text:
It is extremely important to retain experienced counsel at the outset. Do not attempt to respond to an audit request by yourself. There are many pitfalls associated with incomplete, improper, or untimely responses. It is extremely important that the initial response be correct and provide every possible document requested and explanations where necessary. If an overpayment amount is demanded, it is extremely important that the correct request for review, appeals or hearings be properly and timely submitted, to the correct place and in the proper form, with sending and receipt by the agency/auditor documented. This is not the time to scrimp on legal fees or attempt to be your own attorney. In the event of an appeal, with recent changes in laws and regulations, you may be limited to whatever documents you originally submitted. In most cases, for any appeal or any hearings on overpayment demands and fines, you will need to retain the services of an experienced billing and coding consultant as an expert witness and a health care statistician as an expert witness; you must use knowledgeable, experienced experts who have testified as witnesses in these kinds of case before.
Zone Program Integrity Contractors (ZPIC) and Recovery Audit Contractors (RAC) are private companies or business entities that have contracted with CMS to carry out certain functions that the Medicare regional carriers have traditionally in the past been expected to accomplish. Most recently, these have involved audits for overpayments and detection of and recovery for possibly fraudulent activities. In some cases the contractors (especially the RACs) receive a percentage of any recovery they obtain. CMS's "Zone 7" includes Florida, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands; the Zone 7 ZPIC for 2010 is SafeGuard Services, LLC, with several offices in Florida, including in Jacksonville, Florida, and the Miami area. Zone 5 includes Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia; the Zone 5 ZPIC for 2010 is AdvanceMed which has its main headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee. If you are contacted by a ZPIC or receive a letter advising you of an audit, you should immediately contact a health care attorney familiar with ZPIC audits or one of the very few Medicare audit consultants who specialize in ZPIC audits.
If you receive a letter from a company claiming to be a Zone Program Integrity Contractor (ZPIC) for the Medicare Program stating it wants to audit your practice or conduct a site visit, this is a serious matter and we would advise anyone receiving such a letter to immediately consult with health care counsel experienced in Medicaid audits. The states are being placed under an extreme amount of pressure to recover money into their Medicaid programs because of budget shortfalls and the federal deficit. This has resulted in an unprecedented number of Medicaid audits, Medicare audits and audits by Zone Program Integrity Contractors (ZPIC) and Recovery Audit Contractors (RAC) seeking to recover money from physicians, dentists and other health providers for the state and federal government. We have a process we follow to ensure that complete documentation for all care that has been billed to such programs is provided and that any "hot" issues that we know are being scrutinized by auditors are properly addressed. Because of the extrapolation formulas that are used by government auditors each dollar that is disallowed by the auditor can equate to many times the amount that you are determined to owe back. For example, if a claim for a procedure that you were paid $100 to perform is disallowed, this may be extrapolated to a $5,000 repayment using a statistical formula. In addition, you can be assessed fines (for failing to comply with documentation requirements) and the costs of the audit and experts' reviews, as well. Because of recent changes in Florida laws, the amounts disallowed must be paid back to AHCA within thirty (30) days, even if the provider requests a hearing to challenge the findings. If the audit is wrong and you do not owe the money the agency says, it is imperative that a formal administrative hearing is properly requested in a timely manner so that you have the proper opportunity to prove your entitlement to the money.
Zone Program Integrity Contractors (ZPICs)--A New Sheriff in Town
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has recently entered contracts with a number of private companies to function as Zone Program Integrity Contractors (ZPIC). These are similar to the Recovery Audit Contractors (RAC), but have different functions from the RACs. ZPICs have contracted with CMS to carry out certain functions that the Medicare regional carriers and fiscal intermediaries have traditionally performed. Most recently, these have involved audits for overpayments and detection of and recovery for possibly fraudulent activities
CMS's "Zone 7" includes Florida, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands; the Zone 7 ZPIC for 2010 is SafeGuard Services, LLC, with several offices in Florida, including in Jacksonville and the Miami area. If you are contacted by a ZPIC or receive a letter advising you of an audit, you should immediately contact a health care attorney familiar with ZPIC audits or one of the very few Medicare audit consultants who specialize in ZPIC audits.
A ZPIC will routinely telefax a letter to the practice shortly before close of business the day before a site visit/audit to that practice. The site visit/audit may be scheduled to occur at a branch office or remote location the practice has and not at the main office of the practice. Auditors will request to inspect the premises, will photograph all rooms, equipment, furniture and diplomas on walls. They will usually request copies of several patient records to review later. They will request copies of practice policies and procedures, treatment protocols, all staff licenses and certifications, drug formularies, medications routinely prescribed, and medications routinely used in the office. They will inspect any medication/narcotic lockers or storage cabinets and will request drug/medication invoices and inventories.
You will usually be contacted for follow-up information and documentation after the audit and will eventually be provided a report and, possibly, a demand for repayment of any detected overpayments.
Increased Medicare and Medicaid Fraud Initiatives
Because of the severe state budget shortfalls and the federal deficit, we are seeing a tremendous increase in Medicare and Medicaid fraud initiatives, including but not limited to: audits by Medicare Program ZPICs and RACs, use of Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) Investigative Subpoenas to obtain records, Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) Search Warrants used to seize patient records, billing records and computers, Medicaid audit letters from the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA), and related activities. In one ten (10) day period, we had clients who had their offices searched and records and equipment seized by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU); we had another client who had 77 patient records subpoenaed by a MFCU investigative subpoena; and we had a client who experienced a site visit/audit conducted on less than 18 hours notice by a ZPIC for Medicare.
Medicare, Medicaid and TRICARE now routinely share audit results and information on repayments made by health providers. We had a client who conducted a self-audit and found an overpayment situation. The client made a voluntary disclosure and sent in a voluntary repayment of the amount it had overbilled Medicare. A few weeks later it received an overpayment demand from the federal TRICARE Program based on the same patients and the same claims for the co-pays and deductibles that had been paid by TRICARE.
Under recently enacted Florida law, if Medicaid audits your practice and determines an overpayment, you must repay the entire amount within thirty (30) days or your medical license will be suspended, even if you deny you owe the money and request a hearing.
