatives such as electric cars and heavy-duty trucks fueled by natural gas, but it had proposed a much larger $3 billion annual investment.
Creation of the trust would require congressional approval at a time of partisan divide over energy issues. Obama tried to appeal to both parties by pitching the policy not just as an environmental issue, but a job-creation plan that would keep the United States as a technology leader.
"If a nonpartisan coalition of CEOs and retired generals and admirals can get behind this idea, then so can we," Obama said in his State of the Union address. "Let's take their advice and free our families and businesses from the painful spikes in gas prices we've put up with for far too long."
There were signs agreement may be possible. Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski has called it "an idea I may agree with."
Murkowski, senior Republican on the Senate Energy Committee, did not fully endorse the plan, which is similar to one she has proposed to use revenue from drilling for oil and natural gas on public lands that previously were off-limits to energy production to pay for research on new energy technologies.
White House officials said the president's proposal would not require drilling on federal lands or water where it is now prohibited. Instead they are counting on increased production from existing sites, along with efficiencies from an administration plan to streamline drilling permits. The government collects more than $6 billion a year in royalties from production on federal lands and waters.
Argonne is one of the Energy Department's largest national laboratories for scientific and engineering research, staffed by more than 1,250 scientists and engineers. White House officials said it was chosen as the site of the president's speech because of its tradition of research into vehicle technologies.


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Oakland News Online –
In-N-Out increases food prices in CA amid rising wages
– video made by the YouTube channel with the logo in the video's upper left hand corner. OaklandNewsOnline.com is the original blog post for this type of video-blog content.
An In-N-Out Double-Double with fries and a drink now costs more than $10 in California. The higher price is due to the state's new $20 minimum wage for fast food workers. https://ift.tt/39cpFKv
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Five suspects in the now infamous Delhi gang-rape case appeared for a second day in court on Thursday. The men came with legal representation for the first time since their arrest last month, after a local bar association and other lawyers in the Indian capital refused to represent them in court. The proceedings were held behind closed doors; after the case's initial hearing on Monday got off to a chaotic start, the judge ordered that the proceedings and upcoming trial would be held in camera only, a decision that was upheld yesterday.
The lawyer of one of the men told several media outlets outside the court today that the five suspects were beaten and tortured while in police custody, a claim that, while hardly unheard of in India, is bound to feature largely in this high-profile case. The Delhi police have not commented on the allegation. The lawyer, Manohar Lal Sharma, was reportedly one of the first to come forward earlier this week to publicly offer to defend the accused. Since then, other lawyers have been assigned to defend three of the men. It is unclear whether the fifth suspect has been assigned a lawyer or not.
(PHOTOS: In India, a Rape Sparks Violent Protests and Demands for Justice)
Sharma also said that his client, the brother of the driver of the bus aboard which a 23-year-old student was allegedly raped and beaten on Dec. 16, will plead not guilty in the upcoming trial. Some of the other suspects are expected to do the same. The sixth individual arrested in connection with the case, if he is found to be below the age of 18 as he claims to be, is expected to be charged and tried in a juvenile court.
India has been in an uproar since the morning of Dec. 17, when the country woke up to the news of the chilling crime committed in the capital's busy streets. A physiotherapy student was on her way home from a movie when she and her male friend took a ride on what they thought was a privately run commuter bus. They were both beaten severely, and the girl was raped. Both were thrown out of the bus naked and left for dead on the side of the road. Two weeks later, after multiple surgeries and treatment in a Singapore hospital, the woman died from her injuries, sending the nation into mourning.
The case has raised serious questions about attitudes toward women in India and the efficacy of law enforcement in the capital in particular, where many believe that police and the court system often fail them. As weeks of protests unfolded in New Delhi and other parts of the country, authorities have taken several measures both to ensure greater security in the capital region and to expedite legal proceedings in sexual-assault cases, which often move slowly through the system, if at all.
(MORE: India's Gang-Rape Case: As Accused Go to Court, Unease Settles over Delhi)
But the notion of "fast track" courts for this and other sexual-assault cases has raised concerns. The suspects in the Dec. 16 attack have been charged with rape and murder, among other crimes, and prosecutors have indicated that they will seek the death penalty in the upcoming trial. It is not yet certain whether this case will be fast-tracked or not, but observers are already worried that the lack of early legal representation for the suspects that appeared today in court may be grounds for appeal later if any of the men are convicted.
In the three weeks since the assault, India's dailies have featured a steady flow of reports of disturbing sexual assaults on women. A month ago, these stories — and the larger issue of sexual assault in India — played out in the background of bigger news events. "There are rape cases in almost all cities and rural areas, where the victim dies immediately because of the brutality of the crime," says Anne Stenhammer, the regional program director for U.N. Women South Asia. "This time, it was like, 'Wake up.'"


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Osterwieck, Saxony-Anhalt
Understanding Vastu Shastra: An Introduction in the Osterwieck, Saxony-Anhalt
Vastu Consultant in the Osterwieck, Saxony-Anhalt: Enhancing Spaces with Dr. Kunal Kaushik
Embark on a journey to harmonize and energize your living and workspaces with the ancient wisdom of Vastu Shastra, brought to you by Dr. Kunal Kaushik, a preeminent Vastu Consultant in the Osterwieck, Saxony-Anhalt. With an impressive record of providing consultations to over 80,000 clients globally, Dr. Kaushik specializes in tailoring Vastu solutions for homes, businesses, offices, flats, plots, and factories. His expertise in conducting on-site Vastu visits and offering online Vastu advice has made him the go-to Vastu expert for those seeking to infuse their environments with positive energy and prosperity.
Unveiling the Essence of Vastu Shastra
What is Vastu?
Vastu Shastra is the traditional Indian science of architecture and space planning, which integrates architectural principles with the forces of nature to create spaces that are in harmony with the cosmos. It's a discipline that balances the five elements (earth, water, air, fire, and space) within a structure, ensuring the well-being, happiness, and prosperity of its inhabitants.
