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By Linda Emley
Next Monday, I'm going to say goodbye to a lady that was a important part of my high school days. Rebecca Crouch was my high school counselor and I still remember her telling me I needed to take a typing class.
I dropped out of that class because I hated taking typing tests, but every time I sit down to type something on my computer, I think of Rebecca and know that she was right on target.
I'm dedicating this story about our beloved old RHS to Rebecca, a lady I will always remember.
The building was used by the Richmond Public School system from Sept. 4, 1916 through May 2005. Like many others, my family had four generations that went to school in this building.
The RHS ECHO staff of 1931 saved the day for this story. This group of high school students created a special Journalism Issue of the ECHO that is full of pictures and history. The book provided many details that I was not able to find anywhere else.
If you would like to see the whole story, a copy can be found at the Ray Country Museum library.
I am proud to present to you the ECHO staff of 1931. There are more than a few names that many will remember: Editor-in-Chief Helen Gill, Margaret Blair, Garner Settle, Margaret Lake, Robert Lyon, Edward Shirley, Elizabeth Denton, Paul Crowley, Mildred Hamann, Virginia Bates, Blanche Clarke and Carl Gaines.
This was in the Aug. 24, 1916 Missourian: "New Furniture Arrived. The beauty and convenience of the Richmond High School building, which has just been completed, will cause it to be a joy forever. The new furniture has arrived and is being placed where it belongs. There are 22 cubic feet of fresh air per hour for each pupil pumped into the building by an automatic ventilation system. There are ten class rooms, with a cloak closet in each one, where fresh air keeps things dry and in a sanitary condition. The building has a lecture room, a gymnasium and auditorium combined, two laboratories, one study hall, with a library room in connection, one ladies restroom, superintendent's office and reception room, boys and girls toilets, lockers and shower baths, automatic heating system, large clock in the office of the superintendent that is regulated to automatically ring electric bells in three buildings – the central ward, manual training shop and the high school building. There are drinking fountains on all three floors. It is the finest and most up-to-date school building in Northwest Missouri."
After reading this, I had a few questions. Is there a difference between a "cloak" closet and a "coat" closet? Well, I found out there is. A cloak closet was a ventilated closet used for the storage of wet winter clothing. There were no school buses in 1916, so most kids walked to school. There would be a lot of wet coats to dry out if it was a rainy or snowy day.
My next questions were about the restrooms. There is mention of a ladies restroom and toilets for the boys and girls; what about the men's restroom? Is there a difference between a restroom and a toilet? I was told by one student that there were teacher lounges on all floors. Maybe the ladies restroom was the place teachers went to rest and hide from all the students.
In the same paper, but not on the front page: "To The Patrons of Richmond Schools: The fall term of school will begin Sept. 4. We shall occupy our new building for the first time and room will not be at a premium so that we shall labor under more favorable circumstances than formerly. We are expecting a great school year and we ask for your co-operation. It is very important that your children start in at the first and attend regularly. Nothing is so harmful as irregular attendance. In order to expedite matters, we shall enroll the high school as follows: Freshmen on Thursday morning, Aug .31; Sophomores on Friday morning, Sept. 1; Juniors and Seniors on Saturday morning, Sept. 2; Teachers meeting, Saturday, Sept. 2 at 2:30. Very Respectfully, W.S.Drace."
I thought it was interesting to see the teachers were meeting on Saturday. I found a similar reference in the 1908 catalog of Richmond Schools. Monthly teachers meetings were held at the high school on Saturday mornings at 9:30.
The 1916 paper was full of ads for school supplies and school shoes. At William Marshall and Sons store, you could buy a pair of shoes for $1.50 to $3, but F.G. Weary's Variety Store had shoes for $1.39 to $2.50 a pair. At Weary's store you could even use a Village School Shoe coupon.
When this building opened in 1916, Miss Ethel Kirkpatrick moved into room 20 at the southwest corner of the 3rd floor. It was her math room for the next 40 years. Miss Ethel liked math, but she loved sports. It was a known fact that the athletic boys of RHS were know as "Miss Ethel's Boys." When it came time to name the new gym in the 1950s, if had to be "Kirkpatrick Auditorium."
Since Miss Ethel did not pass on until 1976, I am sure she got to enjoy events in the auditorium that shared her name. The 1973 Ray County History Book has a wonderful story about Miss Ethel. It tells the story about her and the teachers of RHS giving up one month's salary to help pay for the paving of Summit Street in front of the high school.
Wayne Vanbebber remembers playing basketball in the original RHS gym. The basketball goals were attached directly to the walls. He said it was not a pretty sight when you smacked up against one of the metal heat registers on the wall next to the basketball goals.
When Kirkpatrick Auditorium was built, the old gym became a study hall and the school library.
When I went to school here in the 1970s, Miss Ethel's room was still a math room, but we had Mary Julia Merrifield as our math teacher. Her father, Roy Groce, taught here before her. One day in 1947, my father did not want to take a test in Mr. Groce's class so he informed him that he would not be in class the following day.
Mr. Groce told him that he would get a big fat zero if he did not show up. To make matters worse, my dad joked that he would do a fly-by in his Piper Cub airplane. The next day, he flew by the classroom at eye level and waved. Everyone knew who it was.
He got a zero on the test, but he still got to graduate with his class later that year.
Richmond has always been a supporter of its Spartan teams, but I have to say the 1960s were some of the best years. On Thursday nights, everyone would meet at school and form a line. The band would play and the cheerleaders would lead while everyone joined in the "snake dance." They went uptown and then back to the high school.
The police would stop traffic and no one would get in the way. One night they made a detour and took the "snake" in the front door of the Farris Theater while a movie was playing. They went down one aisle and back up the other side while the band played on.
It always ended with a bonfire in the parking lot when the procession got back to school.
The fall of 1971 was a very exciting time at RHS. With Tom Adams as coach, our football team won the Missouri AAA State Football championship. Over 1,200 Spartans made the 300-mile round-trip journey to Fulton. Many others listened to the game on the radio. It was a long ride down, but the ride home was much easier because we came home with the championship trophy. This trophy is now on display in the current RHS building.
If you had to walk home, you walked down College Street to get most places. And there was nothing more fun that stopping at Central Drug to get a cherry Coke or a cherry phosphate. We thought we were cool in the "hippy" days of the 1970s, but we were not half as cool as our parents were when they did the same thing in the 1940s and 1950s.
In September 2005, the old RHS building was used to train emergency personnel during a simulated terror attack. Some of the building was demolished in advance and cars were set on fire to make the drill seem realistic. Emergency personal arrived to save volunteer "patients" and the rest is history. Some people gathered to watch the excitement, but I made plans to be out of town that day. Since I was working for an airline Sept. 11, 2001, a terrorist attack at RHS hit a little too close to home for me.
I prefer to think our school went out in a blaze of glory and then went on to the big bonfire in the sky. RIP – RHS, 1916-2005.
Have a story to tell? Let Linda know at email@example.com
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The following crimes are from the week of June 8 to June 14, 2014.
June 8. Unit block E. Chestnut Hill Ave. Complainant states that an unknown person broke the front passenger side window of car, and stole a Calvin Klein Coach Bag, a black berry, money, Pa. driver's license and various identifications.
June 9. 7900 block Ardleigh Street. Complainant states that between 1:30 p.m. on June 8 and 6:40 a.m. on June 9, an unknown person broke the left front window of car and stole a change purse containing money.
June 9. 8000 block Stenton Ave. Complainant states that when she returned to this location she discovered that all items that were still in new packaging were stolen. Taken were two stainless steel kitchen sinks, two faucet sets, 12 ceiling lights, one bathtub fixture, one toilet, one medicine cabinet and five door locks.
June 14. 7800 block St. Martin's Lane. Complainant states that she had a 10" Trek bike behind her home leaning against garage. She saw an unknown black male, 16 – 20 years old, wearing an orange t-shirt and black hat, steal her bike.
Summary – Four crimes for week: one theft, one burglary, and two thefts from vehicles.
Town Watch.
If you have been the victim of a crime and would like information, service or support, call Northwest Victim Services, 6301 Germantown Ave., Second Floor, Suite One, 215-438-4410. The service is free.

subset: commoncrawl


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Making Money-Exploring the Economy of Young Homeless Workers
Making Money-Exploring the Economy of Young Homeless Workers
Although the Homeless Hub works tirelessly to bring current and up to date content to our site, access to many journal articles is constrained by the subscription restrictions imposed by publishing companies. While the Homeless Hub cannot afford to buy access to the innumerable proprietary journals we link to, we do strive, at least, to bring the knowledge of this content to our users.
Furthermore, the Homeless Hub is committed to the principles of open access and we provide free access to all original Homeless Hub content, thus offering our users the ability to re-use and re-distribute scholarly works as long as there is proper attribution to the author. We feel strongly that this serves the broader community by greatly improving the dissemination, visibility, and impact of research findings.
We will endeavour to improve upon our open access principles in order to continue to provide our users with access to the best and most current research available.
Three hundred and sixty homeless youth in Toronto, Canada were asked to report how they made money in order to survive. Income generation among this marginal population was conceptualized by fusing theory and research in the fields of the informal economy and the "underclass" and sociological criminology. While economic activity was found to be flexible, our analysis also reveals that work on the street is stratified on the basis of worker backgrounds and job/situational conditions. In terms of policy, our key theme in this paper is that successful strategies to move young people off the streets cannot rest simply on low paying employment as a solution.