Because of the extrapolation formula used by the state Medicaid Program to calculate overpayment amounts, every dollar you are able to prove you are owed on the audit itself may cause you to save $50 - $100 on the final audit. One of our goals when assisting a Medicaid Provider in a Medicaid audit is to produce sufficient documentation to prove the amounts originally billed and paid were correct. Every dollar saved in such an audit can yield hundreds in the final results and may even avoid any sort of repayment or penalty assessment.
Audits routinely result in a provider being assessed tens of thousands of dollars in alleged overpayments, plus fines, penalties or interest on top of that. For example, in one representative case a provider was found on the audit to have been overpaid the actual amount of $679.00 on the patients audited. This was extrapolated by the Medicaid Program to result in an overpayment amount of $60,807.70, a ratio of 89.56 to 1. Click here for actual calculation.
However, it has been our experience in such cases that if a statistics expert is retained to review these calculations, many errors can be discovered. This may lead to the formula being discarded completely as unreliable in an administrative hearing. Often incorrect numbers are used, samples are not representative, or other problems are found in the way the sample is taken.
The motto of this story is that it pays to have expert assistance in such matters.
See, also, Executive Order 13520 (November 2009) Eliminating Fraud and Abuse.
See also the information on our website regarding:
Medicaid Investigations
Medicare Appeals
Medicare Fair Hearings
Medicaid Qui Tam or Whistle Blower Cases
Medicaid Litigation
Download FREE Copy!


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By Murray Weiss, DNAinfo Columnist / Criminal Justice Editor
UPPER WEST SIDE — Cops believe the financial pressures that could have driven an $18-an-hour nanny to kill two children in her care began when she brought her own teenage son to New York to give him a better life, DNAinfo.com New York has learned.
Investigators and prosecutors trying to unravel the motive behind the gruesome murders believe the decision by Yoselyn Ortega eight months ago to move her 17-year-old son, Jesus, from the Dominican Republic — and place him in a private school here — launched her descent into madness. That, combined with an unsuccessful attempt to get a raise from the family she worked for could have pushed her over the edge, sources said.
But, without a detailed confession from Ortega, authorities are still unable to determine with certainy exactly what allegedly caused her to stab Lucia Krim, 6, and her brother, Leo, 2, before turning the knife on herself in a botched suicide attempt on Oct. 25.
"There was definitely an issue with treatment by her employees, and money issues," a law enforcement source said. "But there must be some other craziness that has not come out."
Sources told "On the Inside" that Ortega was introduced to the Krim family two years ago through one of her sisters who is also a nanny who had met the Krims at Lucia's dance class. She was paid $18 an hour, about average for a nanny, which is less than $32,000 a year.
Ortega's relationship with Marina Krim, her husband Kevin, a CNBC executive, and their children seemed flawless. They treated Ortega as though she were part of their family, and traveled to the Dominican Republic to meet her family before they hired her. Several other times, they escorted her there when she visited her son, who was living with one of Ortega's sisters at the time.
Roughly eight months ago, Ortega decided to bring Jesus to New York to live with her in her new apartment in the Bronx."She thought he would do better here," a source explained.
Like the many affluent mothers on the Upper West Side she saw every day, Ortega enrolled her son in a private school in the Bronx.
While a brother agreed to pay for the initial year's tuition, he said that Ortega would be responsible for the ensuing tuition bills.
Investigators tracked down Jesus' father, Leno, a Dominican native who lives in Inwood and drives a taxi.
He and Ortega separated amicably in 2001 and he had "no ill will toward her," and although he said he rarely saw Ortega, they "had no problems between them," sources said.
"He was shocked by what happened," a source said. "He had no idea what demons were raging."
Leno told officials that he had dutifully sent $140 a month in child support to his son in the Dominican Republic. The figure, he said, was established by a Dominican judge. He also regularly visited his son there. He stopped having to pay child support when his son moved to New York, as Ortega didn't petition a city court to require Leno make payments here.
Over the summer, the owners of the Bronx apartment Ortega was renting suddenly decided they wanted their home back, forcing the nanny and her son to move in with another sister on Riverside Drive in Hamilton Heights.
It was an emotional blow for the struggling Ortega.
"She had to move back with her family, and now had her son with her," a source explained. "Maybe it was too crowded. She had no place of her own. There was his schooling and travel."
Her relatives said she began to turn inward, started looking gaunt, and sought psychological help. But what she really seemed to need was cash.
Sources say she tried to sell cosmetics on the side, but that backfired. She brought her money woes to the attention of the Krims. But there were no outward signs of desperation or feelings of being trapped, sources said.
"There was no indication that there was any animosity toward them," a source said. "If they were aware of it, they simply could have let her go."
Instead, the Krims offered Ortega an additional five hours a week doing some cleaning.
"We think she did not appreciate doing light cleaning," the source added. "That was not her job."
The five additional hours would mean $90-a-week more in Ortega's pocket, or another $4,500 a year. That would bring her annual pay to roughly $37,000.
Whatever was building up in her head, the Krims did not see it coming.
On Oct. 25, Ortega was supposed to take Lucia and Leo to meet their mother and 3-year-old sister, Nessie, who was getting swimming lessons. They then were all going to take Lucia to a dance class. Ortega and Lucia picked up Leo at school, but never showed up at the swimming lesson.
Instead, at about 5:30 p.m., she allegedly grabbed a large kitchen knife, shepherded the two frightened, fully-clothed children into a bathroom tub, and repeatedly stabbed them to death.
Marina Krim returned to her West 75th Street apartment with Nessie and discovered the unthinkable crime scene just as Ortega was turning the knife on herself.
The crazed nanny cut her own wrist and then jammed the blade into her throat with enough force that it passed through to the back of her neck, cracking two vertebrae atop her spine, sources said. The blade, however, missed all vital veins and arteries.
Marina's horrific screams brought cops and paramedics. The blood-covered nanny was rushed to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, where doctors closed her wounds and put her in an induced coma.
When the anesthesia wore off, physicians and police expected to speak with her, but she lay in bed in a catatonic state that her physicians could not explain, "On the Inside" previously reported.
Days later, she eventually began to move her eyes and could nod, and investigators managed to "sort of get her to point to words."