Why Vastu is Important
The significance of Vastu lies in its ability to transform ordinary spaces into powerhouses of positive energy, thereby enhancing the quality of life. Whether it's vastu for home, vastu for business, or vastu for construction, applying Vastu principles ensures a harmonious and prosperous environment.
Vastu for Every Space: Tailored Solutions by Dr. Kunal Kaushik
Dr. Kunal Kaushik's expertise in Vastu Shastra encompasses a comprehensive range of services tailored to meet the unique needs of various types of properties. His profound knowledge and experience enable him to offer specialized Vastu solutions that not only enhance the functionality of spaces but also promote well-being, prosperity, and success.
Vastu for Home: Harmonizing Your Personal Sanctuary
In the realm of residential Vastu, Dr. Kunal Kaushik focuses on creating homes that are bastions of peace, health, and prosperity. Understanding that each home is unique, he provides personalized Vastu consultations to ensure that your living space is aligned with the right Vastu principles. Whether it's the orientation of the entrance, the placement of the kitchen, or the direction of the bedrooms, every aspect is meticulously analyzed to harness positive energy. His vastu for home services aim to create an environment that supports the well-being of every inhabitant, transforming your house into a true sanctuary.
Vastu for Business: Steering Success and Financial Prosperity
Dr. Kaushik's vastu for business services are designed to attract success and financial growth. By aligning the spatial configuration of business premises with Vastu principles, he helps business owners create a conducive environment for prosperity. From the layout of office spaces to the placement of financial departments, every detail is optimized to enhance positivity, encourage innovation, and attract wealth. Businesses of all sizes, from startups to large corporations, can benefit from Dr. Kaushik's expertise to achieve their objectives and grow their ventures.
Vastu for Offices: Cultivating Productivity and Harmony
In the competitive business world, fostering an environment of productivity and harmony is paramount. Dr. Kunal Kaushik's vastu for offices service ensures that workspaces are designed to promote employee well-being, enhance concentration, and facilitate seamless communication. By optimizing the direction of workstations, ensuring the right placement of the boss's office, and harmonizing the common areas, he creates office spaces that are vibrant and energetic, leading to improved morale and increased productivity.
Vastu for Flats and Plots: Ensuring Well-Being in Urban Living
Urban living comes with its set of challenges, especially when it comes to flats and plots. Dr. Kaushik's vastu for flats and vastu for plots services address these challenges by offering bespoke Vastu solutions tailored to the constraints and possibilities of urban spaces. Whether it's a compact flat or a sprawling plot, he provides guidance on how to make the most of your space in a way that promotes health, happiness, and prosperity. His expertise ensures that your urban home or plot becomes a place of tranquility and positive energy.
Vastu for Factories: Boosting Efficiency and Safety
For industrial properties, vastu for factories is critical in enhancing operational efficiency and ensuring the safety of workers. Dr. Kaushik's approach involves a detailed analysis of factory layouts, from the placement of machinery to the orientation of storage areas, to ensure that every element is in harmony with Vastu principles. His recommendations aim to streamline operations, reduce accidents, and create a productive environment that supports the well-being of every employee.
In summary, Dr. Kunal Kaushik's Vastu services offer a holistic approach to harmonizing spaces across a diverse range of properties. His customized solutions are designed to bring balance, enhance energy flow, and foster an environment of prosperity and success in homes, businesses, offices, flats, plots, and factories.
Drawbacks of Ignoring Vastu
Neglecting Vastu principles can lead to a disbalance in the natural energies surrounding your space, potentially causing health, financial, and relational issues. The absence of Vastu can manifest as obstacles in personal growth and business success.
Why Consult Dr. Kunal Kaushik?
Dr. Kunal Kaushik is not just a Vastu consultant; he is a vaastu visionary who blends traditional Vastu principles with modern architectural practices. His approach is unique, providing customized Vastu solutions that cater to the individual needs of his clients. His expertise and dedication make him the top Vastu consultant near me, offering the best Vastu advice with a global reach.
Best Vastu Consultant in the Osterwieck, Saxony-Anhalt: Dr. Kunal Kaushik's Excellence
Dr. Kunal Kaushik stands out as the premier Vastu consultant in the Osterwieck, Saxony-Anhalt, a distinction earned through years of dedicated practice, profound knowledge, and an unwavering commitment to the principles of Vastu Shastra. As the best Vastu expert near me, his reputation is built on a foundation of trust, reliability, and transformative results that speak volumes of his expertise in this ancient Indian science.
Unparalleled Experience
Dr. Kaushik's journey in the realm of Vastu Shastra is marked by extensive research, deep exploration, and the successful handling of over 80,000 consultations worldwide. This vast experience has not only honed his skills but also enriched his understanding of diverse architectural styles and living environments, making him a versatile and top Vastu consultant in the Osterwieck, Saxony-Anhalt. His profound grasp of Vastu principles enables him to offer expert advice on vastu for home, vastu for business, vastu for offices, and more, catering to a wide range of clients with varying needs.
Detailed Analysis and Customized Solutions
What sets Dr. Kaushik apart as the best Vastu consultant is his meticulous approach to analysis and his ability to provide customized Vastu solutions. He delves deep into the specifics of each property, whether it's a home, a business establishment, or an industrial site, ensuring that every recommendation is precisely tailored to the client's spatial configurations and personal objectives. His detailed analysis covers every aspect of vastu shastra, from vastu for flats and plots to vastu for factories, ensuring comprehensive solutions that address all potential energy imbalances.
Successful Application of Vastu Remedies
The effectiveness of Dr. Kaushik's Vastu consultations is evident in the successful application of Vastu remedies that have transformed spaces and lives. Clients report significant improvements in their well-being, prosperity, and success following his advice. These transformations have cemented Dr. Kaushik's status as the top Vastu expert in the Osterwieck, Saxony-Anhalt. His approach is not just about making structural changes; it's about creating a harmonious environment that enhances the quality of life for those who inhabit the space.