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Reader Bob Kirk pointed out this article in tomorrow's Telegraph, on John Kerry's effort to re-start his campaign. The Telegraph's reporter, Alec Russell, is not impressed:
Amid mounting concern in party circles over the state of his campaign, the Democratic candidate played the "man of the people" card, appearing on a porch in sleepy, rural Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, and challenging President George W Bush's record on health, education and finance.
The setting – amid the clipped lawns and painted fences of middle America – should have been perfect for his rebranded message. Mr Kerry must have made thousands of such stops in his long political career, yet even his supporters conceded that for all their hopes of a new dawn, he still lacked the passion that is the hallmark of Mr Bush's campaigning.
When he stepped on to the porch and greeted the family of the owner, a local trade unionist, he crossed his hands in front of him, looking distinctly awkward in his blazer and dark shirt.
Mr Bush's campaign staff will have loved his opening comments, praising the limited menu of a local cafe. Mr Kerry said it was perfect "for confused people like me who can't make up our minds about what we're going to eat" – words which would fit perfectly into a pro-Bush attack ad.
Mr. Kerry's political tin ear has been widely noted. Nevertheless, I find this astonishing. Does Kerry really not understand his own worst vulnerability? I'm speechless.


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Wagon & Wheelbarrow Collection
How cute is this? Bring a bite-sized taste of the Amish way of life to your garden with this miniaturized wooden wheelbarrow! Its size makes it the ideal centerpiece for seasonal arrangements - a home for small pumpkins, or a great space for Easter eggs and sprigs of Christmas cheer - and its solid wood construction and handcrafted American quality ensure that this wheelbarrow is every inch as strong and durable as the best on the market. The optional galvanized steel liner turns the wheelbarrow into a long-lasting planter for flowers, garden herbs, and much more!
Additionally, the Amish woodworker who crafts these pieces is more than happy to hand-paint a design of your choice to the side of your wheelbarrow. We've included a list of ideas for inspiration in the menu above, but if you'd like to see your pet picture, wedding or anniversary dates, or special birthday or your business logo and name instead, just get in touch with us and we'll pass your design along to the woodshop.
This model is built from rustic wood that features natural imperfections designed to give it an authentic look. Choose from a rainbow of colors to find the perfect shade for your mini wheelbarrow. If you've any questions at all, please get in touch - we're would love to hear from you!
Thank you for your inquiry. We do our best to respond to all inquiries within 24 hours. If you do not receive a response it is likely an email problem. If this is the case, please call us toll free at 866-272-6773.
Please note that many emails are captured by anti-spam software.
Inputting your telephone number in the field on this page will insure that you get a response from us by telephone if email fails.
© Copyrights 2003 - 2018 DutchCrafters All rights reserved.


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MSAccess database onto Web
Bajet $30-100 USD
I have a microsoft access database with tables, forms and queries. Through a switchboard, I am able to add records and run a few queries.
I need help to improve functionality of the actual access database and I would like the database to be available for updating on the web.
For a unix or windows webserver.
The access database is attached, I can give more information if anybody would like it.
30 pekerja bebas membida secara purata $90 untuk pekerjaan ini
Dear sir, there seem to be no database attached,pls open pmb for discussion,thanx
HI There I don't see the db but sure can discuss to give you a fair quote Regards
Hello, I have seen your requirements. I can do this for you as I have hand on experience. You can see my made site at 1. [login to view URL] 2. [login to view URL] I hope to get an opportunity and a p Lagi
Hi, will be be to start for you right away. will produce the quality work for you as required. Please allow me to discuss with you further. Thanks. Regards.
Respected sir i am interested in your project,tell me whether you use the ASP or PHP for Access Database i will put it on the internet in one day from prathmesh k patel.
Hello. I didn't see the DB attached but would really like to see it and discuss the required changes before making a final bid.
I will create WEB based forms to update the MS-Access database. The software will be user-friendly and easy to use.
Please check PM for more details. Regards, BIS Solutions
get me the database and you`ll get results in due time. can demonstrate similar work as well if project is approved.


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Thomas M. Spotts D.D.S. 64, of Pine Island, FL passed away on January 24, 2014. He was born on January 13, 1950 in Chicago, Illinois to Melvin and Alyce Spotts. He was raised in Park Ridge, Illinois, graduating from Maine South High School class of 1968 where he was All State and All American in Football. He was a graduate of Brown University class of 1971. Dr. Spotts received his Doctor of Dental Surgery from the University of Illinois, Chicago in 1977. He practiced dentistry at his practice in Naperville Illinois until he moved his family to southwest Florida in 1989. He eventually opened his dental practice on Pine Island in 1990, and practiced there until 2013. All the while enjoying what Southwest Florida had to offer, especially the wonderful community of Pine Island and the people he came to know and treat at his office.
He is survived by his former wife of 38 years, Ellen J. Winfield; four children, Christen W. Spotts, Mitchell T. Spotts, Samantha A. Spotts, and Taryn M. Spotts; his mother, Alyce K. Spotts; his three brothers; one sister; and other extended family members and friends.
Please join his family, who is holding a memorial to honor him and their memories of him on Friday March 28, 2014 at Coral Ridge Funeral Home, 1630 SW Pine Island Road in Cape Coral, from 4 to 7 pm. Please visit www.coralridgefuneralhome.com to leave thoughts and memories for his family.
Article Photos
Thomas M. Spotts D.D.S.


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What I ordered-Captain's Ration Omelet with seasoned red skin potatoes and an English muffin
So as you can see by this post, I had visited the Crow's Nest before. A long time ago. Like almost 5 years ago (woah! Have I really been in Kalamazoo this long?). And, was unimpressed. For awhile now, Mr. Foodie has been saying that we needed to go there for breakfast. That opportunity finally arose when we both had a day off and dropped Little Foodie off at daycare so we could be productive. First stop, the Crow's Nest.
The decor and atmosphere is just as I remember it. Kitschy. Cutesy. Divey. And other words ending in "y". The menu, however, seemed different to me. My memory of this place is VERY divey. With a plastic cover menu with too many things on it. That is not what we got on this visit. So, now I am asking myself if my memory is way off, or if things have changed a lot in the last 5 years!
The breakfast menu is so awesome sounding, in fact, that I had trouble deciding what to order. A lot of trouble. I landed on this gem of an omelet with basil walnut pesto mixed into the eggs, sausage, sun dried tomatoes, and provolone inside, and a really great red pepper aioli on top. Add the side of potatoes (YUM) and the house made English muffin (SUPER YUM) and you've got yourself quite the breakfast.
The omelet was truly fantastic. The flavors all came together in such harmony. Not one really stole the show, though the pesto stood out. But, if you know me, you know I love pesto! The sausage was great and added to the hardiness of this meal. I really probably shouldn't have finished this whole thing but (don't judge me!) I did!The potatoes were really well seasoned and with a little of the housemade ketchup were really yummy. I tried them with the red pepper aioli too... that was super tasty.
I was really blown away by the English muffin. I LOVE English muffins and have never ventured into the English muffin making place. And, knowing that these gems are available around the corner makes me not want to. The outside had the right amount of crisp. The inside was the right amount of chewy. So, so very good.
One surprise was the pricing. With this being such a hot spot for college students in the area, I expected it to be uber cheap. It was not. I didn't have to take a loan out to pay for breakfast, but it was pricier than I expected. It is absolutely worth the money, but that took me a back a bit.
Had this been my first trip to the Crow's Nest, I probably would have gone with 5 forks, but I can't forget that other trip. So, let's average it out, and 4 it is.
|four golden forks out of five


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Penicillamine drug molecule
F011/3560 Royalty Free
Please login to use the price calculator
Credit: MOLEKUUL/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
Release details: Model release not required. Property release not required.
Keywords: 3 dimensional, 3d, agent, arsenic, arthritis, artwork, atomic structure, atoms, biological, biology, carbon, chelating, chelation, chelator, chemical, chemistry, complex, complexing, composition, connections, d-penicillamine, digitally generated, disease, drug, drugs, generic, hydrogen, illustration, immunosuppression, medication, medicinal, medicine, metal, model, molecular, molecular model, molecule, nitrogen, no one, no-one, nobody, oxygen, penicillamin, penicillamine, pharma, pharmaceutical, pharmacology, pharmacy, plain background, product, rheuma, rheumatoid, sulfur, therapy, three dimensional, treatment, white background
Licence fees: A licence fee will be charged for any media (low or high resolution) used in your project.


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Nursing at Geisinger
Exceptional patient care
At Geisinger, we put our patients first with our nursing practice, patient care and quality outcomes exceeding the highest standards. And knowing that our entire care team is committed to excellence in all aspects of patient care makes Geisinger the best choice when choosing a healthcare provider.
Additional links
Nursing Strategic Plan
Nursing Professional Practice Model


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All week volunteers have been going to select locations with Whaddayaknow's trivia masters and selling raffle tickets for a 50/50 raffle. Each team that buys tickets gets bonus points for their final score. They also get bonus points for correctly identifying the man pictured on the bottom of the Chicago Cat Rescue handout. (See the picture above. Answer at the bottom of the blog.) At the end of the night half the money raised from raffle tickets is given to one lucky winner! We have had a wonderful reception at all the pubs, bars and grills we have been to this week. We have raised a decent amount of money, but more importantly we have made people aware of our organization. Anytime we can make people aware of Chicago Cat Rescue, whether as potential volunteers, foster parents, or adopters, we are glad for the opportunity.
|One of our raffle winners pictured with Aaron from Whaddayaknow and Eden of Chicago Cat Rescue
Tonight is our last night taking part in pub trivia. If you would like to join us for one final night of trivia and raffles stop by Bad Dog Tavern - 4535 N. Lincoln Ave at 8pm! Grab your roommate, your best friends, your co-workers or the next people you meet on the street, whatever you have to do to make up a team (they can be as small as two people). We hope to see you there! Just don't cheat on that bonus question...wink, wink.
Do you have any ideas for fundraisers or events that Chicago Cat Rescue can run? Have any cat loving contacts? We are always looking for new fundraiser ideas and new ways to promote Chicago Cat Rescue. If you have any ideas, please let us know! E-mail email@example.com with your ideas or suggestions!
The answer to our trivia question: that is James Dean pictured with his Siamese cat Marcus. Marcus was a gift from Elizabeth Taylor.