She acknowledged that she stabbed the two children, sources said.
On Saturday, prosecutors and police formally charged her at her bedside with the murders of the two Krim children.
"The more she understood, the less she wanted to talk," another law enforcement source said.
The Manhattan District Attorney is expected to present evidence to a grand jury soon.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misidentified Kevin Krim as David Krim.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Debian Security Advisory
DSA-2854-1 mumble -- several vulnerabilities
- Date Reported:
- 05 Feb 2014
- Affected Packages:
- mumble
- Vulnerable:
- Yes
- Security database references:
- In the Debian bugtracking system: Bug 737739.
In Mitre's CVE dictionary: CVE-2014-0044, CVE-2014-0045.
- More information:
Several issues have been discovered in mumble, a low latency VoIP client. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project identifies the following issues:
It was discovered that a malformed Opus voice packet sent to a Mumble client could trigger a NULL pointer dereference or an out-of-bounds array access. A malicious remote attacker could exploit this flaw to mount a denial of service attack against a mumble client by causing the application to crash.
It was discovered that a malformed Opus voice packet sent to a Mumble client could trigger a heap-based buffer overflow. A malicious remote attacker could use this flaw to cause a client crash (denial of service) or potentially use it to execute arbitrary code.
The oldstable distribution (squeeze) is not affected by these problems.
For the stable distribution (wheezy), these problems have been fixed in version 1.2.3-349-g315b5f5-2.2+deb7u1.
For the unstable distribution (sid), these problems will be fixed soon.
We recommend that you upgrade your mumble packages.


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Amazon is on a hiring spree.
In the latest sign of how it's prospering while others are faltering during the pandemic, Amazon said Wednesday it is seeking to bring aboard 33,000 people for corporate and tech roles in the next few months.
To fill the 33,000 jobs, Amazon said will hold an online career fair Sept. 16 to collect resumes and give people a chance talk to a recruiter. Those not interested in a job at Amazon can also get resume help, the company said. (Read more about the career day at this link.)
Amazon "currently has 33,000 job openings for corporate and tech positions supporting areas that include Alexa, AWS, Operations Technology, and Prime Video – with thousands of additional hourly roles in Amazon's Operations network to be announced soon," the internet giant announced Wednesday.
Right now, Amazon is looking to add some 100 employees across North Carolina with more hiring expected for a new distribution center in Garner, an additional center in Cary, and other facilities.
Amazon expects to hire 3,000 people for the Garner facility. (Here's job info directly from Amazon.)
It's the largest number of job openings it's had at one time, and the Seattle-based online behemoth said the hiring is not related to the jobs it typically offers ahead of the busy holiday shopping season.
Here's how to go after one of those 3,000 Amazon jobs coming to Garner
Amazon can afford to grow its workforce: It is one of the few companies that has thrived during the coronavirus outbreak. People have turned to it to order groceries, supplies and other items online, helping the company bring in record revenue and profits between April and June. That came even though it had to spend $4 billion on cleaning supplies and to pay workers overtime and bonuses.
Demand has been so high, Amazon has struggled to deliver items as fast as it normally does and had to hire 175,000 more people to help pack and ship orders in its warehouses. Walmart and Target have also seen sales soar during the pandemic.
But other retailers have had a rougher time. J.C. Penney, J.Crew and Brooks Brothers have all gone bankrupt. And Lord & Taylor, which has been in business for nearly 200 years, recently said it will be closing its stores for good. Companies across other industries have announced buyouts or layoffs, including Coca-Cola and American Airlines.
In August, the U.S. unemployment rate fell to 8.4% from 10.2% the month before, but hiring growth slowed, with the country adding 1.4 million jobs last month compared to 1.7 million in July.
Others are hiring, too. UPS said Wednesday that it plans to bring in 100,000 people to help it deliver packages during the busy holiday season, which is about the same amount of people it hired last year.
Amazon said its corporate and tech jobs, whose average pay is $150,000 a year, will be centered around Amazon's offices across the country, including Denver, New York, Phoenix and its hometown of Seattle. The new hires will work from home at first, but the company said it does want employees to return to the office eventually.
Ardine Williams, Amazon's vice president of workforce development, said plans to build a second headquarters near Washington, D.C., are going as planned, despite the pandemic, with 1,000 workers already hired.
Amazon skips Triangle for new tech, corporate jobs in $1.4B expansion
Jane Oates, president of the nonprofit WorkingNation and a former assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Labor, said that Amazon is different from other companies in that it's thinking about its future workforce. For example, it announced a program last year to retrain 100,000 of its workers for tech jobs by 2025.
"They're not only looking for the jobs that need to be done today, they're also looking at what's next," she said.
At an in-person Amazon career fair last year, about 17,000 people showed up and the company said it received more than 200,000 applications for 30,000 jobs.
In July, the company said its workforce topped 1 million worldwide for the first time, making it the second-biggest U.S.-based private employer behind Walmart Inc.


text:
OK! Old School: One-Hit-Wonders From Girl Singers of the 2000's That You Probably Forgot About
Obviously you remember the good ol' days of early Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Jessica Simpson and Destiny's Child. They're all still famous now so it's hard not to, ya know? But what happened to the female pop stars and girl groups of the 2000s who had one amazing song and then were never heard from again?
Watch: 4 Short-Lived MTV Reality Shows That Need to Come Back
Truthfully, I have no idea. But I'm going to take a look back at those songs as today's OK! Old School and discuss them. Because we all need a little fun today after the tragedy that happened in Boston yesterday. Take a gander...
Photos: Why Pete & Pete Was The Best Show Ever
Stacie Orrico—"More To Life." This song came out when I was a sophomore in high school (2003, if you're counting), and I still remember putting it on all my mix CDs from that year that I made for myself and my friends. I still to this day have no idea what the song is about, but it's so catchy so whatever.
Samantha Mumba—"Baby, Come on Over." To be fair, Samantha had more than one single, but this was hands down the best. It came out in 2001 and I was legitimately in 8th grade so it was probably a little bit inappropriate but come on. How good was it?!