Commitment to Excellence
Dr. Kunal Kaushik's commitment to excellence is reflected in every consultation he undertakes. He continuously updates his knowledge and skills to incorporate the latest findings and techniques in Vastu Shastra, ensuring his clients receive the most advanced and effective Vastu solutions. This dedication to excellence and his ability to deliver positive outcomes have made him the most sought-after Vastu consultant in the Osterwieck, Saxony-Anhalt.
In conclusion, Dr. Kunal Kaushik's unparalleled experience, detailed analysis, successful application of Vastu remedies, and his commitment to excellence make him the best Vastu expert near me and the top Vastu consultant in the Osterwieck, Saxony-Anhalt. His ability to transform spaces into sources of positive energy and prosperity has earned him a distinguished place in the field of Vastu Shastra, making him the preferred choice for anyone looking to enhance their living or working environments.
On-Site Vastu Visits and Online Vastu Advice
Whether you prefer the personal touch of an on-site Vastu visit or the convenience of online Vastu consultation, Dr. Kaushik is equipped to provide top-notch Vastu services. His on-site visits include a thorough analysis of physical structures, while his online advice is detailed and comprehensive, making Vastu accessible to everyone, everywhere.
FAQs: Expert Answers by Dr. Kunal Kaushik
Who is the Best Vastu Consultant for Flats in the Osterwieck, Saxony-Anhalt?
Dr. Kunal Kaushik stands out as the best Vastu consultant for flats in the Osterwieck, Saxony-Anhalt. His expertise in vastu for home and vastu for flats ensures that every living space he consults on is optimized for harmony, prosperity, and well-being. With a deep understanding of how spatial arrangements impact energy flow, Dr. Kaushik provides tailored vastu shastra solutions to bring positive changes into your living environment.
Who is the Best Industrial Vastu Expert in the Osterwieck, Saxony-Anhalt?
For industrial spaces, Dr. Kunal Kaushik is recognized as the top industrial Vastu expert in the Osterwieck, Saxony-Anhalt. His extensive experience with vastu for factories and large-scale operations makes him the preferred vastu consultant for businesses looking to enhance productivity, safety, and success. Dr. Kaushik's vastu advice addresses the unique challenges faced by industrial setups, promoting efficiency and positive energy.
How Does Vastu Influence Health and Prosperity?
Vastu Shastra plays a crucial role in influencing health and prosperity by harmonizing the five elements within a space to create a balanced and positive environment. Proper vastu alignment enhances the flow of positive energy, which can lead to improved mental and physical health, as well as attract prosperity and success. Dr. Kunal Kaushik emphasizes the importance of vastu in creating spaces that support well-being and financial growth.
Can Vastu Corrections Be Made Without Structural Changes?
Yes, vastu corrections can often be made without the need for structural changes. Dr. Kunal Kaushik offers innovative vastu remedies that do not require major renovations. Through the strategic placement of vastu elements, color adjustments, and the use of symbols, it's possible to align a space with vastu principles, enhancing its energy and functionality.
What Are the Key Vastu Tips for a New Home?
When planning a new home, key vastu tips include:
- Ensuring the entrance is located in a positive direction to welcome beneficial energy.
- Placing the kitchen in the southeast corner to harness the element of fire.
- Designing bedrooms to ensure they are in the southwest direction for stability and peace.
- Keeping the center of the home open and free of heavy furniture to allow energy to circulate freely.
How to Choose the Right Vastu Consultant?
Choosing the right vastu consultant involves looking for someone with extensive knowledge, experience, and a proven track record of success. Dr. Kunal Kaushik is renowned for his expertise in vastu shastra and his personalized approach to each consultation. His ability to provide effective, practical vastu solutions makes him the top choice for anyone seeking to enhance their space with vastu principles.
What Makes Dr. Kunal Kaushik the Preferred Vastu Expert?
Dr. Kunal Kaushik is the preferred vastu expert due to his unparalleled experience, customized vastu solutions, and the positive outcomes he delivers. His commitment to excellence and his innovative approach to vastu shastra set him apart as the best vastu consultant in the Osterwieck, Saxony-Anhalt.
How Can Vastu Impact Business Growth?
Vastu can significantly impact business growth by creating an environment that promotes productivity, positivity, and prosperity. Strategic vastu alignment can enhance decision-making, improve employee well-being, and attract customers and opportunities. Dr. Kunal Kaushik's vastu for business consultations are designed to optimize business spaces for success.
Are There Specific Vastu Guidelines for Office Spaces?
Yes, there are specific vastu guidelines for office spaces, including:
- Positioning the office entrance in a prosperous direction.
- Placing the owner's office in the southwest for authority and leadership.
- Designing workspaces to ensure employees face the north or east to enhance concentration and efficiency.
How Does Online Vastu Consultation Work?
Online vastu consultation with Dr. Kunal Kaushik offers a convenient, effective way to receive vastu advice from anywhere in the world. Through video calls, detailed plans, and photographs, Dr. Kaushik assesses your space and provides customized vastu recommendations. This approach ensures that clients can benefit from his expertise without geographical limitations, making vastu accessible to all.
By choosing Dr. Kunal Kaushik for your Vastu needs, you're ensuring that your space not only aligns with the ancient wisdom of Vastu Shastra but also benefits from the insights of a seasoned Vastu consultant. Whether you're looking to build, buy, or renovate, his expertise will guide you towards creating spaces that resonate with positivity, prosperity, and peace.
Dr. Kunal Kaushik (Scientific Vastu Consultant and Expert) in Osterwieck, Saxony-Anhalt
Dr. Kunal Kaushik (Scientific Vastu Consultant and Expert) in Osterwieck, Saxony-Anhalt
Email Us At: firstname.lastname@example.com | firstname.lastname@example.com
Dr. Kunal Kaushik (Scientific Vastu Consultant and Expert) in Osterwieck, Saxony-Anhalt
Dr. Kunal Kaushik (Scientific Vastu Consultant and Expert) in Osterwieck, Saxony-Anhalt
Call Us At: +91-987-111-7222, +91-981-116-7701
WhatsApp: +91-9871117222, +91-981-116-7701
Email Us At: firstname.lastname@example.com | email@example.com


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This month the Daring Bakers' challenge was a tribute to Canada in honor of the Winter Olympic Games. Lauren of of Celiac Teen asked us to make the classic Canadian dessert to help chime in the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.