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Innov8tiv – Blacks In Technology in USA, UK, Caribbean Islands & Africa
If there is one thing truly dear to livestock farmers, then it is the quality and quantity of the pasture their animals feeds on. Having the wrong quality and quantity of pasture means malnourished livestock that fetches less money. Hence, less financial returns for the farmers, fundamentally meaning bad business.
With that in mind, think of the ocean floor and the biodiversity submerged under there. See a fisherman's profit comes from catching as many fishes as possible and the bigger the individual fish, the more the profit they can make.
That always results to fishers employing fishing methods that are not only harmful to the biodiversity existing in the waters, but also are unsustainable business practices. Big fishing boats cast wide nets that simply scoop everything from the surface to the ocean floors, leading to the destruction of the coral reefs and other biodiversity within the ocean waters.
Ironically, the small gains such fishing boats make in the current short term period leads to loss of revenue in the long run. That is because coral reefs make up the feeding and reproducing grounds for the fishes. Their destruction …read more
Read more here:: Our Farm is at the Bottom of the Ocean, and we Protect the Corals which is the Pasture to our Livestock


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Click here for more information about laboratory operations and procedures
If you have additional questions regarding this test, please call: 415-353-1667
Creatinine Clearance
|Available Stat?
|Test code
|Performed by
|Parnassus & Mission Bay Chemistry
|In House Availability
|Test available 7 days per week from 8:00 AM to midnight only.
|Spectrophotometric, kinetic (alkaline picrate,Jaffe) assay on Beckman DXC 600/800 analyzers. Calibration traceable to isotope dilution mass spec (IDMS) standardization
Click here for more information on Parnassus assay
|Collection Instructions
|Submit serum (Gold top) drawn within 24 hours of urine collection-preferably within the interval of collection.
Give the weight in kg and height in cm of the patient if a corrected clearance is needed.
Refrigerate the collection container during the collection period.
|Container type
|24 hour urine collection container AND Gold top
Click here for Urine Preservative Requirements
|Amount to Collect
|Entire 24 hour urine output and
2 mL blood (Gold top)
|Sample type
|24 hour urine collection or timed urine AND serum
|Preferred volume
|Min. Volume
|UCSF Rejection Criteria
|Container not refrigerated during collection
|mL/min/1.73 m2
|Normal range
Pediatric reference ranges from Holliday, Malcolm A; Barratt, T. Martin and Vernier, Robert L. Pediatric Nephrology, 2nd edition Williams & Wilkins and Edelmann, Chester M. Jr. Pediatric Kidney Disease vol 1, Little Brown & Company, Boston MA. Adult reference ranges from Tietz Textbook of Clinical Chemistry 2nd edition,W.B. Saunders Company
|Refrigerated 2 days
|Turn around times
|4 hours
|Additional information
|Note: Clearances are often inaccurate because of incomplete urine collection. A 4- or 6-hour collection is likely to be more complete than the classic 24 hour test, but extrapolation of results from shortened collections may not be accurate.
GFR can also be estimated from serum creatinine measurements without the need for urine creatinine measurements. See the laboratory manual entry on serum creatinine for details on estimating GFR from serum creatinine results.
|CPT coding
|LOINC code
|Last Updated
|Entry Number
|Lab Procedure Link
|Click here for Procedure


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TargetScan App
From TargetScan - Wiki
Revision as of 19:32, 5 November 2017 by Thomas.gabrowski (Talk | contribs)
TargetScan has been created for target shooting enthusiasts taking the sport seriously. In this wiki you can find detailed explanation of its features and answers to freqently asked questions.
Using TargetScan
- Quick Start
- Scanning targets
- Editing shot location
- Deleting a Folder or Session
- Supported disciplines
- Score Analysis
- Stat Charts
- Heat Map
- Data Backup
- TargetScan Pro
- Trial (Demo) version
- Hardware Requirements
- Using TargetScan purchased in the Apple App Store on an Android device
- Understanding your score
- Shooting Group Statistics
- Account & Billing
- iCloud doesn't work (data not synced between iPhone and iPad)
- Supporting TargetScan
- Translations
- Action Pistol Targets
- Shooter's Diary
- TargetScan for Android
- TargetScan for Windows Mobile
- TargetScan Beta


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I'm progressing in my investigation of web applications using the latest tools and now it's time to tackle identity. I have a few requirements here:
- I want an administrative user that doesn't rely on anything else
- I also want to register users via Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft
I'm going to have to get down and dirty with Entity Framework (an ORM for SQL databases) and the ASP.NET Identity 3.0 framework. This post is all about the pre-requisites – getting a database set up that is usable by the identity framework.
I've already got a basic MVC6 setup with a controller (HomeController) and View (Index.cshtml) so I'm not going to include those details here. I'm just concentrating on the extra pieces you need for setting up Identity.
I'm going to use a SQL Express database during development since that is located on the local machine and I can blow it away if I need to. I'm planning on using an Azure-based SQL database in production since that allows me to scale my web site using auto-scale in Azure. Both of those use the standard Microsoft SQL Server plugins to connect. I need some packages from NuGet (registered in my project.json file) to effect that. Here is the list of new (additive) packages:
- EntityFramework.SqlServer
- Microsoft.AspNet.Identity
- Microsoft.AspNet.Identity.EntityFramework
- Microsoft.Framework.ConfigurationModel.Json
The latter is not strictly needed. It's used for specifying configuration options in a JSON file and I'm going to want to set certain configuration options up, so a JSON file is a good place for them. There are other ways of handling this.
Talking of the configuration file, I'm going to call my configuration file config.json. I know – it's an original name. Place the config.json file in the root of your project. Here are the contents:
{ "AdminUser": { "Username": "admin", "Password": "changeme" }, "Database": { "ConnectionString": "Server=(localdb)\mssqllocaldb;Database=TestDb;Trusted_Connection=True;MultipleActiveResultSets=true" } }
Spoiler: There is a mistake in this file. I've deliberately made the mistake so that I can demonstrate something later on and the fix is easy.
The AdminUser block is for specifying the username and password for the administrative user when it is first created. Once it is created, these entries are ignored. The connection string points to a test database on my local SQL Express instance. I will change this when I move to production to point to the Azure database instance. If you already have a database because of your application then you can use that.
Let's take a look at my Startup class in Startup.cs in pieces (you can string them all together to get the complete picture):
public class Startup { public Startup() { Configuration = new Configuration() .AddJsonFile("config.json") .AddEnvironmentVariables(); } public IConfiguration Configuration { get; private set; }
I first of all load my config.json file into a Configuration object. Then I allow the operator to override any of my settings with environment variables. Louis Dejardin did a really good post on configuration so I won't go into it here.
public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services) { // Entity Framework Service backed by SQL Server services.AddEntityFramework() .AddSqlServer() .AddDbContext(options => options.UseSqlServer(Configuration.Get("Database:ConnectionString"))); // Configure the identity service based on our configuration services.Configure(options => { options.DefaultAdminUserName = Configuration.Get("AdminUser:Username"); options.DefaultAdminPassword = Configuration.Get("AdminUser:Password"); }); // Now add the entity framework backed identity service services.AddIdentity() .AddEntityFrameworkStores() .AddDefaultTokenProviders(); // ASP.NET MVC6 Service services.AddMvc(); }
Next I am getting into services. Prior to this change I only had the MVC6 service, which is still at the bottom of the method. Let's take a look at the rest of it. Firstly I add Entity Framework as a service, making it talk to SQL Server and then setting up the connection string from our configuration.
I am then adding a configuration object based on a model (more on that later) – specifically setting up the Admin username and password in that model.
Finally, I'm setting up Identity to use my ApplicationUser model and my ApplicationDbContext object that I've used to configure EntityFramework. This is basically the glue between the identity system and Entity Framework (and hence my database).
public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app) { // A 404 Error Page with useful information app.UseErrorPage(ErrorPageOptions.ShowAll); // Serve up the stuff in wwwroot app.UseStaticFiles(); // Configure ASP.NET MVC6 app.UseMvc(routes => { routes.MapRoute( name: "default", template: "{controller=Home}/{action=Index}/{id?}" ); }); // Set up the Identity database IdentityDbOperations.InitializeIdentityDbAsync(app.ApplicationServices).Wait(); } }
The other part of my startup is the Configure method. Here I am just calling an async routine to initialize my database if it isn't already set up.
There are three models that I need to write:
- ApplicationDbContext
- ApplicationUser
- IdentityDbContextOptions
The ApplicationUser represents the user that is being logged in. It's modeled after the IdentityUser, so it is fairly straight forward. Similarly, the ApplicationDbContext is modeled after an IdentityDbContext but based on my new ApplicationUser. I put these definitions in the same file (ModelsApplicationDbContext.cs)
using Microsoft.AspNet.Identity; using Microsoft.AspNet.Identity.EntityFramework; namespace AspNetIdentity.Models { public class ApplicationDbContext : IdentityDbContext { } public class ApplicationUser : IdentityUser { } }
Defining the ApplicationUser and ApplicationDbContext like this allows me to add things to the model for the user if I so desire. I can't change the IdentityUser. Having said that, the IdentityUser has a bunch of general properties on a user that are useful already so I'm not sure I'll be doing much extending. You can view these objects as follows: ApplicationUser is the model for my user. ApplicationDbContext is a database object that knows how to update the database when users get added and removed from my application.
The IdentityDbContextOptions model is used for passing the default Administrator username and password around the application. It's pretty basic – just two properties:
namespace AspNetIdentity.Models { public class IdentityDbContextOptions { public string DefaultAdminUserName { get; set; } public string DefaultAdminPassword { get; set; } } }
The final step of the process is to look at the IdentityDbOperations class. This is the class that sets up the initial data. I want to do three things in this class:
- Create the database (if it doesn't exist).
- Create an "admin" role (if it doesn't exist).
- Add the admin user to the "admin" role (it it isn't already there).
In short, if things break – I want to get the database back to a minimally viable state so I can log in again. Here is the code in sections so I can comment.
namespace AspNetIdentity.Models { public class IdentityDbOperations { // The default administrator role const string adminRole = "admin"; public static async Task InitializeIdentityDbAsync(IServiceProvider serviceProvider) { using (var db = serviceProvider.GetRequiredService()) { var sqlDb = db.Database as SqlServerDatabase; if (sqlDb != null) { // Create the database if it does not already exist Debug.WriteLine("InitializeIdentityDbAsync: Ensuring Database exists"); await sqlDb.EnsureCreatedAsync(); // Create the first user if it does not already exist await CreateAdminUser(serviceProvider); } } }
This is the entry point into the class and is called from my Startup.Configure() method. It ensures the database is created and creates it if the database does not exist (point 1 above). Then it will try to create the admin user (below):
private static async Task CreateAdminUser(IServiceProvider serviceProvider) { var options = serviceProvider.GetRequiredService<IOptions>().Options; var userManager = serviceProvider.GetRequiredService<UserManager>(); var roleManager = serviceProvider.GetRequiredService<RoleManager>(); // If the admin role does not exist, create it. Debug.WriteLine("CreateAdminUser: Ensuring Role admin exists"); if (!await roleManager.RoleExistsAsync(adminRole)) { Debug.WriteLine("CreateAdminUser: Role admin does not exist - creating"); var roleCreationResult = await roleManager.CreateAsync(new IdentityRole(adminRole)); DumpIdentityResult("CreateAdminUser: Role Creation", roleCreationResult); } else { Debug.WriteLine("CreateAdminUser: Role admin exists"); } // if the user does not exist, create it. Debug.WriteLine(String.Format("CreateAdminUser: Ensuring User {0} exists", options.DefaultAdminUserName)); var user = await userManager.FindByNameAsync(options.DefaultAdminUserName); if (user == null) { Debug.WriteLine("CreateAdminUser: User does not exist - creating"); user = new ApplicationUser { UserName = options.DefaultAdminUserName }; var userCreationResult = await userManager.CreateAsync(user, options.DefaultAdminPassword); DumpIdentityResult("CreateAdminUser: User Creation", userCreationResult); if (userCreationResult.Succeeded) { Debug.WriteLine("CreateAdminUser: Adding new user to role admin"); var roleAdditionResult = await userManager.AddToRoleAsync(user, adminRole); DumpIdentityResult("CreateAdminUser: Role Addition", roleAdditionResult); } } else { Debug.WriteLine("CreateAdminUser: User already exists"); } }
This is a little more complex. In identity land there is a user manager – an object that manages, well, users. There is also a role manager – an object that manages roles. Roles are collections of users that share common permissions and are used for authorization within the application. A user does not need to have a role.
The first thing we do is check to see if the role "admin" exists. If it doesn't, we try to create it. Then we move onto the user. Just like with the role, we check to see if our admin user exists. if the user does not exist, then we create it and add it to the role we just created.
This is one area of the application that doesn't get exercised much so I've added some debugging statements to it. In particular, I want to see the results of all these additions and changes. Each of the changes returns an IdentityResult. In that object are two properties that are interesting:
- Succeeded is true if the operation succeeded
- Errors is a list of errors that happened if the operation was not successful
I call DumpIdentityResult (below) to dump these out to my Debug window. You can find this window in the Output window (normally at the bottom of the screen) – just select "Show output from: Debug".
private static void DumpIdentityResult(string prefix, IdentityResult result) { Debug.WriteLine(String.Format("{0}: Result = {1}", prefix, result.Succeeded ? "Success" : "Failed")); if (!result.Succeeded) { foreach (var error in result.Errors) { Debug.WriteLine(String.Format("--> {0}: {1}", error.Code, error.Description)); } } } } }
That's pretty much it for code. I have not added Identity yet – that's my next task. However, I want to ensure my database is set up properly. To do this, run the project and wait for your initial Home page to load. Now, let's go look at the database. With the project still running, use View -> Server Explorer to open up the Server Explorer. It will look like this:
Right-click on Data Connections and select Add Connection… Enter (localdb)mssqllocaldb in the server name box and click on Refresh. It will look like this:
Note the drop down for the database name. Select the TestDb database and click on Ok. A new node will appear under the Data Connections – that is your database. Expand it, and then expand the Tables node. It will look something like this:
You can right-click on any table to see the contents. Just select Show Table Data. We are concerned with three tables. The first is the AspNetRoles table – we created an admin role and it should be there. Luckily for me, it is. The next table is the AspNetUsers table – that holds the user names. Opening that shows a single row with a whole lot of NULL entries – not what I wanted to see. I wanted to see my admin user. The final table is the AspNetUserRoles table – this would contain an association between my role and my user. However my user doesn't exist and so this table is empty as well. What went wrong?
Fortunately, I added some debugging to my database creation methods. Scrolling back in my Debug window, I see the following:
I can clearly see from this that the user creation failed (which I knew anyway), but it gives me the reasons. There is a default password complexity requirement and my password does not meet it. I can go ahead and change my password or I can adjust the password complexity requirements. The simplest mechanism right now is to adjust the default password in config.json to match the requirements. I changed mine to Chang3Me!.
See, I told you there was an error!
Once the change is made, I restarted the server and did the same checks as before. Looking at the database now, you can see two rows in the AspNetUsers table – the NULL one and one for the admin user. You will note that the password is hashed and several other fields have been filled in for you.
Also, if you look in the AspNetUserRoles table, you will see a two column row with UserId set to the Id of the user in AspNetUsers and RoleId is set to the Id of the user in AspNetRoles.
Want one of those fancy database diagrams for this database? I did. Unfortunately, the tool that would generate those (SQL Server Data Tools) isn't out for Visual Studio 2015 yet. So that will have to wait.
In the next post I will take a look at authentication and authorization and see about getting this user to log in to the application.
If you are interested in the code after this project is done, then take a look at my GitHub repository. It's all in the AspNetIdentity project.