Willa Ford—"I Wanna Be Bad." And speaking of being inappropriate, this Willa gem came out a few months after Samantha's song did and it was a mega radio hit. Also, remember when Willa Ford dated Nick Carter? Good times.
Fefe Dobson—"Take Me Away." I'll be honest and admit that I wasn't as into Fefe as I was the other one-hit wonders of this era—she was just a tad too badass rocker chick for me—but in 11th grade, this song was my jam.
Hoku—"Another Dumb Blonde." For some reason this tune reminds of Legally Blonde, but it was actually on the soundtrack to Nickelodeon movie Snow Day. Oh, the mems.
Blu Cantrell—"Hit 'Em Up Style." I feel like the original Blu (obviously with Blue Ivy Carter being the non-original one) had real potential. She had a song with Sean Paul, who was HUGE at this time, and "Hit 'Em Up Style" was pretty catchy. The lyrics sucked, but the song was catchy nonetheless.
t.A.T.u—"All The Things She Said." This Russian duo was like, the greatest thing to come to America in 2003. This song reminds me of so many things that happened in tenth grade. So many.
- Adrienne Bailon-Houghton 'Definitely' Wants to Expand Her Family After Welcoming Son Ever: 'I Haven't Given Up Hope I Could Possibly Carry'
- Adrienne Bailon Praises Husband Israel For Being So 'Hands On' With Son Ever: 'We're Just Trying To Be Present'
- 'RHOBH' Star Garcelle Beauvais Feels Erika Jayne Should 'Get Rid Of Those Diamond Earrings' After Embattled Pop Star's Team Pushes Narrative That Her Embezzlement Battle Is Over
Natalie—"Goin' Crazy." Not be confused with Imbruglia, this Natalie had a one-hit wonder in 2005 which I vividly remember jamming to in my car on senior skip day. Whoops.
Kat DeLuna—"Whine It Up." Where were you in summer 2007? Probably listening to this song over and over again. But then fall happened and everyone forgot about the song and who sang it. Bummer.
As for girl groups? Oh, I was obsessed with these...
B*Witched—"C'est La Vie." I might be the only person who owned the entire B*Witched album (you guys, "Rollercoaster" was a fantastic song), and also who listened to it on repeat on my walkman on the bus to middle school. Not ashamed.
3LW—"No More (Baby I'ma Do It Right)." LOLing because I totally forgot that Adrienne Bailon was in 3LW until this very minute. Watch this vid a) to remember this musical masterpiece from 2000 and b) to check out Adrienne's amazing hairdo. Classic.
Dream—"He Loves U Not." This music video was the kind of music video where you watch it over and over again and teach yourself the choreography in the mirror. I was in 7th grade when that happened though so please don't judge me.
702—"Where My Girls At." It wouldn't be fair to include 702 without giving them a little cred. These girls were semi-famous at the time (2000) and even won a few music awards. But still, I'll always associate them with this song, which is not a bad thing because just listen to it.
Eden's Crush—"Get Over Yourself." I gotta give props to Nicole Scherzinger who went from this to, ya know, the hot, successful mogul she is now, but also gotta give props to the show, Popstars, who put these girls on the map in the first place. Good work, WB.
Photos: Why Justin Timberlake Should Bring Back His Curly Hair
Which of these old school songs and pop groups is your favorite? Any others we forgot to mention? Tweet us at @OKMagazine and leave your favorites in the comments!


text:
Selling beats and licensing music can be a very lucrative business for someone with a significant amount a tracks. The problem that many composer and producers face is that not enough of the right people are hearing your music. Most beat selling website of are mainly used by other producers trying to sell their beats. Stock music and production sites have thousands of composers and producers that you have to compete with to be heard. Even if you get heard you have to give up half of your earning if you sell anything. These sites will present you with different promotion techniques that are designed to make them money not you. All of the promotion you have to do on beat selling and stock music sites you can do it yourself from your own website. This does not mean that you should not use beat selling sites. The more places you have your beats the more likely you are to sell them.
You have to look at your beats as a product. Software companies have their own websites but they sell their software in as many places as they can. This the way you should sell your beats. Here are a few tips for marketing your beat site.
1. Make hot beats, this has to be said because some producers just don't get it.
2. Post as many YouTube videos as you can, post your music on any website that allows individuals to view your music.
3. Blog, blogging with leave backlinks to your site and will establish you as an expert.
4. Release instrumental albums, many producers do not understand that there is a huge market for instrumental music. Particularly new age and jazz. But many electronic musicians and some hip hop artist can release instrumental albums because DJs love them. Just go through a digital distributor and you can have your music on iTunes in no time.
5. Participate in forums, please do not try to sell your beats on the forums it will be considered spam. Stay on the topic and leave a link to your website. If you appear knowledgeable people will click on your link. Forums will also leave backlinks to your website.
6. Use social networking sites such as face book, my space and tweeter. These sites have hundreds of millions of users and will in able to you to develop a following.
7. Use site like Yahoo groups, participate in groups and start your own. This will allow to you communicate with artist, leave backlinks to your site and show your level of knowledge.
There are many ways to market you beats and your website, these are just a few to tips to get you


text:
I saw a Grackle this morning at the feeders.
I have missed the bugs.
My friend, Poppi, sent me a Dragon she made in school.
I hung Dear Dragon on the front door.
Dear Dragon can stay on the door all year for it is the year of the Dragon.
It is the year of cherishing friends.
Thank-you Poppi. Dear Dragon is charming.
I began to long for the butterflies.
I began wanting to see them again.
I miss them so very much.
I am butterfly hugger.
She was sunning. She did not stay long.
"Stay safe butterfly," I called out to her.
"Soon Spring will be here to stay."
My heart began beating fast.
I easily could have daffodils for St. Pat's Day.
I listen to them.
They have so much to teach me.
Soon they will begin to build their nests.
I saw a butterfly today.
Spring is coming early.
Happy Sunday Safari.
Spring is coming early.
Happy Sunday Safari.