I'd never actually made Nanaimo Bars at home myself, having had them a few times and coming away thinking they were too sweet I simply avoided making them. What really got me raving for this challenge was the fact that we were to make our own homemade graham crackers. I've been wanting to make graham crackers for a while but like a few things – I start, I research, I bookmark and move on.
Lauren urged us to make the challenge gluten free but as it was not a mandatory part I decided to use the flours I had in my pantry. I had spelt, wholemeal whole wheat and all-purpose. I decided to go for a mix of wholemeal whole wheat and all-purpose for a nuttier flavor.
Nanaimo bars are named after the town Nanaimo in British Columbia. It's a pretty straightforward type of sweet treat, which requires no baking (if you are not making your own crackers that is).
Basically there are three layers to the dessert – a cracker crumb base layer, which is topped by a light custard layer and the final layer consists of simple melted chocolate. From this basic recipe one can make any type of variety they fancy.
The dough for the crackers came very easily together and I had no trouble rolling, shaping and forming it. I actually had to leave the dough in the refrigerator for two days. Due to the wholemeal whole wheat flour I used, the biscuit was crunchier and nuttier in flavor. So good that I made a double batch! Although in the recipe it says to bake them for 25 minutes my graham crackers were perfect after just 12 minutes – so this might be something to watch in your own ovens.
As I love pistachios I decided to substitute them with the almonds in the Nanaimo bars. It added a lovely color and a wonderful mellow crunch! I also cut the icing sugar amount to half and still found these sweet enough. Finally I added a fruity layer of apricot puree between the top chocolate layer and the middle custard layer. Sensational!
The recipe below is with my tweaks and substitutes
The January 2010 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.
Wholemeal Whole Wheat Graham Crackers and Nanaimo Bars
Printable version of recipe here
Preparation time:
- Graham Wafers: 30 to 45 minutes total active prep, 2 ½ hours to overnight and 45 minutes inactive prep.
- Nanaimo Bars: 30 minutes.
Graham Crackers
1 cup (140 g) all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups (190 g) wholemeal whole wheat flour
1 cup (200 g) (7.1 ounces) Dark Brown Sugar, Lightly packed
1 teaspoon (5 mL) Baking soda
3/4 teaspoon (4 mL ) Kosher Salt
7 tablespoons (100 g) (3 ½ ounces) Unsalted Butter (Cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen)
1/3 cup (80 mL) Honey, Mild-flavored such as clover.
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Whole Milk
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Pure Vanilla Extract
- In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine the flours, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Pulse on low to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse on and off, until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal. If making by hand, combine aforementioned dry ingredients with a whisk, then cut in butter until you have a coarse meal. No chunks of butter should be visible.
- In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the honey, milk and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky.
- Turn the dough onto a surface well-floured with sweet rice flour and pat the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 2 hours, or overnight.
- Divide the dough in half and return one half to the refrigerator. Sift an even layer of flour onto the work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. The dough will be quite sticky, so flour as necessary. Cut into 4 by 4 inch squares. Gather the scraps together and set aside. Place wafers on one or two parchment-lined baking sheets. Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes. Repeat with the second batch of dough.
- Adjust the rack to the upper and lower positions and preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit ).
- Gather the scraps together into a ball, chill until firm, and reroll. Dust the surface with more sweet rice flour and roll out the dough to get a couple more wafers.
- Prick the wafers with toothpick or fork, not all the way through, in two or more rows.
- Bake for 12 (to 25) minutes, until browned and slightly firm to the touch, rotating sheets halfway through to ensure even baking. Might take less, and the starting location of each sheet may determine its required time. The ones that started on the bottom browned faster.
- When cooled completely, place enough wafers in food processor to make 1 ¼ cups (300 mL) of crumbs. Another way to do this is to place in a large ziplock bag, force all air out and smash with a rolling pin until wafers are crumbs.
Nanaimo Bars
Bottom Layer
1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
1/4 cup (50 g) (1.8 ounces) Granulated Sugar
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Unsweetened Cocoa
1 Large Egg, Beaten
1 1/4 cups (300 mL) (160 g) (5.6 ounces) Gluten Free Graham Wafer Crumbs (See previous recipe)
1/2 cup (55 g) (1.9 ounces) Pistachios (or almonds), coarsely chopped
1 cup (130 g) (4.5 ounces) Coconut (Shredded, sweetened or unsweetened)Middle Layer
1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons (40 mL) Heavy Cream
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Vanilla Custard Powder (Such as Bird's. Vanilla pudding mix may be substituted.)
1 cups (127 g) Icing SugarTop Layer
4 ounces (115 g) Semi-sweet chocolate
2 tablespoons (28 g) (1 ounce) Unsalted ButterOptional Layer
small jar of apricot puree or preserveMethod
- For bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.
- For Middle Layer: Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and icing sugar together well. Beat until light in colour. Spread over bottom layer.
- For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.
These bars freeze very well, so don't be afraid to pop some into the freezer.
The graham wafers may be kept in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Mine lasted about that long.
Watch the wheat-based graham wafers very closely in the oven, as they bake faster than the gluten-free ones, sometimes only 12 minutes.
Yes I have to stress the pint again – the graham crackers were simply irresistible. I ate so many one evening that I seriously had a tummy ache! The bars were lovely too, however, I found the amount of shredded coconut on the high side. I definitely would reduce it to half of the amount. It was a huge hit with Tom and Soeren. Tom managed to polish of 4 pieces in one sitting. My friend B., who is becoming a reliable recipe tester for me, found them to be sweet but delectable with the pistachios and apricot flavors.
Thank you to everyone who has voted for What's For Lunch, Honey? at the weblog awards for the 2010 Bloggies. This humble blog is one of the top five finalists in the category Best European Blog! If you have not voted yet may I please solicit your votes – you have till January 31st to vote for your favorite blogs in a huge variety of categories.