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Reunion of Staff Members of Hotel Thilanka
The Inaugural reunion of the staff of Hotel Thilanka was held recently. The present General Manager of Hotel Thilanka Mr. Timothy Paldano gave the lead to organize the event.
Hotel Thilanka established in 1976 has had a large number of employees numbering several hundred over the years. This inaugural reunion gathered not only those in Sri Lanka but many who are now living abroad. Many others who could not be present in person, connected via Skype to greet their former colleagues.


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City of Davis, CAHome Menu
Contact Information
(530) 757-5633
Office Address
1818 Fifth Street, Davis, CA 95616
Office Hours
Monday – Friday
8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Hello City of Davis Community!
2018 Davis Arbor
Day Celebration
Hello City of Davis Community!
The National Arbor Day Foundation created a special designation for cities who meet certain criteria in their Urban Forestry programs - it's called Tree City USA. The City of Davis is about to be awarded its 40th consecutive award for being a Tree City USA! In California, we've had this designation the second longest to Sacramento. We received our very first Tree City USA designation only 1 year after the program started.
To learn more about the Tree City USA program, please visit the National Arbor Day Foundation site.
To celebrate, we hosted our annual Arbor Day event in Central Park on Saturday, March 17, 2018.
City of Davis Arbor Day Art Contest!
Eligible contestants: School-aged children in the City of Davis, grades Kindergarten through 9th.
Theme: Why I Love Trees
Our goal was to draw out of our young community their own personal perspective of trees. However, applicants were allowed to use this art contest as a teaching moment about the environmental, social, economic, and health benefits of urban forestry, using the facts, figures, and illustrations found on the Invest from the Ground Up Resources site.
Display: Submissions were at City Hall, in the display case, from February 15 through March 19. They can also be seen at the top of our home page in our image rotation.
- Winners were chosen by City of Davis Urban Forestry and Environmental Resources staff, based on the following age groups:
- Winners were announced and prizes awarded at our Arbor Day Celebration on Saturday, March 17, 2018 at Central Park.
Questions? Call or Email Urban Forestry Supervisor, Julia Jones (530) 757-5679 or email@example.com.
Tree Removal/ Modification Requests
City trees must be requested for removal. The City of Davis Tree Commission reviews and makes a determination on tree removal at the monthly Tree Commission meetings.
To submit a removal request to the Tree Commission complete the Street Tree Removal Request located in the quick documents menu on the Urban Forestry home page. If the tree is dead or in an imminently hazardous condition please call the Urban Forestry Division at (530) 757-5633.
The Tree Commission does not have the authority to recommend the removal of a City Tree for its debris, such as leaves, fruit, nuts, pollen, pine cones, needles, etc., nor does it have the authority to recommend the removal of a tree for its potential as an allergen or for solar collector installation per Municipal Code Section 40.38.00. The Tree Commission does not have the authority to remove a tree if it is healthy. The Commission looks at the following criteria when evaluating a tree removal request:
- Dead tree
- Sick tree
- Vandalism
- Split tree
- Leaning tree
- Root damage
- Increasing limb failures
Trees on commercially or multi-family zoned properties are governed by the Tree Preservation Ordinance and require a Tree Modification Permit for pruning and removal.
To apply for a tree modification permit complete the Tree Modification Permit Application below:
Tree Modification Permit Application
Tree Planting
The City plants trees between October and March. Replacements for removed trees will be planted during those months. Tree species selection will be determined in conjunction with the Urban Forest Manager. To view a list of trees that may be available see the Master Tree List.
Evaluation of City tree(s)
To request an evaluation of a City tree contact the Urban Forestry Division at (530) 757-5633 or via email at email@example.com and a work request will be generated. The City tree(s) will be evaluated by the Urban Forest Manager for the following:
- Disease/pests
- Roots
- City/resident ownership questions
- Tree stake removal/replacement
Tree work will be prescribed as necessary.
What is a City Tree?
Any tree planted, maintained, and/or assumed by the City of Davis within the public easement, which is a ten foot strip inside the curb or the back edge of the sidewalk, running parallel to the street, and is a tree species which is listed on the current and/or past Master Street Tree List. All new replacements will be selected from the current approved list. The current Master Street Tree List supersedes any or all others upon annual review and approval by City Council action.
To find out if your tree is a City of Davis street tree contact the Urban Forestry Division at (530) 757-5633 or by email at firstname.lastname@example.com