text:
Henry the Fowler: Pavel Shmulevich
Lohengrin: Sergei Skorokhodov
Elsa of Brabant: Tatiana Pavlovskaya
Friedrich of Telramund: Yevgeny Nikitin
Ortrud: Anna Markarova
The King's Herald: Alexander Nikitin
World premiere: 28 August 1850, Großherzogliches Hoftheater, Weimar
Premiere at the Mariinsky Theatre: 4 October 1868 (performed in Russian, translated by Konstantin Zvantsov)
Premiere of this production: 1 July 1999
Running time: 4 hours 30 minutes
The performance has two intervals
Music by Richard Wagner
Libretto by the composer
Musical Director: Valery Gergiev
Stage Director: Konstantin Pluzhnikov (1999)
Revival Directors: Marina Mishuk and Alexander Maskalin (2014)
Set Designer: Yevgeny Lysyk
Set Revival Director: Tadei Ryndzak
Costume Designer: Oksana Zinchenko,
after original sketches by Yevgeny Lysyk
Lighting Designer: Yegor Kartashov
Musical Preparation: Marina Mishuk
Principal Chorus Master: Konstantin Rylov
Children's Chorus Master: Irina Yatsemirskaya
Antwerp, the first half of the 10th century. The Duke of Brabant has died, leaving his children Elsa and Gottfried as wards of his kinsman, Friedrich von Telramund, who has also been granted the right to Elsa's hand in marriage. One day Elsa and Gottfried went to the forest, and Elsa returned alone. Suspecting Elsa of having murdered her brother in collusion with an unknown lover, Telramund has married Ortrud, the last descendant of an ancient noble family. In actual fact, Ortrud has used witchcraft to transform Gottfried into a swan, and it is she who has convinced Telramund of Elsa's guilt.
Act I
King Heinrich der Vogler (Henry the Fowler) of Saxony has come to Brabant to recruit knights for his wars against the advancing enemy armies. By the shore of the River Scheldt he encounters Telramund, who accuses Elsa of murdering her brother and claiming the ducal throne. The King summons Elsa. Rather than answering the charge, she recounts her dream of a knight in shining armour who descends from the skies to rescue her from such accusations. Unable to reach a verdict as to whether she is guilty or innocent, the King announces trial by combat, leaving judgement to God. Telramund is prepared to fight, but who will defend Elsa? After twice repeated calls by the royal herald and Elsa's fervent prayers, Lohengrin appears. He comes ashore from a longboat drawn by a snow-white swan. Lohengrin is prepared to defend Elsa's honour and marry her on one condition: she must never ask his name. Elsa consents. Lohengrin wins the duel against Telramund but spares the latter's life.
Act II
The citadel of Antwerp at night. The outcast Telramund and Ortrud are lurking in the shadows; he accuses her of deceit. Ortrud derides his cowardice, claiming that Lohengrin used evil magic powers to win the duel. To conquer Lohengrin, she and Telramund must convince Elsa to break her oath and ask the forbidden question. Elsa appears at her window; she is filled with happiness. Ortrud rouses Elsa's pity and, affected by Ortrud's sobs, she admits her to her chambers. Ortrud sows seeds of doubt in Elsa's mind by suggesting that her unknown protector might one day vanish as mysteriously as he appeared. At daybreak, the herald announces Elsa and Lohengrin's impending marriage; Telramund is to be banished. Lohengrin refuses the dukedom, wishing to be known only as "Protector" of Brabant; he will lead the army of Brabant against its foes. The wedding procession begins. On the steps of the church, Ortrud – following after Elsa – suddenly accuses Lohengrin of witchcraft. Telramund accuses him of the same deed. But only Elsa is entitled to demand that the knight reveal his secret. Elsa is confused, but in the end decides not to ask and the wedding ceremony continues.
Act III
A wedding procession accompanies the newlyweds to their chamber, where Telramund and his two co-conspirators are lying in wait. Lohengrin and Elsa, alone for the first time, speak of their love. However, Elsa's anxiety grows ever more intense. When, at last, she asks Lohengrin the fateful question Telramund and his vassals suddenly appear. Telramund falls, slain by Lohengrin's sword. Lohengrin announces that he will answer Elsa in the presence of the King.
The King welcomes the knights who have gathered to fight the enemy. Telramund's dead body is carried in, followed by the grief-stricken Elsa and the gloomily triumphant Lohengrin. He declares that he cannot lead the King's troops into battle. In self-defence he killed Telramund; he accuses the latter's wife of breaking her vows to him. The knight reveals his secret: he is the son of Parsifal, sent to earth by the brotherhood of the Holy Grail to protect the innocent and the oppressed. The knights of the Grail have immense power albeit under one condition: no-one must ever know their names and from where they have come. Lohengrin's secret has been revealed and now he must depart. The swan appears, drawing the longboat. Lohengrin bids a fond farewell to Elsa: one more year and the beautiful bird's tragic fate would have come to an end. The Grail would have set the bird free and restored Elsa's brother to her. Lohengrin gives her three gifts for Gottfried when he at last comes back: a sword, a horn and a ring. In a frenzy of rage Ortrud reveals that it was she who transformed Gottfried into a swan, casting a golden chain around his neck. Lohengrin prays silently; the evil spell is broken. The swan is transformed into the handsome young Gottfried. Lohengrin proclaims him Duke of Brabant and departs. Elsa falls senseless in her brother's arms.
The highlighting of performances by age represents recommendations.
This highlighting is being used in accordance with Federal Law N436-FZ dated 29 December 2010 (edition dated 1 May 2019) "On the protection of children from information that may be harmful to their health"


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Recreational Data
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Part of my weekend ritual is to buy the weekend papers and have a go at the recreational maths problems that are Sudoku and Killer. I also look for news stories with a data angle that might prompt a bit of recreational data activity…
In a paper that may or may not have been presented at the First European Congress of Mathematics in Paris, July, 1992, Prof. David Singmaster reflected on "The Unreasonable Utility of Recreational Mathematics".
To begin with, it is worth considering what is meant by recreational
First, recreational mathematics is mathematics that is fun and popular – that is, the problems should be understandable to the interested layman, though the solutions may be harder. (However, if the solution is too hard, this may shift the topic from recreational toward the serious – e.g. Fermat's Last Theorem, the Four Colour Theorem or the Mandelbrot Set.)