You might like these Daring Bakers' treats from WFLH:
Lemon Meringue Pie | Chocolate Caramel Tart | Opera Cake |
All photographs and written content on What's For Lunch, Honey? © 2006-2010 Meeta Khurana unless otherwise indicated. | All rights reserved | Please Ask First


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I am taking a break from our normally scheduled recipe for an announcement. Today is the official publication date of my cookbook! I am so excited. It is hard to believe that something I spent an entire, hot summer developing and writing is available now on a library or book store shelf and of course, on Amazon. In the book you will find 300 slow cooker recipes, all with an eye towards using fresh ingredients and not a single one calls for condensed soup! I think you will enjoy it.
I am giving away a copy to one lucky reader. Please leave a comment on this post to be eligible to win. The comment must include your email address.


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Anthropological analysis of the osteological material from an ancient tomb (Early Bronze Age) from the middle Euphrates valley, Terqa (Syria)
J. Tomczyk et al.
Terqa, situated on the right bank of the Middle Euphrates, is known to have been a site already in the third and second millennium BC. Excavations which take place in this region aim to provide answers for numerous significant issues connected with the origins of human civilisation. In 2008 season we found a tomb dated 2650-2450 BC, consisting of two chambers with stone domes. The smaller chamber contained many luxury grave goods. The other one was bigger and contained human skeletons.


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1st talk at 2014 Samish Island Sesshin
ONE MORNING by Rosemerry TrommerOne morning
we will wake up
and forget to build
that wall we've been building,the one between us
the one we've been building
for years, perhaps
out of some sense
of right and boundary,
perhaps out of habit.One morning
we will wake up
and let our empty hands
hang empty at our sides.Perhaps they will rise,
as empty things
sometimes do
when blown
by the wind.Perhaps they simply
will not remember
how to grasp, how to rage.We will wake up
that morning
and we will have
misplaced all our theories
about why and how
and who did what
to whom, we will have mislaid
all our timelines
of when and plans of what
and we will not scramble
to write the plans and theories anew.On that morning,
not much else
will have changed.Whatever is blooming
will still be in bloom.Whatever is wilting
will wilt. There will be fields
to plow and trains
to load and children
to feed and work to do.And in every moment,
in every action, we will
feel the urge to say thank you,
we will follow the urge to bow.~ Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
Good morning, I'm really grateful to be here and I'm really grateful to each and every one of you for being here. A community springs to life from this sacred ground. A community springs to life from our hearts, from our intention. From our love.
It's wonderful to stop isn't it? Just to be. Just to breathe. Just to step out of the frame of busy and trying so hard. To drop all that. We can't quite explain why this is but of course we do try. 6 talks this week by myself, Michael, and Norman who is arriving tomorrow afternoon.
In case you're curious he's coming later this year because he was invited to give a sermon at Stanford Memorial Church – "memchu" I grew up hearing it called. His talk is part of Stanford's graduation ceremonies. He's giving this talk just about exactly now and will hop on a flight tomorrow morning. A nice opportunity for him to serve and offer some of our Zen attitude to the brilliant young minds of that place. Maybe he's also considering with them the peacefulness of just being.
Why would not doing much be helpful? And of course we're always doing something. So maybe there's a little confusion in that very idea of not doing. We're always doing.
We don't really stop until we die. I recently was with someone who died. There is effort and hard work right until the final minute. Then stopping. Real stopping. It was unbelievably peaceful to sit in the room with her for a few minutes. If her body was still her exactly. I am really grateful to have received that teaching. Maybe it's essential training to be present at a birth and at a death. How else do we start to know the dimensions of this life?
But probably we won't have that experience this week. No one is that pregnant or that close to death as far as we know. Maybe we will. But we will also see many births and many deaths in our experience. Sometimes an overwhelming amount of things bubbling up and falling away. Some we like, some we don't like. Even living this simple life for a week is so full. So rich.
We want it to stop in a way I guess, we hunger deeply for peacefulness and slowing down, but we don't want it to really stop: we fear the real peacefulness of death. We are funny creatures that way.
And the minute you try to say something about this it's a little off, a little tangled up. Better to say less probably. The standard joke is "well there was a Dharma Talk on the schedule so we have to give a talk" just follow the schedule if our first teacher at sesshin. But is there anything to be said in these talks?
Our Zen ancestors had some great ways of expressing this. Here's a story from the Book of Serenity:
As Dongshan was presenting offerings before the image of his teacher Yunyan he retold the story from before about depicting reality. A monk came forward and said, "When Yunyan said, 'Just this is it,' what did he mean?"
Dongshan said, "At that time I nearly misunderstood my last teacher's meaning."
The monk said, "Did Yunyan himself know it or not?"
Dongshan said, "If he didn't know it is, how could he be able to say this? If he did know it is, how could he be willing to say this?"
I've always loved Yunyan. He's the one who also gave the wonderful teaching about knowing the one who is not busy. And through various strange circumstances we are in possession of a whole box of books by the wonderful teacher Darlene Cohen on dealing with our busy mind more wisely that is based on that case as we mentioned last night. I hope you take home a copy of that book and read it after sesshin.
In our story Dongshan is a teacher now and he's remembering his teacher Yunyan's teaching phrase, "Just this is it." I love his humility. One of his students asks about that teaching and Dongshan says, "I didn't get it at first."
His student goes on with a very wise question, "Did Yunyan himself know it or not?" Meaning is there anything to get anyway? Is there some phrase, some teaching, some wisdom that's a something that we can get, that we can understand, that we can know? We conventionally think that way of course. But is that really how it all works?
Dongshan brings up both sides of that: there is a kind of knowing but that knowing is without a separate kind of knowledge. Knowing without knowledge might be a way to describe it. "If he didn't know it is, how could he be able to say this? If he did know it is, how could he be willing to say this?" If you know it you know it can't exactly be said in a way.
But we have to say something, we have to do something, we do need some method, some way to work with his mind and heart. Our main method this week looks like it's zazen – seated meditation. Of course we are doing lots of other things, but I think "zazen" appears most often on our schedule. What is our goal in zazen? What is it we hope for?