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September 23, 2011
MEMORANDUM TO FEDERAL AGENCY CONTACTS: NARA's Agency Services Bimonthly Records and Information Discussion Group (BRIDG) Meeting on Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Please mark your calendars for the next BRIDG meeting scheduled for Tuesday, October 4, 2011 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
The meeting will be held at the National Archives and Records Administration downtown building, 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW (Metrorail's Yellow or Green lines to the Archives/Navy Memorial station) in the McGowan Theater Please enter on the Constitution Avenue side of the building.
Meeting agenda items include the following:
- Status update on WNRC
FRCP Director David Weinberg will report on the impacts of the recent earthquake, rainwater leakage, and power outage on WNRC operations. The presentation will include a progress report on post-earthquake damage repair, information on notifications to agencies regarding damage to records, and information on NARA's plans for replacing the WNRC facility.
- Preview of ARCIS transfers and user management portals
ARCIS Portal Deployment Project Manager John McEvoy will lead a live demonstration of the new ARCIS transfers and user management portals. He will also provide information on upcoming plans to roll the new portal out to agency customers.
- Transformation in the Office of the Chief Records Officer
An update on recent hirings and activities related to standing up the Office of the Chief Records Officer and other parts of Agency Services.
- NARA's Records Management Consulting Services
A presentation on new services available from NARA that will be available to agencies on a reimbursable basis.
- ERA Update
A review of development completed in FY 2011 and plans for FY 2012 as agency adoption continues.
To reserve a place for the meeting, please provide your name, telephone number, and agency via email to firstname.lastname@example.com, no later than noon on Friday, September 30, 2011. You may reserve places for several staff in the same email, but for security purposes we must have each individual's name and telephone number.
NARA encourages agencies to participate at BRIDG by presenting best practices or lessons learned that would be helpful to other attending agencies. If you wish to lead a discussion, please reply to this RM Communications.
NARA reserves the right to postpone or cancel a meeting at any time. We will make every effort to contact registrants by e-mail and telephone if that occurs, so complete information at the time of registration is very important. Meetings WILL BE CANCELLED if the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) announces a "closed," "unscheduled leave," "liberal leave," or "delayed arrival" policy for Federal employees for that day or if there has been an elevation to threat level RED in the Homeland Security status. Official Government closing and leave information is located on the OPM web site at www.opm.gov.
Chief Records Officer for the
U.S. Government
Director, Federal Records Centers Program


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Injection Volume 1 (11/8) – The first trade paperback for Warren Ellis' new series. It's grim and weird and I'm excited to see where he takes it. The art is really good for the most part, though there were a couple sections that were hard for me to follow what was happening.
Elektrograd (11/18) – The latest short in Warren Ellis' Summon Books series is a retro future noir story based in an experimental city inspired by real life experimental architecture. It reads like a graphic novel (and the afterword confirms that it was originally written with that in mind).
@liketocontinue (12/7) – Matt Webb's robot poem was great fun to read. It comes in 36 Tweets and the only way to get the next one is to hit the like button. It's got word play, experimentation with form, cleverness. Robots and emotions. Robot mediated poetry at it's finest.
Speak (12/8) – Absolutely wonderful. Looping, self referential at multiple levels, poignant and, at times, heartbreaking. The most human take on advanced AI I've come across.
Virtually Human (12/14) – This is a book of philosophy. If you approach it expecting something more technical, as I did, you will be disappointed. It took me a couple of chapters to realign my expectations but once I did I was well rewarded. The main thrust of the book is this: conscious artificial intelligences are coming and with them a host of philosophical, legal and moral quandaries. She focuses primarily on a type of artificial consciousness she thinks will be most prevalent, which she terms "mindclones." A mindclone is a cyber consciousness made from the digital exhaust of a biological one. Creating a mindclone, in her view, will not create a new person, but merely extend the consciousness of the biological original to a new substrate. She argues that they will be the same person and legally and culturally recognized as such.
Unfortunately she seems to have trouble coming down on what mindclones and other AIs will be able to consent to. While much of the philosophical and moral arguments are inclusive of these new consciousnesses in humanity, the more technical sections seem to waffle between treating them as consenting adults and as efficiency improving tools whose owners can tweak them at will. Nevertheless I found many of the philosophical arguments intriguing, and it's a pleasant surprise that someone is thinking these things already.
Suicide by Jaguar (12/17) – David Landsberger's first book of poetry is short and sweet. The overwhelming majority of my family's American contingent is based in Miami, giving me just enough familiarity with the city to recognize it in these poems. Unsurprisingly my favorites were those for and about Chicago including the sweet summer capsule of Chicago Haiku 1 and Chicago Elegy, a bittersweet homage to urban wildlife. All the poems are translated into Spanish which is appropriate for both Chicago and Miami. One day I hope to speak Spanish well enough to comment on the quality of the translations, but for now I'll just say it makes me happy that they're there.
Submergence (12/26) – The language in this sparse and introspective novel is often lyrical, though the narrative meanders and is ultimately unsatisfying. I found myself really enjoying certain passages of this book but never really understanding where it was going. I'm not sure if those are issues with the book or the reader, but I have a hard time recommending it.


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Hapag Halle Cuxhaven (Steubenhöft)
Historic Hapag Ship Terminal - Cuxhaven, Germany
öft pier
From 1850 to 1939, an estimated 5 million Germans and Eastern Europeans sailed from Hamburg to the New World. (See more details in our Ballinstadt Emigration Museum article.) In the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, the Hamburg-Amerika Linie, or HAPAG, carried up to 200,000 emigrants across the Atlantic each year--together with business and leisure travelers who relied on ships for transportation between Germany and North America.
In 1902, the city of Hamburg built a new "Overseas Harbor" in Cuxhaven to accommodate larger transatlantic ocean liners and growing passenger traffic. The Steubenhöft pier, a.k.a. the Hapag Halle, is still at the mouth of the Elbe River, 100 km or 60 miles downstream from the city of Hamburg.
Although scheduled transatlantic service ended more than 50 years ago, Steubenhöft continues to serve cruise ships. But that's not all: The Cuxhaven Port Authority boasts that, "Since most European harbor complexes of this time have been destroyed, the Steubenhöft remains the only fully working passenger terminal of its kind."
Visiting the Hapag Halle:
The Hapag Halle is on the waterfront in downtown Cuxhaven, within walking distance of the city's signature water tower (inset photo) and the railroad station. The main terminal building on the water is open daily, with a small Steubenhöft museum (free admission) and the excellent Seestern restaurant upstairs, where you can enjoy panoramic views of the water while you have lunch (I recommend the fried fish) or Kaffe und Kuchen in the afternoon.
Guided tours are offered during much of the year by the Fordverein Hapag Halle Cuxhaven. For details, and to learn more about the terminal and its history, see the Web links below and the captioned photos on page 2 of this article.
For more information:
The Fordverein Hapag Halle Cuxhaven has an English version of its Web site, but some of the time-sensitive information is out of date. To see a current schedule of guided tours translated into English from the organization's German pages, click here.
Cuxseite.de, a German-language Web site, has published a photo essay about the pier. If you can tolerate the idiosyncrasies of machine translation, read "Impressions from Cuxhaven Steubenhöft." Belocal.de's "Hapag-Hall" article is also worth a look.
For tourist information about Cuxhaven, visit tourismus.cuxhaven.de.
Next page: More Hapag Halle and Cuxhaven photos
2nd inset photo copyright © Martina Berg.
| Europe for Visitors - Home |
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Copyright © 1996-2018 Durant and Cheryl Imboden. All rights reserved.