Secondly, recreational mathematics is mathematics that is fun and used as either as a diversion from serious mathematics or as a way of making serious mathematics understandable or palatable. These are the pedagogic uses of recreational mathematics. They are already present in the oldest known mathematics and continue to the present day.
These two aspects of recreational mathematics – the popular and the pedagogic – overlap considerably and there is no clear boundary between them and "serious" mathematics.
How is recreational mathematics useful?
Firstly, recreational problems are often the basis of serious mathematics. The most obvious fields are probability and graph theory where popular problems have been a major (or the dominant) stimulus to the creation and evolution of the subject. …
Secondly, recreational mathematics has frequently turned up ideas of genuine but non-obvious utility. …
Anyone who has tried to do anything with "real world" data knows how much of a puzzle it can represent: from finding the data, to getting hold of it, to getting it into a state and a shape where you can actually work with it, to analysing it, charting it, looking for pattern and structure within it, having a conversation with it, getting it to tell you one of the many stories it may represent, there are tricks to be learned and problems to be solved. And they're fun.
An obvious definition [of recreational mathematics] is that it is mathematics that is fun, but almost any mathematician will say that he enjoys his work, even if he is studying eigenvalues of elliptic differential operators, so this definition would encompass almost all mathematics and hence is too general. There are two, somewhat overlapping, definitions that cover most of what is meant by recreational mathematics.
…the two definitions described above.
So how might we define "recreational data". For me, recreational data activities are, in who or in part, data investigations, involving one or more steps of the data lifecycle (discovery, acquisition, cleaning, analysis, visualisation, storytelling). They are the activities I engage in when I look for, or behind, the numbers that appear in a news story. They're the stories I read on FullFact, or listen to on the OU/BBC co-pro More or Less; they're at the heart of the beautiful little book that is The Tiger That Isn't; recreational data is what I do in the "Diary of a Data Sleuth" posts on OpenLearn.
Recreational data is about the joy of trying to find stories in data.
Recreational data is, or can be, the data journalism you do for yourself or the sense you make of the stats in the sports pages.
Recreational data is a safe place to practice – I tinker with Twitter and formulate charts around Formula One. But remember this: "recreational problems are often the basis of serious [practice]". The "work" I did around Visualising Twitter User Timeline Activity in R? I can (and do) reuse that code as the basis of other timeline analyses. The puzzle of plotting connected concepts on Wikipedia I described in Visualising Related Entries in Wikipedia Using Gephi? It's a pattern I can keep on playing with.
If you think you might like to do some doodle of your own with some data, why not check out the School Of Data. Or watch out on OpenLearn for some follow up stories from the OU/BBC co-pro of Hans Rosling's award winning Don't Panic
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News / International
Ukraine clashes turning deadly as protests escalate, 4 shot dead
22 Jan 2014 at 23:30hrs | Views
Kiev, Ukraine -- At least four people have been shot dead and hundreds injured as demonstrators clash with police over new laws limiting the right to protest in Ukraine, the head of the protest movement's volunteer medical service, Oleg Musiy, told CNN on Wednesday.
Ukraine's Interior Ministry earlier said it was investigating a death, the circumstances of which are not clear. Local media reports suggest the man may have fallen from a statue or monument.
In a statement Wednesday, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf condemned the growing violence, particularly against journalists and peaceful protesters.
"Increased tensions in Ukraine are a direct consequence of the Ukrainian government's failure to engage in real dialogue and the passage of anti-democratic legislation on January 16," Harf said. "We urge the Government of Ukraine to take steps that represent a better way forward for Ukraine, including repeal of the anti-democratic legislation and beginning a national dialogue with the political opposition."
The leaders of three opposition factions met with President Viktor Yanukovych and a government working group Wednesday to try to resolve the crisis, the President's official website said.
They are Vitali Klitschko, leader of the UDAR party; Arseniy Yatsenyuk, of the Fatherland party; and Oleh Tiahnybok, of the Freedom party, or Svoboda.
A statement on Yanukovych's website said the first stage of negotiations -- a meeting of more than three hours -- had ended.
Klitschko accused Yanukovych's government of having the blood of protesters on its hands.
"We did not receive any answers," Klitschko told demonstrators after the meeting, referring to calls for snap elections and the resignation of the government. "When we talked about canceling the new laws that make each of us here a criminal, we heard that maybe this can be a point of negotiations. I will be with the people. If I have to fight, I will fight. If I have to go under bullets, I will. I will stand up for the people, because I want to live in a different country."
He added, amid the chants of supporters: "If tomorrow the President does not make a step forward, we will attack."
Demonstrators have been rallying in the snowy streets since the weekend in protest against the laws that went into effect Wednesday.
Televised images Wednesday showed ongoing clashes between police and protesters who've massed around barricades on Hrushevskoho Street, near the burned-out shells of police buses.
The Interior Ministry said 195 police officers had been injured and 84 hospitalized since the situation turned violent Sunday.
The clashes are an escalation of weeks of largely peaceful public protests prompted by Yanukovych's decision in November to spurn a planned trade deal with the European Union and turn toward Russia instead.
The European Union and United States have urged all parties in Ukraine to exercise restraint and find a democratic solution to the political crisis.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also warned Tuesday that the situation in Ukraine was "getting out of control" and urged dialogue between all the parties.
UDAR posted what it said was a joint statement by the three opposition factions saying Yanukovych and Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko bear direct responsibility for the deaths of protesters.
The U.S. ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, tweeted Wednesday that he was "watching with sadness" the events in Kiev.
"Because visa records are confidential under U.S. law the Embassy will not comment on individual cases," it said. "We are considering further action against those responsible for the current violence."
Masks, helmets banned
The controversial new protest laws have sparked concerns they could be used to put down demonstrations and deny people the right to free speech.
They include provisions barring people from wearing helmets and masks to rallies, from setting up tents or sound equipment without prior police permission, and from traveling in convoys of more than five vehicles without authorization.
A separate Interior Ministry order allowing riot police to use firearms came into force Tuesday, according to the official Ukrainian legislation website.
Ukraine's Institute of Mass Information, an organization promoting media rights and freedom of speech, said 36 journalists had been injured while reporting on the clashes in recent days.