The word for this week of ritualized life is sesshin. Sesshin is composed of two characters: "setsu" and "shin" – this in the odd Sino-Japanese concoction which is the way the Japanese pronounce Chinese characters when they're referencing them as Chinese. Kind of Church Latin in a way. Setsu means to touch or make contact with. Shin means heart or mind, heart and mind. To touch the heart. To touch the true mind.
All kinds of experiences arise in sesshin but somehow as we settle there is some kind of contact with something. How that shows up as subjective experience is all over the map of course, how could it not be? We look like we're more or less the same and more or less doing the same thing here but of course we are all at the head of our own karmic trajectory, pushed along by our past, our habits, our tendencies the collection of thoughts and emotions that we string together into some more or less coherent idea of "me." So each "me" meets this contact with the heart and mind differently.
When I started practice there was a kind of ban on talking about your meditation experience. The idea was we'd just confuse each other because our experiences are so different. Someone might describe an experience you find desirable and that would trigger all kinds of stuff. Better to say nothing. Also implied I think was that the wise Zen masters should be told as they can take it all in with complete equanimity. I think we hold this a little more lightly now.
We can trust each other to have a little equanimity! Our varied meditation experience isn't exactly a secret, but it isn't exactly all that interesting to talk about either. Some things may be really helpful to share and helpful to say out loud to explore our patterning. And it can be profoundly helpful in releasing from our projections to hear a little about the foibles of other minds in meditation.
Funnily when I teach the mindfulness classes it's the opposite: we do talk quite regularly about meditation experience. And that speaking out meditation experience is a practice itself. It's a practice of describing to yourself and others experience as experience. Releasing as best you can from judgment, from summarizing, from twisting experience into future goals and past regrets. Just to talk simply and honestly about it. Here's what I noticed. Here's what I felt. To identify less tightly with it. We don't need that "I" in there really: where's what arose, here's what happened. We don't do that so much in Zen but internally we are talking to ourselves all the time about it right? So who do we talk to ourself about our meditation experience?
How do we approach this desire for settling, for contact with something. How do we work with our love of that expansive open feeling that comes sometimes. What about when that's not happening? What if we feel overwhelmed instead? What if we feel resistant? What if we are just too tired? What if we just hurt? What if we get really stuck in something.
Does Yunyan's practice of "just this is it" apply to meditation that doesn't feel remotely like meditation?
I received an interesting list of likely meditation states from one of my teachers recently, I'm not sure where she got it, but it seems helpful.
There are 10 categories of experience in this scheme and I saw it presented as a kind of wheel with one moving into the next and back around. I don't know that it's always that simple but the idea of a wheel matches our experience here I think. This sense of going around and around in some way.
1st is Contact – this is what we want. That contact with the moment, with the heart, with this place, with each other; contact with peacefulness and connection. Just being present is a kind of experience of contact.
2nd is Expansion – the heart opens, the narrow feeling of "me" opens up wide, ahhhh. Wonderful. Big meditation experiences for all their joy and ultimate confusion are here. Usually the moment we get excited about Expansion and try to hold onto it it's gone.
3rd is Overwhelm – that openness lets a lot in. Floods of emotion. Difficult memories. Worry. Pain. Why are they saying it's peaceful to sit here? It's horrible. Overwhelm can be so challenging. Of course we try to let it go, we return to the breath in the belly, we try not to add fuel to the fire. We seek relief. Sometimes there is no relief. Overwhelm is overwhelm. Maybe we can be with overwhelm with some awareness. And somehow even here "Just this is it" – it's just overwhelm.
4th is Distraction – the mind just won't settle. The famous monkey mind. We hardly know where we are and what's happening. The bell rings and we're surprised and maybe a little ashamed. Another good zazen period wasted. Sometimes distraction has an enticing creative quality to it – that's kind of nice, I remember my neighbor at the Tassajara zendo telling me he's written some wonderful plays in his mind during zazen – other times it's just noise. So random. Where did that come from? Distraction, distraction, distraction. "Just this is it"?
5th is Unconsciousness – we go to sleep. We check out. Our body is still here, but we are gone. Vague states we can't quite put a name on. Something almost remembered. People often come to the dokusan room looking for an escape from sleepiness. Sometimes we need to sleep. There's an essay on giving yourself permission to have all of your experiences in meditation where he says "you have permission to go to sleep, how else will you learn about waking up?" Can we sleep with Yunyan's "Just this is it"?
6th and 7th are Avoidance and Rejection – we want out of here, and we are totally justified in wanting out of here because this whole thing is messed up. This mushy, vague, Soto Zen retreat is not working for me. The food is wrong. The cabins are too funky. Norman's pretty good but I don't know about these other jokers. I have so much to do, what am I doing wasting time here? Can we recognize this as avoidance? What are we trying to avoid? Can we recognize rejection? And even here even in the middle of the mind actively trying to wriggle out can we again breathe with "just this is it?"
The 8th and 9th meditation states in this system are Feeling Fake & Numb. This is the flip side of Avoidance and Rejection in a way. Here the problem isn't the sesshin, the problem is me. I'm not doing it right and I'll never learn how to do it right. I'm faking it and they'll find out sooner or later. Maybe some projection: she's such a great meditator, I'll never be as good as her. And a strategy for dealing with this might be to just go numb. Who cares really. I like the talks so I'll just sit here and suffer all day until then. This numbness is it? Don't think so. So interesting to see if we can bring up awareness in this state.
And of course they get all mixed together, we're distracted and don't get up to go when the han sounds. I'll be late anyway, my body hurts, I think I'll stay in my room. And so on. And of course these examples are a bit of a caricature – these experience states may be arising in much more subtle ways. We can use them as a kind of exploratory tool if we like. Is there contact here? Is there expansion? Are there moments of overwhelm? Was I hanging out in distraction for a while there? Am I resisting the full possibility of setting my stuff down? Is there avoidance and rejection bubbling up? As I look at the buffet table is there a flash of annoyance or rejection which I usually ignore and drop back into my breath? Is there a numbness or the self-doubt of being a fake. These states can be quite brief and subtle too, but the idea here is that there are still interesting and worthy of our kind attention.