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To the best understanding of modern medical science 10 Ways To Donate Your CPU Time To Science 10 Ways To Donate Your CPU Time To Science Read More , you are a meticulously structured sack of volatile chemicals under pressure. There is no reason to believe that there is anything at all special about your body, compared to that of a corpse, or that of a Buick for that matter. Except for one thing — your body contains a living human brain.
There is no evidence that any new laws of physics or supernatural phenomena are involved in human cognition. Animalism and dualism are well and truly dead. This is, at least at first, disturbing – because, from the inside of the human experience, it certainly doesn't feel like we're nothing more than a collection of chemicals. Being a person feels, on a very deep and intuitive level, like something that shouldn't be possible for what is ultimately a complicated molecular machine.
Programming Consciousness
This begs the question – if we learn how consciousness works, can we build machines, or write software 7 Amazing Websites To See The Latest In Artificial Intelligence Programming 7 Amazing Websites To See The Latest In Artificial Intelligence Programming Artificial Intelligence is not yet HAL from the 2001: The Space Odyssey…but we are getting awfully close. Sure enough, one day it could be as similar to the sci-fi potboilers being churned out by Hollywood.... Read More , that has it, too? Can the effort to build intelligent software teach us lessons about the nature of the human mind? Can we finally understand subjective experience well enough to, once and for all, decide how much moral weight we should assign to the experiences of less sophisticated minds, likes those of livestock, dolphins, or fetuses?
These are the hard questions that philosophers have grappled with for centuries. However, since philosophy as a discipline is not good at actually solving problems – very little headway 8 Spectacularly Wrong Predictions About Computers & The Internet 8 Spectacularly Wrong Predictions About Computers & The Internet Read More has been made. Here's a traditional philosopher talking about consciousness on a TED stage.
This is a good introduction to the topic, though Chalmer's philosophy is a supernatural one, proposing metaphysical phenomenon that provide consciousness in ways that don't interact with the physical world at all. This is what I'd call the easy way out.
If, in your effort to explain something, you resort to magic, then you haven't really explained it — you've simply given up with style. Arguably, Star Trek addressed the same issue better.
Recently, science has begun making meaningful progress on this problem, as artificial intelligence and neuroscience have begun to chip away at the edges of the issue. This has inspired new fields of evidence-based philosophical thinking. The insights gained in this way are enormously interesting, and help to better outline a coherent theory of consciousness, and guide us toward machines that can experience as well as reason.
Neuroscience and Consciousness
In neuroscience, it is largely the defects of the brain that teach us things about its function. When the brain breaks, we get a peek behind the curtain of the mind. Taken together, these insights begin to sketch the broad outlines of what the structure of consciousness must look like, and the result is fascinating.
For example: Cotard's delusion (more colorfully known as "Walking Corpse Syndrome"), is a delusion often caused by severe schizophrenia or physical damage to the parietal lobe of the brain, which causes a variety of symptoms, the most interesting of which is the delusion that the sufferer does not exist.
Sufferers of Cotard's delusion aren't self-aware. They genuinely don't believe that they exist, which often also leads to the conclusion that they have died. Decartes once claimed that the fundamental truth, on which all else can be based, is "I think, therefore, I am." People with Cotard's delusion disagree. In other words, the component of consciousness that includes self-awareness can be selectively turned off by damage to a specific area of the brain, while leaving the rest of the human intellect relatively intact.
A related condition is "blindsight," which affects some people who are blind due to damage to the visual center of the brain. Blindsight patients are capable of instinctively catching objects thrown at them, and, if you place objects in front of them and ask them to guess what they are, they significantly outperform random chance. However, they do not believe that they can see: subjectively, they are blind.
Blindsight patients are unique, in that they have a functioning sense (sight), but are not conscious of it. What the brain damage has destroyed is not their ability to process visual information, but their ability to be consciously aware of that processing.
Blindsight occurs when one specific circuit that leads information away from the visual cortex is damaged (the V1 circuit), but not the other two, which leaves neuroscientists in the unique position of knowing exactly which neural circuit is necessary for visual information to enter the conscious experience, but not why.
Interestingly, the reverse of Blindsight is also possible — victims of Anton-Babinski syndrome lose their vision but maintain their conscious perception of having vision, insisting that they can see normally and confabulating ridiculous explanations for their inability to perform basic tasks.
There have also been experiments on selectively disabling consciousness. For example: there is a small region of the brain called the claustrum near the center of the brain that, when stimulated by an electrode in at least some patients, entirely disables consciousness and higher cognition, which returns a few seconds later when the electric current ceases.
What's interesting is that while the stimulation is occurring, the patient remains awake, eyes open, sitting up. If the patient is asked to repeat a task while the current is turned on, they simply drift off from what they're doing and stop. It's believed that the role of the claustrum is to coordinate communication between a number of different regions of the brain, including the hippocampus, the amygdala, the caudate nucleus, and possibly others.
Some neuroscientists believe that since the claustrum serve to coordinate communication between different modules of the brain; stimulating this region would disable that coordination, and cause the brain to break down into separate components – each largely useless in isolation, and incapable of building a subjective experience.
This notion meshes with what we know about the function of anesthetics – which we've used for centuries before we understood how they work.
It is currently believed that general anesthetics interfere with networking between different high-level components of the brain, preventing them from building whatever neurological system is necessary to produce a coherent conscious experience. Upon consideration, this makes a certain amount of intuitive sense: if it isn't possible for the visual cortex to send information to your working memory, there's no way for you to have a conscious visual experience that you could talk about later.
The same goes for hearing, memory, emotion, internal monologue, planning, etc. All of those systems are modules that, once disconnected from working memory, would remove a crucial part of the conscious experience.
It may, in fact, be more accurate to talk about consciousness – rather than as a distinct, unified entity – as a collaboration of many different kinds of awareness, bound together by inclusion in the narrative flow of memory. In other words, instead of a "consciousness", you might have a visual consciousness, an audible consciousness, a consciousness of memories, and so on. It's an open question as to whether anything remains when you take away all of these pieces, or whether this explains the matter of consciousness entirely.
Theories of Consciousness
Daniel Dennett, otherwise known as the "cranky old man" of consciousness research, holds that this is in fact the case – that consciousness simply isn't as special as most people imagine. His model of consciousness, which some accuse of being overly reductionist, is called the 'multiple drafts' theory, and works like this:
The brain functions as a population of semi-independent, interconnected modules, continuously transmitting information Geeks Weigh In: Does a Human Think Faster Than a Computer? Geeks Weigh In: Does a Human Think Faster Than a Computer? Read More semi-discriminately into the network, often in response to the signals that they are receiving from other modules. Signals that trigger responses from other modules, such as a smell that provokes a visual memory, cascade between modules and escalate. The memory might provoke an emotion, and an executive process might have a response to that emotion, which might be structured by the language center into part of an inner monologue.
This process increases the odds that the whole cascade of related signals will be detected by the memory encoding mechanism of the brain, and become part of the record of short term memory: the "story" of consciousness, some of which will make it into longer term memory, and become part of the permanent record.
Consciousness, according to Dennett, is nothing but a serial narrative comprised of these sorts of cascades, which make up the entire system's record of the world it exists in, and its path through it. Because the modules don't have introspective access to their own functions, when we are asked to describe the nature of the behavior of one module, we come up with no useful information. As a result, we feel, intuitively, that our subjective experience is undefinable and ineffable.
An example would be asking someone to describe what the color red looks like. The question feels absurd, not because of any inherent fact about the universe, but because the underlying structure of the brain doesn't actually allow us to know how the color red is implemented in our own hardware. As far as our conscious experience is concerned, it's just… red.
Philosophers call these sorts of experiences 'qualia' and often assign near-mystical significance to them. Daniel Dennett suggests that they're more like a neurological 404 page the brain throws up when asked what goes on behind the curtain of a particular brain region not accessible to the conscious narrative. Dennet himself puts it like this:
There is no single, definitive "stream of consciousness," because there is no central Headquarters, no Cartesian Theatre where "it all comes together" for the perusal of a Central Meaner. Instead of such a single stream (however wide), there are multiple channels in which specialist circuits try, in parallel pandemoniums, to do their various things, creating Multiple Drafts as they go. Most of these fragmentary drafts of "narrative" play short-lived roles in the modulation of current activity but some get promoted to further functional roles, in swift succession, by the activity of a virtual machine in the brain. The seriality of this machine (its "von Neumannesque" character) is not a "hard-wired" design feature, but rather the upshot of a succession of coalitions of these specialists.
There are, of course, other schools of thought. One model that is currently popular among certain philosophers is called integrated information theory, which holds that the consciousness of a system is related to its density of internal networking – the complexity of its overall structure, relative to the structure of its components.
However, this model has been criticized via the suggestion of intuitively non-conscious (simply structured) information systems which it ranks as massively more conscious than humans. Scott Aaronson, a mathematical researcher and vocal critic of integrated information theory, said this about the issue a few months ago:
"In my opinion, the fact that Integrated Information Theory is wrong—demonstrably wrong, for reasons that go to its core—puts it in something like the top 2% of all mathematical theories of consciousness ever proposed. Almost all competing theories of consciousness, it seems to me, have been so vague, fluffy, and malleable that they can only aspire to wrongness."
Another proposed model holds that consciousness is the result of humans modelling themselves, an idea that may be compatible with Dennett's model, but suffers from the possibly fatal flaw of suggesting that a windows computer running a virtual machine of itself is in some sense conscious. The list of models of consciousness is about as long as the list of everyone who's ever felt inclined to tackle such a difficult problem.
There are a lot of options out there, from the outright mystical, to Dennett's stolid, cynical pragmatism. For my money, Dennett's multiple drafts theory strikes me as, if not a complete accounting of why human beings talk about consciousness, at least a solid start along that path.
Artificial Intelligence & Consciousness
Let's say that, a few years from now, progress in neuroscience has led to a Grand Unified Theory of Consciousness — how could we know if it's right? What if the theory leaves out something important — how would we know? The history of science has taught us to be wary of nice-sounding ideas that we can't test. So how might we test our model of consciousness?
Well, we could try to build one.
Our ability to construct intelligent machines has been going through something of a renaissance lately. Watson, a piece of intelligent software developed by IBM, which famously won on the game show Jeopardy, is also capable of a surprisingly broad suite of intellectual tasks, having been adapted to serve as both a talented chef and a superhuman diagnostician.
Though IBM calls Watson a cognitive computer, the truth is that Watson is very much a triumph of non-neuromorphic artificial intelligence Giovanni Idili of OpenWorm: Brains, Worms, and Artificial Intelligence Giovanni Idili of OpenWorm: Brains, Worms, and Artificial Intelligence Simulating a human brain is a ways off, but an open-source project is taking vital first steps, by simulating the neurology and physiology of one of the simplest animals known to science. Read More – that is, it is an intelligent piece of software that does not attempt to implement the specific insights of neuroscience and brain research. IBM works by using a large number of very different machine learning algorithms, some of which are used to evaluate the output of other algorithms to gauge their usefulness, and many algorithms which are hand-tweaked to connect together in productive ways.