Ukraine's national union of journalists called on the Interior Ministry on Wednesday to issue an order forbidding police to use violence against journalists.
'Deep crisis'
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who visited protesters in Kiev last year and met with Ukraine's leaders, condemned the escalation of violence overnight and urged restraint.
"The use of force and resort to violence is not an answer to the political crisis. All acts of violence must come to an immediate end and be swiftly investigated," she said.
"Those responsible will have to be held to account. Ukrainian citizens' rights of assembly, freedom of expression and media must be fully respected and protected. I am deeply concerned about attacks on journalists and about reports of missing persons."
The president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, said he was "shocked" by news of protesters' deaths and called on all sides to refrain from violence.
"I would like to explicitly underline the fundamental responsibility of the Ukrainian authorities to now take action to deescalate this crisis and in particular the need for them to engage in a genuine dialogue with the opposition and with civil society on the ways to overcome this deep crisis," he said in a news release.
"We are also following with great concern the recent restrictions on fundamental freedoms including freedom of expression and freedom of the media."
Ukraine's future ties
In December, despite weeks of protest by anti-government demonstrators, Yanukovych agreed to a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin for Moscow to buy Ukrainian debt and slash the price Kiev pays for its gas.
The tumult in Ukraine goes to the heart of its future ties with Russia and the rest of Europe. Ukraine is split between pro-European regions in the west and a more Russia-oriented east.
The protests have unfolded since November 21, when Yanukovych changed his stance on the EU trade pact, which had been years in the making.
The demonstrators say an EU agreement would open borders to trade and set the stage for modernization and inclusion. Ukraine's government says the terms needed to be renegotiated to protect Ukrainians better.
Source - CNN


text:
HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S 4 Google Play edition Review - Nearly Nexusby Brian Klug on June 26, 2013 1:00 PM EST
- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Android
- Mobile
- google play
- Android 4.2
Perhaps one of the most surprising features onboard the Google Play edition SGS4 and HTC One is the new camera UI. This UI was previously leaked as coming with the next version of Android, so it's a bit interesting to see it crop up here in 4.2.2 on these devices. I suspect there was some element of – we're going to have to do tuning and make sure the interface works twice otherwise, so why not just do it now – at play here.
The fundamental set of features remains largely the same. What's different is there's a new settings menu which works by sliding your finger up through settings panes. Previously the settings switcher was a circular menu, this new one moves up and down through a hierarchy of drill-down settings panes. This can be activated either by long pressing anywhere in the preview or tapping the settings circle. The first level has HDR, manual exposure control, flash settings, and rear/front facing camera switcher. Tapping on Settings gets you into more options with location, countdown timer, color temperature, photo size and scenes. Another new addition is that the volume rocker (up or down) acts like a shutter button. There's also unsurprisingly no way to change the default storage location from internal to the SD card for the SGS4 GPe, as I touched on earlier.
Beyond that nothing is really all that different in this new version of the interface. I still want control over ISO, and I still am dismayed at Google's decision to fit the camera preview to the viewport in their camera application – it's like this bold surreal statement that composition doesn't matter when taking a photograph. For example, the preview is a 16:9 crop of a 4:3 aspect ratio image on the SGS4, it's just a lucky coincidence that the 16:9 preview on the HTC One is accurate since it has a 16:9 aspect ratio sensor. The result is an interface that trades appearance for functionality, and I'm totally dismayed by it.
Of course, the benefit of the platform including the stock camera application is that you get the ability to shoot PhotoSpheres and 360 Panoramas from the application on both devices.
The big concern with the GPe versions some people had is what happens to image quality. I wasn't too worried about image quality since this is all stuff upstream of the camera application itself and the UI that dictates image quality, and that's still the responsibility of the respective OEMs to tune and get right. The concern is lack of control over the camera thanks to the simplified stock Android camera UI and how much control translates between the two. We've already evaluated and hopefully settled the debate between the two cameras in the respective reviews. This is just a matter of checking to see if there's anything different.
I took pictures on a stock international version HTC One and the HTC One GPe alongside it in normal test scene light, low light, and low light with night mode to check if these three corners of the camera tuning check out. Thankfully, they do line up like expected almost identically. The "Night" scene mode in the settings menu lines up with the 0.3 second, ISO 800 night mode in the stock UI, the rest of the performance produces results in line with the stock version. A big difference is that it seems as though sharpening is turned way down, maybe even off, on the GPe variant, a thoughtful change.
I performed the same sanity checks with the SGS4 GPe and discovered that thankfully this also reflects basically the same tuning as the stock version. Better still, the Night scene mode in the stock UI corresponds exactly with the Low Light Shot shooting mode on the stock SGS4 with the same performance. I purposefully pushed the dark scene for both the HTC One and SGS4 to the extreme to see if they have the same cutoff behavior.
You can also see what I'm talking about with the stock Android camera UI clipping off the top and bottom of the image. By default it shoots 13 MP 4:3 stills, which is awesome, just be warned that there's more field of view both above and below the cutoffs in the frame which need to be framed to. I've said my part already about how blowing up the preview to fill the frame and cutting those regions off is so, so wrong. Again, composition when taking a photo is important, giving me a preview that isn't a lie is also important.
I'm glad that both devices have no degradation in image quality from what I can tell. This is again not a surprise given the abstraction of those stages in the image processing pipeline away from the core Android software platform.
I checked out video encode to see if those settings were preserved between both platforms. On the SGS4 and SGS4 GPe the 17 Mbps 1080p30 H.264 High Profile encode is the same. Unfortunately on the HTC One video encode drops from the promised 20 Mbps 1080p30 H.264 High Profile of the stock version to 12 Mbps H.264 High Profile. I'm guessing this is just a configuration error. I should mention that Video HDR is another thing missing between stock and GPe versions.
81 Comments
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RichUK - Wednesday, June 26, 2013 - linkTouchWiz > Standard Android
Silellak - Wednesday, June 26, 2013 - linkSaid no one, ever.
RichUK - Wednesday, June 26, 2013 - linkI just said it.