Then 10th meditation state is Intention. This is seen as a very powerful state in Buddhism. A quality of mind that can turn the wheel right round. Accessing a sense of Intention is how, on the one hand, we can bring our subjective experience right back around to Contact and Expansion, that's nice, but more importantly we cultivate the Intention to be with all of these states as the practice. We take Yunyan's teaching seriously. We honor that all states are simply what's happening and we can turn towards even the most unpleasant state with awareness, with kindness, with patience.
So we have this kind of driver of Intention, why are you here at Samish this year? What's your intention? It's a little different from goals or hopes. It's less about outcome and more about direction. Which way are you moving in this life. Intention has a quality of turning towards, of opening. Maybe it's a kind of ambition that's liberated from desire and clinging.
The idea here is there are no distractions. Everything that happens is practice, is path. And if we don't like something and want to exclude it from our sesshin experience maybe if we're lucky we'll catch ourself. Maybe we can see it for what it is, maybe we can breathe with "just this is it"? Maybe some words from this model of 10 experiences or some other model will come to mind to support us?
We don't think this way usually, though do we? We have this idea of distractions and all of the aspects of ourself and our experience that we would like to get rid of. Distractions can't be meditation, distractions are the enemy of meditation.


text:
Researchers say they have a formula for divining which newborns are at highest risk of becoming obese during childhood.
With childhood obesity rates tripling over the last 30 years in the U.S., there is an urgent need to find better ways of curbing weight gain, and the earlier these efforts start, the better. So an international group of scientists have developed a model for predicting a child's risk of developing obesity, which they hope will encourage parents to take early action to improve their children's health.
(MORE: Study: Obese Kids Have Less Sensitive Taste Buds)
"Many believe the critical time for the development of obesity is between ages zero and five—before kids go to school," says lead study author Philippe Froguel, from the School of Public Health at Imperial College London. "Each year after age five is too late, and we wanted to find a way to predict the likelihood at birth. There are many non-genetic factors that are easy to analyze and are costless."
To develop their formula, called the obesity risk calculator, the researchers analyzed data from the 1986 Northern Finland Birth Cohort that tracks a population of over 4,000 participants who were born in 1986. The scientists looked at five risk factors for obesity, including birth weight, body mass index (BMI) of the parents, the number of people in the newborn's household, mother's professional status and the mother's smoking status during pregnancy. Each of these has been linked to obesity, either by promoting weight gain in a physiological or behavioral way; working mothers, for example, tend to make fewer meals at home, and their children are more likely to eat higher-calorie meals prepared at restaurants or in processed packages, while heavier parents may pass on obesity-related genes to their children.
(MORE: Can Laws Against Junk Food in Schools Rein In Child Obesity?)
The obesity risk calculator accurately predicted obesity rates among kids in the Finnish cohort, as well as two additional cohorts in Italy and the United States. About 20% of those kids predicted to have the highest risk for obesity accounted for 80% of all the childhood obesity cases. "Nobody has tried to make an equation to predict this before and I don't know why," says Froguel.
The researchers believe that having a simple tool to predict childhood obesity risk beginning at birth not only alerts physicians to children who are particularly vulnerable to weight gain, but provides an opportunity to motivate parents to keep their child's health in check. The authors write:
Parents of newborns are particularly sensitive to information given about their child's health. Once informed of their baby's increased risk for obesity, they might be more receptive to routine advice provided from birth during the first two years of life within population-wide prevention: breast-feeding, feeding on demand, weaning no earlier than the sixth month with recommended meal patterns and food portions, avoiding of television and sugar-sweetened beverages.
"From my work in hospitals, I've been shocked by the lack of knowledge about nutrition, especially from young mothers. Even how to take care of the child if it's crying," says Froguel. "There is not enough education. New parents may think giving food to the child is the only way to get them to stop crying, but if you continue to do that the child could be overweight."
(MORE: Q&A with the White House Chef on Healthy Eating)
Froguel envisions that the model may be used more as a teaching tool for health care experts than as a scare tactic for new parents. "If you scare the mom, it's not useful, but for social workers and healthcare providers, it is a valuable education tool for high risk groups like new mothers, low income families and children with obese siblings," he says.
He stresses that although the equation was successful in large populations in Finland, Italy and the U.S., it may need to be adjusted to more accurately reflect populations in different countries. "People don't eat the same in every country, they don't have the same culture. In some countries like Japan, the mothers are less likely to work or the people do not smoke. The equation works everywhere, but it cannot be the same equation for each country. We have to create predictions using different elements of an environment," says Foguel.
Clinically, the equation could help caretakers to make weight maintenance a priority, but Dr. Stephen Pont, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Provisional Section on Obesity and a pediatrician at Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas, says there is a critical need to take action now. "I think this can be helpful, however any child born today in America, the odds are that they will be challenged by their weight in the future. To some degree, the cards are already stacked against them," says Pont. Having such a calculator in place for future generations, however, may ultimately contribute to earlier interventions and hopefully lower rates of obesity among children. "I do think these tools will be helpful to raise awareness. We see more and more research coming out showing the earliest impact we can have the better. Even having a mom who is a good weight before she is even pregnant can help."
The study is published online in the journal PLOS ONE.


text:
"Genes and Justice."
That unexpected combination of words led to the "question of the day" that lit up on a screen in front of 26 Princeton undergraduates: "What changes in policy and society, if any, are needed to ensure that genetic evidence produces true justice?"
Seated together at one end of a classroom in Robertson Hall on a recent fall evening were the initiators of the question: Shirley M. Tilghman, president of Princeton University, and Keith Wailoo, the Townsend Martin Professor of history and public affairs. Together, they possess a wealth of knowledge to explore the topic. Tilghman, a professor of molecular biology, is one of the world's foremost authorities on genetics; Wailoo draws upon insights gained from his work on several award-winning books on genetics and society, and many years teaching across the disciplines of health, race and public policy.