As Watson improves and its reasoning becomes deeper and more useful, it's easy to imagine using Watson technology, along with other technology not yet developed, to build systems that emulate the function of specific known brain systems, and integrating those systems in a way that would produce a conscious experience.
We could then experiment with that intelligent machine, to see if it describes a subjective experience at all – and, if so, determine if that subjective experience is similar to the human experience. If we can build a conscious computer that, at its lowest level is not similar to our own neurology, that would certainly validate the model!
This idea of building an artificial intelligence to validate theories about the brain is not a new one. Spaun, a research project at the University of Alberta, is a huge (roughly mouse-scale) biological neural network simulation designed to implement models of various brain regions, including executive function, sight, working memory, and motor function.
The implementation is capable of performing a number of basic cognitive tasks, like recognizing and drawing symbols, repeating back strings of numbers, and answering simple questions by drawing the answers, and predicting the next digit of a sequence. Because Spaun can do these things, this implies that current artificial intelligence models are correct, at least in the broad strokes.
In principle, the same could be applied to consciousness, provided we can build the component parts of the system to a high enough standard. Of course, with the ability to make conscious machines comes a degree of responsibility. Turning on a machine that may be conscious is at least as big a moral responsibility as the decision to have a child, and, if we succeed, we are responsible for the well-being of that machine for the rest of its existence.
This is on top of the risks associated with building very intelligent software at all – namely the risk of a machine with different values from our own rapidly improving its own architecture until it's smart enough to begin changing the world in ways that we may not like. Numerous commentators, including Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk, have noted that this may be one of the most significant threats mankind faces going forward.
Put another way: the ability to create a new kind of "human" is a big responsibility. It might be the most important thing humanity has ever done as a species, and we should take it very seriously. None the less, there's potential there, too – the potential to understand those fundamental questions about our own minds. We're still a ways out from having the technology we need to put these ideas into practice, but not so far out that we can ignore them entirely. The future is on its way, deceptively quickly, and we'd be wise to get ready for it today.
Image credits: "Watson and the other three podiums", by Atomic Taco, "No Brain" by Pierre-Olivier Carles, "Brain", by GreenFlames09 "Lights of Ideas" by Saad Faruque, Abstract Eye by ARTEMENKO VALENTYN via Shutterstock
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The article is mistaken. Consciousness cannot be reduced to mere physics, chemistry and biology. Now, there's "magical" thinking! Reductionist/Materialist science hardly has it right. Check out: "Irreducible Mind" by Edward Kelly, Emily Williams Kelly and others; "Anomalous Experiences: Examining the Scientific Evidence" edited by Etzel Cardena, Steven Jay Lynn and Stanley Krippner; and any books by Dr. Dean Radin - for starters.
As for James Randi's million dollar challenge, that's been long debunked as a fraud. The contract has all sorts of "ifs, ands, or buts", road blocks and an escape clause for Randi and his associates, saying they can cancel the contract at any time for no reason given. For more on Randi and other "pseudo-skeptics" see http://www.debunkingskeptics.com
Plus, you materialists check out philosopher Bernardo Kastrup's site: http://www.bernardokastrup.com where he dismantles all sorts of "fairytale notions" of materialists with reason and logic.
And, to finish off here, check out the new article "Is Mind Element Needed to Interpret Quantum Mechanics" by Deepak Chopra, MD and Henry Stapp, Ph.D. at: http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/chopra/article/is-mind-element-needed-to-interpret-quantum-5666376.php
"Mind is the matrix of all matter." - Max Planck
Edit---not "conscience"...should be "conscious mind"
Andre---that's the catch---prescient dreams don't happen on command----its the unconscious working, not the conscience....at least in my case. Not only that---most of the dreams took place during a certain period in my life, not so much anymore these days, just the usual rehash of the day's events. I do have very high doubts about psychics who can do this stuff on command. I do think sometimes that there is a larger "mind" that we are all part of...it is likely apart from our neural networks. Amit Goswami Phd Physics thinks the the crazy quantum behavior is the interface of this. Maybe. I don't know.
" Life is a tale told by an idiot referring to himself as DragonMouth - full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. "
-William Shakespeare
@bnjohanson & Andre I:
The only fool bigger than the person who knows it all is the person who argues with him.
My motive and tact is purely based upon my being exceptionally willing and able to call-out incidences like this that pose ideological propaganda-based declarations as fact.....EVERY CHANCE THAT I GET, WHETHER IN A PUBLIC VENUE OR TO A LESSOR EXTENT, A VENUE LIKE THIS ONE FOR THE REST OF MY BREATHING LIFE.
...I am so sick and tired of the trend this society is taking as a consequence of having to rely on the establishment/institutional information infrastructure as their guide to knowledge, a majority of which is so deeply flawed, totally fraudulent, and managed and maintained by nothing short of a criminal enterprise, whether actively so, or negligently naive to the fact.
....but you go on ahead and remain passive in your candor; just make sure you don't choose screen names like Dragonface because that would appear inconsistent in your motives.....oh wait.
"A man must be both stupid and uncharitable who believes there is no virtue or truth but on his own side."
Joseph Addison, English poet and essayist (1672-1719)
I have experienced quite a number of prescient dreams in my life---I would be interested in how a collection of neurons is capable of that. There are deeper aspects to our psyches that require further explanation if the nuts and bolts theory is true.
If you can prove that, there' s a million dollars waiting for you.
"Animalism and dualism are well and truly dead."
So sure of this you are. There is nothing scientific in that statement. It is an unfalsifiable, metaphysical statement and it does not belong in science.
Andre- YOU'RE FIRED AND GO AWAY...forever you pre-programmed and deeply flawed Liberal LOON.
1. Quantum Mechanics is the NEWEST form of Physics you moron....advancing past the deeply flawed in the atomic scale Classical form of Physics you moron;
2. Quantum Mechanics WORKS 100% of the time AGAIN YOU MORON...look it up you obvious noob;
3. In the effort to find a theory that "explains everything" is ongoing and totally irrelevant to the quality and always accurate methods derived by Quantum Mechanics;
4. As research in Laws of Quantum Entanglement are advancing now daily, not only is the connection/relation between particles proving WRONG the once believed "light is the speed limit", but has supported in surprising fashion the likelihood of Dualism and consciousness. This discovery has proven no longer theoretical but fact as the spin of a particle WILL change direction INSTANTANEOUSLY with it's pair even when located on the other side of the Universe.
Your deeply flawed opinion regarding the "quantum consciousness crowd" is as expired as the flat-earth theory nowadays and via these new discoveries via the aforementioned.
My whole candor here is not based upon your effort to reconcile the current mysteries and "spooky actions" attributed to the results that Quantum Mechanics has concluded, nor is it aimed at ridiculing your effort to meld these relationships with AI. My serious problem with you is your declarative, presumably all-knowing, and at the same time totally inaccurate statements rife throughout your piece. Your behavior in this regard is all too common to by those leftist whackos that were successfully programmed by the methods adhered to in this Country by the DOE, but also prevalent among all of the extreme Leftists circles that laughably believe themselves to smarter than thou but horrendously retarded by their agenda(s) (pls. ref. "The Science Is Settled" as honked by your man-crush Obama supporting the Anthropogenic-deltas in Climate Change.
In conclusion: Quit the preaching of your fallacies under the guise of Declarative penmanship. It doesn't work anymore since you (a) no longer have a monopoly on your beliefs via the mainstream media spinning these myths as facts, (b) even the layman in this country is on to your culture and catching-up rapidly to your kind's overrated and dwarfed "intelligence", and (c) you need to strongly consider restructuring your soul and mental aptitude from that which was hardwired and programmed by the teachers' and professors' asses you were kissing and expand your knowledge sources outside of those that have been pre-approved by those that have toed the line fbo the poisonously biased institutionally academic stale and limited infrastructure.
Reply if you may pal....but you are a total waste of time and I likely won't be so charitable as to strive in showing you the light any longer.....
It's not unscientific to be dismissive of dragons. Science is allowed to make negative observations, as well as positive ones. If those observations are strong enough, then it's least misleading, in plain, spoken English, to speak in absolutes (because we often speak in absolutes about things we are very sure about, even if we're willing to update on overwhelming evidence). The strength of evidence for a chemical, mechanical mind is overwhelming, and it's silly to pretend that there's a reasonable doubt left.
This is not about dragons and unicorns. It's about simple logic. It takes two complementary opposite entities in order to have consciousness: a knower and a known. And neither can be its own opposite. Some of the neuronal activations in the brain contribute to conscious events. Thus the activation of a neuron is the known. A neuronal activation cannot be its own opposite. Before the brain-is-all-there-is crowd can claim that they are practicing science, they must provide an experimental setup that will tell us in no uncertain terms whether or not a thermostat is conscious. Until then, it's just more metaphysics and superstition. Nothing to get excited about. In other words, the Singularity/materialist/transcendence movement is just another religion masquerading as science.
" There is no evidence that any new laws of physics or supernatural phenomena are involved in human cognition. Animalism and dualism are well and truly dead. "
YOU ARE 100% W-R-O-N-G....and I base this not on anything having to do with "faith" or some other intangible. Current research in Quantum Mechanics and its relationship with consciousness has never been more active in the history of mankind....and they're finding some rather "spooky" stuff...as would be consistent with this newest modern form of Physics that works 100% of time.
For you to make such a declarative statement not only confirms you as a lazy, out of touch, idiot, but just might indicate you are some typical ideological LIBERAL LOON S.O.B.
So which one is it Andre? Are you an ignorant moron striving to play yourself off as somebody even relatively smart, or are you just another narcissistic-Liberal-Loon-all-take-no-give liability to the human race that will meet their end via simple Darwinism?
Pick one.
You give no reason for your conclusion, you resort to insults, you added a dash of politics. Are you a moron or just retarded? Pick one.
A few points of correction: one, quantum mechanics isn't new, it predates WWII. Second, it doesn't work '100%' of the time: the current horizon in physics is trying to find a model that reproduces the results of both quantum mechanics and general relativity in a single theory, because right now our standard equations for modelling quantum events don't scale to predicting the behavior of macroscopic objects for which gravity is relevant. Finally, the quantum consciousness crowd are largely a bunch of complete wall-lickers - as of right now, quantum consciousness is so far outside the mainstream of neuroscience that you couldn't spot them with the Hubble.
"how much moral weight we should assign to the experiences of less sophisticated minds, likes those of livestock, dolphins, or fetuses?"
By "less sophisticated" do you mean "less complex physiologically"? Because since we cannot communicate with those less sophisticated minds, we do not know how sophisticated their thinking processes are. We only ASSUME that they are not as sophisticated as ours.
Shouldn't we first define and quantify what "consciousness" is before we move on to what AI can teach us about "consciousness"? If we do not know clearly what it is, how can we learn more about it.
You are mixing together two metaphors - humans as physical objects and humans as metaphysical entities - which leads to dilemas which do not exist if the mataphors are considered separately on their own. As Mr. Spock would say, you are being illogical.
"from the inside of the human experience, it certainly doesn't feel like we're nothing more than a collection of chemicals"
Would a self-aware artificial intelligence feel that it was artificial? Would a self-aware robot feel like it was nothing more than a collection of nuts and bolts? The answer in both cases is - only if programmed with the knowledge. Over eons, humans have been programmed to think of themselves as something "more", something "better" than a bag of chemicals.
"If, in your effort to explain something, you resort to magic, then you haven't really explained it"
As Arthur Clarke said "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistiguishable from magic." If the "something" we are trying to explain is sufficiently beyond our ken, then "magic" may be the only word we can use.