But it is the students who are being challenged to answer the day's question in the course "Modern Genetics and Public Policy," which Tilghman and Wailoo are co-teaching for the first time this semester. The course is offered through the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
The idea for the course emerged after Wailoo heard Tilghman give the annual James Baldwin Lecture at Princeton in 2010 on the intersection of race and genetics, and an ensuing conversation illuminated their shared interests.
The course, which meets for three hours weekly, explores the intersections between modern genetics and public policy, focusing on health, law, consumer products and criminal justice. Every session emphasizes extensive discussion, a key ingredient to develop new thinking on a complex subject.
"For many of the issues we raise in the course, there is no right or wrong answer," Tilghman said. "Compared to genetics, the field of public policy is much murkier, and the room for disparate opinions is great. It is educational for students to hear how differently their fellow students think about issues."
Wailoo said that many of the topics "are still being debated and decided in the courts and among policymakers" — such as "whether people arrested for felonies can be required to give gene samples, or whether direct-to-consumer genetic testing is a good idea whose time has come or a public health problem." He noted that is important to "think clearly and critically about the ethical, legal and social issues because they will eventually affect all of us."
Senior Rebecca Thorsness, a major in the Wilson School, said the course encourages her to make connections between different academic fields. "I really love learning about public policy through the scientific angle, and the course has absolutely given me insights into both arenas and how they intersect and coexist," she said.
To prompt ideas, the course includes a variety of readings spanning scientific studies, newspaper reports, policy documents, business reports and scholarly analyses. Such an array is needed, according to the syllabus, because "turning genetic science into public policy is a messy process — shaped by new discoveries, by business and economic interests, by social values, by political concerns, and by fears and hopes."
During the class session on genetics and justice, students quickly became engrossed in fundamental concerns. They examined the controversy surrounding the XYY gene — the so-called "criminal chromosome" — link to criminal behavior, fueled by findings such as the discovery in 1965 by cytogeneticist Patricia Jacobs of an extra Y chromosome among male inmates of a correctional facility in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The students identified flaws in Jacobs' research, which did not include genetic data from the general population, as well as biases about the connection between genetics and crime promulgated by other researchers. The focus then turned to the media and popular culture, which fanned the flames about the possibility of being "born bad."
"Although we no longer debate the criminal tendencies of people with XYY chromosomes, these issues haven't fully disappeared," Wailoo said, but he observed that "new questions about the use and misuse of biology in the courtroom are constantly popping up, creating policy and social debate."
With that the curtain parted on one of the most controversial criminal cases in recent history: the 1995 murder trial of former football star and actor O.J. Simpson, who was arrested for — and then acquitted of — the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. The trial relied heavily on DNA evidence and engulfed the media.
It was a vivid example to explore for students who, as one informed Tilghman and Wailoo when asked if they had watched the trial on TV, were "about 3 at the time."
"To convict what do you need?" Tilghman asked.
"Beyond a reasonable doubt," said a student.
"There has to be enough genetic information to be able to say 'beyond a reasonable doubt,'" Tilghman agreed.
"Does the genetic information speak for itself or does it have to be argued?" asked Wailoo.
To answer the question, students reviewed details of the Simpson case, supplemented by an explanation by Tilghman of some of the science behind DNA forensics.
"Genetics is not the easy, simple, magical solution that solves the case," said one student. "DNA is only one part of a larger network of evidence."
"It shows that there is a need for infrastructure to be built in the criminal justice system," suggested another.
Delving deeper into issues of genetic testing
Splitting into two groups, the undergraduates continued the conversation, led by assigned student leaders. In the group attended by Tilghman, senior Emily Trask-Young, an anthropology major, invited her classmates to respond to questions about privacy and genetic testing.
"What do you think about DNA evidence and its collection?" Trask-Young asked.
"What about privacy expectations if you drink from a glass and leave it behind and it is confiscated by the police?" asked Tilghman.
"I don't think the government should be collecting DNA from whomever they want," said senior Andrew Weinstein, a molecular biology major.
"I'm not so worried about the police as I would be if they were using this for some other type of testing," said Ophelia Yin, a senior majoring in ecology and evolutionary biology.
"So it's about balancing individual and society needs," said Trask-Young.
As the discussion developed, questions emerged about the merits of a national DNA database and how it might help control crime.
Masha Krupenkin, a junior majoring in molecular biology, voiced her concern: "What kinds of crimes are we attempting to link genetically?" she asked. "We talked about violent crimes and petty theft. Why aren't we looking for genetic links for other kinds of crimes, for example white- collar crimes? Embezzlement? Why are we focusing on crimes that affect lower-income people?"
Comments crisscrossed the room. Later, when the two groups rejoined, the question of "trust" was emphasized. Tilghman echoed questions raised by the students. "What are the crimes being raised? What do we mean by a crime? Who is being arrested?"
For Yin, who said she chose the class due to her interest in the future of genetic technology, the open-ended dialogue is an integral part of the learning experience. "I love that the class is so interactive — everyone speaks up in class and Professors Tilghman and Wailoo are great at asking provocative questions that cause us to think deeply about our preconceived notions about a topic," she said.
In return, the experts are learning from the students.
"The students are terrific — what I've really enjoyed is seeing how bright and engaged students from the sciences, from Woodrow Wilson, and from the social sciences and humanities ask such different insightful questions," Wailoo said.
Tilghman said the students are opening her eyes to new issues. "The statement I made toward the end of the last class — that they are the first generation to expose themselves to public scrutiny in social media and yet many of them seem highly sensitive to genetic privacy issues seems, on its surface, to be a contradiction," she said. "Yet as they explained it, they think they are controlling what is available online about their lives — I'm not at all confident that they have as much control as they think they do — while genetic information may reveal things about themselves that they either do not know, or do not want to know."
Tilghman added that the course allows her a fresh look at what can develop when science enters the public sphere.
"Teaching the course reminds me that the apparent clarity that I experience as a scientist disappears when the science hits the public," Tilghman said. "An interesting issue for me is what determines the line between acceptable and unacceptable."