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Pacific Southwest, Region 9
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December 2006: Approval of Arizona's Plan to Meet the Sulfur Dioxide Air Quality Standards in the Miami Area
EPA has signed a direct final approval of Arizona's plan to maintain attainment of the short-term (24-hour) and long-term (annual) primary National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for sulfur dioxide (SO2) in the Miami area, as well as Arizona's request to redesignate this area from nonattainment to attainment for SO2. The Miami area has not violated either the annual or the 24-hour health-based standard since 1985. The primary source of sulfur dioxide pollution in the area is the Phelps Dodge Miami copper smelter, and the maintenance of the SO2 standard in the Miami area relies upon emission limits for the smelter that have been approved into the Arizona state implementation plan as well as controls and conditions specified in the smelter's operating permit. There are no other SO2 sources of this magnitude in the Miami area.
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Disobedient Domino
new internationalist
issue 211 - September 1990
Fidel Castro is cast as the lone reactionary, saying to hell with
glasnost and perestroika. Can he - and Cuban socialism - survive?
Mandy Macdonald thinks the pundits may have got it wrong.
Warm wind blows off the sea: washed clean by the afternoon's brief downpour, the sky deepens fast to a velvety ultramarine. On front porches across the city, small groups of men are gathering, settling themselves on stools and in rocking chairs, Above the relentless background of cricket-song, you can bear the musical, dry clicking of wooden tiles being laid out on the table. It's a Friday night in Havana, and the game is dominoes.
In Washington and Miami, too, dominoes is something of a national sport, only the pieces are small developing countries. The political centre of gravity in the US 'backyard' has moved sharply to the right this year, with right-wing electoral successes in Honduras. Costa Rica, and most notably Nicaragua. According to Vice-President Dan Quayle. Cuba is 'the last real problem in our hemisphere'.
With the break-up of the Soviet 'empire', the US Administration and the powerful Cuban exile lobby in Miami are now betting on Cuba as the last, teetering Latin American domino. They're even making preparations for life after Castro: a new constitution has been drafted and corporate investments lined up. It is rumoured that US aid will be restored in the event of Castro's fall.
There's a large helping of wishful thinking in this scenario, however. For, although it gets little press in the West, Cuba is going through some far-reaching political and economic transformations, at the same time as it is fervently reaffirming national independence and the values that have shaped Cuban socialism.
Photo: Julio Etchart
This annoys the US which, buoyed by the Stalinist disappearing act in Eastern Europe and its own recent victories in Nicaragua and Panama, is hoping to wear down Cuba by forcing it to waste time and money on constant military mobilization, Three military manoeuvres coincided off Cuba's coasts in April, prompting Cuba to hold its own defensive exercises, called 'Cuban Shield'.
Then there was the Television Marti project - an absurdly expensive, questionably legal, attempt to beam US anti-Castro propaganda into Cuba. Generally discredited even in official US circles, its only success is that it is costing Cuba a lot to jam it - though not nearly as much as the estimated seven million dollars of US public money it cost to mount it.
The US also appears to be seeking to discredit Fidel Castro and his colleagues by tainting them with drug trafficking. Panamanian strongman Noriega may be offered a soft sentence in return for implicating Castro as a mediator in his negotiations with Colombian drug interests, The Cuban-chartered freighter Hermann was fired upon near Mexican waters recently by a US coastguard cutter. Yet no drugs or other illegal cargo were found on board.
Meanwhile the disintegration of communism in Eastern Europe has highlighted Cuba's perilous dependency on a hitherto privileged trading relationship. As the Eastern European countries struggle to restructure their own economies the immediate losers are their friends in the South, Trade with East Germany, Cuba's main trading partner after the Soviet Union, may disappear altogether after German unification. Several other Comecon countries did not renew their trading agreements with Cuba this year.
Bread out of oranges
The effects of this shift were felt in January, when ships from East Germany, Poland and the USSR failed to arrive to collect their consignments of Cuban oranges, leaving the fruit to rot in warehouses or be dumped on the domestic market, At the same time, Soviet shippers defaulted on wheat deliveries to Cuba, demanding hard currency for the job. Cuba was forced to buy flour from Canada: the price of bread rose for the first time in 30 years and was even rationed in some places. 'Pity you can't make bread out of oranges', one Havana woman wryly remarked.
Politically, too, Cuba and its former friends are estranged. Cuba was alarmed, then indignant, when Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland and Czechoslovakia voted in favour of a US-sponsored motion at the UN Commission on Human Rights to monitor alleged human-rights violations in Cuba - the first time such a motion had been passed. Around the same time, Czechoslovakia announced that it no longer wished to host the Cuban Interests Section, Cuba's diplomatic representation in Washington. In the Soviet Union, however, there are greater qualms about simply dumping Cuba.
How has this web of pressures affected Cuba? Ideologically, Cuba's response has been to turn isolation into independence, and to dissociate itself publicly not only from the new systems in Eastern Europe (except the Soviet Union) and Nicaragua hut also from the ones they replaced.
According to Castro the Sandinistas failed because they tried to walk a tightrope between socialism and capitalism, He deplores Eastern Europe's rush to capitalism but pre-empts predictions that Cuba might go the same way' by declaring that Cuba is not and never has been Stalinist, More than ever, the indigenous nature of Cuban socialism is being stressed. 'No-one gave us a revolution,' Fidel told an international press conference in April. 'lt wasn't imported from anywhere we made it ourselves.'
Out in the hard world of economic reality, rather different criteria apply. Cuba, like Eastern Europe. is having to become a hard-currency based economy. If trade with Comecon dries up Cuba will have little choice but to export products on the open market.
There are already signs of Cuba bracing itself for serious belt-tightening after 1990. The legendary grocery queues are getting longer. Shop shelves are bare, at least in Havana. An emergency austerity regime has been established which can be set in motion when needed. Called 'a special period in peacetime', it would halt social programmes, shorten the working day, and ration energy. But hard-currency-generating activities would continue, including tourism.
The picture is not so bleak yet. Neither the Soviet Union nor most of the other Eastern European countries can do without Cuban imports yet. Cuba currently supplies the USSR with 80 per cent of its sugar, 40 per cent of its citrus fruits and 70 per cent of its nickel.
Soviet subsidies to the Cuban economy may have come under fire within the USSR - particularly the purchase of Cuban sugar at prices well above the world level - but the 1990 Cuban-Soviet trade and co-operation agreement actually increases the previous trade volume of $14.4 billion. For the present the worst that could happen would be for the USSR to reduce or cut its oil shipments.
Meanwhile Cuba is trying to develop new export lines such as sugar by-products, pharmaceuticals and hi-tech medical equipment. It is seeking new trading and joint-venture partners, both in the North and the South, and is expanding tourism.
Changing of the guard
Cuba is by no means as isolated as it might seem. This year has seen a massive diplomatic and public-relations effort, much of it designed to consolidate Cuba's position as a Third World leader. Friendly relations are being cultivated with governments and business communities in countries from Britain to Iraq. Cuba has acquired a seat on the UN Security Council for two years and in April it became the chair of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Meanwhile the increasing religious freedom in the country should result in a papal visit around the end of the year - an astute as well as praiseworthy shift in policy.
None of these changes are cosmetic. Cuba faces the most serious economic challenge of its 30-year revolution. If it is to survive, creative and radical solutions will be required. Fidel Castro, while still keeping a close and very personal grasp on government, is not getting any younger, and the future direction of the Party and Government must be planned. This may be one of the reasons why the Communist Party has announced its Fourth Congress for early 1991.
A whole generation born and raised in socialist Cuba now wants something different. It takes for granted that all Cubans will have enough to eat, a roof over their heads, decent education and health care. The Government badly needs to ensure young people's support and provide a counter-attraction to the consumer temptations just across the Florida straits - or in the Havana dollar shops.
Blessed are the stubborn
No doubt this has played some part in the most recent political changes. Electoral procedures have been reformed to make them more democratic, secret ballots introduced and greater power given to the elected National Assembly. Earlier this year a major reshuffle removed several members of the revolutionary' 'old guard' and replaced them with young people. Young Communists such as Roberto Robaina are being groomed for leadership and placed in responsible positions in important hard-currency sectors.
But the domino-players in Washington and Miami don't want to see this kind of change in Cuba. Nothing but the fall of Fidel, elections on the US or European model and the imposition of a free-market economy will satisfy them. That is what they are waiting for and trying to hasten by economic blockade and tireless efforts to discredit Castro and his government.
They are unlikely to get their wish very soon. Cuba has no intention of holding 'free' elections. Nor will the people rise up in revolt: dissidents inside the country, while vocal (especially to foreigners) and often expressing real concerns about freedom of information and political association, number less than a thousand and could not by any stretch of the imagination be called organized. Besides, they have no serious alternative political programme. For well over a century, the traditional Cuban way of expressing protest has been to leave the country. Even Cuban exiles are mysteriously silent about any joyous mass return to their native island if Fidel falls - except to build holiday homes.
Cuba may be facing an uncertain future, but this year's May Day celebrations brought more Cubans onto the streets than ever before. Even Western media called it the most spectacular demonstration in the Western hemisphere and one of the largest in the world. 'Blessed are the stubborn!' Castro had cried to the press conference a month earlier. And his country is certainly one domino that stubbornly refuses to topple.
Mandy Macdonald is a British journalist who has lived in Cuba and been a Cuba-watcher for many years.
This article is from
the September 1990 issue
of New Internationalist.
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