Waveblade - Wednesday, June 26, 2013 - linkBig Papa Joe right here
secretanchitman - Wednesday, June 26, 2013 - linkHaha the ladies love the wiz! Best vergecast ever lol :)
TheDome - Wednesday, June 26, 2013 - linkSaid no one except one idiot.*
RichUK - Wednesday, June 26, 2013 - linkPipe down, kid - get back to your pokemons.
prophet001 - Wednesday, June 26, 2013 - linkDangit!!
Now that song's going to be stuck in my head.
*hums tune*
*Gotta catch em all!!! Pokemon!! Gotta catch em all!!*
Wolfpup - Wednesday, June 26, 2013 - linkWow, the one guy who likes groody third party mods gunking up their OS is getting mad.
theduckofdeath - Friday, June 28, 2013 - linkThe only guy who loves 3rd party mods? Really? You are aware that only one single percent replaces manufacturer firmware with something different. I and I am pretty sure they all sit there wasting days trying to get it half as functional as it was before they clicked Confirm in Odin on their PC.


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Brief Sketch of Pasquotank County
By John Elliott Wood
It is likely that the first Englishmen who set eyes upon what is now Pasquotank County were those comprising the reconnaissance party of fourteen men sent by CaptainRalph Lane from Roanoke Island to explore the inland waters in 1584. These men went as far as Chowan River and apparently mapped what they saw. The DeBry map dated 1585 which appeared in London shortly after that date shows the land on the north side of the main water as "PASQUENOKE," and the shore outline while crude as would be expected of surveys of that nature is recognizable and remarkably faithful considering the method employed.
Seventy years were to pass before settlers occupied the land and established a permanent in this particular area. The beginning was no mass migration which can be fixed in a historic event like the landing at Jamestown in 1607 but rather the chance wandering of pioneers seeking unoccupied land, hunters in search of meat or furs, refugees in need of asylum, explorers, or just plain adventurers. By 1650 the land of Tidewater Virginia was pretty well taken up, some of it already exhausted by intensive cultivation. Settlers were moving upland to the westward while some preferred to remain near seaboard; and these latter chose to go southward where there were numerous rivers emptying into the sounds and the ocean. They were English who had never lived more than thirty miles from blue water, and they were reluctant to leave tidewater. It was the most natural thing in the world for them to follow one of the two Indian trails leading across the Great Dismal to the south, which would bring them to one of the four main streams flowing south-easterly towards the ocean. The area was not unknown to colonists at Jamestown for the Secretary John Pory had explored the upper Chowan River as early as 1623 and published his optimistic findings in London in 1625.
It is probable that individuals began filtering into the area of Pasquotank as early as 1650, some using it as headquarters for foraging expeditions, others occupying it with the idea of staying permanently. Certainly by 1663 there were numerous settlers scattered hereabouts, for in that year Governor Berkeley of Virginia issued patents for twenty-eight tracts varying from 250 to 3300 acres each. These grants may have been confirmation of holdings already occupied. This was the year when Charles II rewarded eight of his principal supporters by establishing for them the Proprietary of Carolina which included "Pasquotank Precint."
The Lords of Proprietors named the northern portion of their domain "ALBEMARLE" after one of their number, General George Monck, First Duke of Albemarle. This area extended from the Virginia border to what is now Albemarle Sound, from the Atlantic Ocean westward without limit. No time was lost in establishing a government. Governor Berkeley of Virginia who was one of the proprietors appointed William Drummond governor of Albemarle, and the first General Assembly of Carolina was held 6 February 1665 at Halls Creek about a mile from Nixonton (the spot is marked by a modest monument). The Assembly at first consisted of one councilor for each of the absentee lords proprietors which formed the upper house or governor's council, and all freemen who owned land. Later, the lower house was limited in number to five from each of the four precincts, elected by property owners. Pasquotank was not designated as the capital; it merely was a central location at a time when there were no public buildings, and the general court as well as legislature met at or near the home of some official, by arrangement.
Little is recorded of events of the first few years in Albemarle. One of the most auspicious occasions of these early days was the arrival in 1672 of the eminent Quaker missionary William Edmundson who was followed a few months later by his associate, George Fox. Like the peripatetic Englishmen of all centuries, these scholars heard of new places, sought them out regardless of difficulties and hazards, and returned home to write copiously of their travels and experiences. The journals of Edmundson and Fox give us the most authentic record available of the places and persons in the colony at that time, with pertinent observations of their own on manners and customs. From them we learn that the settlers were earnest, wholesome, industrious, and rugged; living with their families in the essence of simplicity to a point in all but exceptional cases of rigorous austerity. A few families had luxuries comparable to life in England, but these were few indeed. There were neither churches nor schools; no towns nor settlements. The only occasions of public gatherings were the court sessions, for then as now there was contention between conflicting interests. The courts as a matter of fact offered all the diversion there was in the wilderness, and everybody attended. Those not required as principals, attorneys or jurymen found this the ideal occasion to market their produce in exchange for supplies they needed. A pig might be swapped for a farming implement or some cloth, although the medium of exchange was usually tobacco. There was no money—except in the hands of the rich, used for the purchase of land or other costly items. Each planter took his entire family to court sessions, usually by boat; there were no roads, and most of the farmers built their homes and warehouses near the river landing. Sessions of the court initially were the sole means of intercourse between neighbors.
Up to this time the established church had made little effort to serve residents of the Albemarle. A priest occasionally would come down from Virginia on horseback to baptise the children, and not infrequently would end by marrying the parents. There was no stigma in this delay. Visits of the priests often were years apart, and marriages performed by magistrates might or might not be sanctioned. Young couples made known their intentions, appeared before neighbors or kin as witnesses, and then set up housekeeping—awaiting the next coming of the itinerant parson to bless their union. Under these conditions, the early families need feel no embarrassment if the marriage date of their ancestors seems irrational. This situation explains in large measure why the Quakers became so well entrenched in Pasquotank and Perquimans. Edmundson and Fox offered something which did not exist—means of meetings between neighbors periodically, social intercourse, and procedure for marrying the young, baptising the children, and burying the dead. It was not until about 1704 that the established church sent out missionaries under the S. P. G. to correct the spiritual deficiency in the Albemarle. By then the Quaker faith had over thirty years start during which time it had established and maintained the most effective system of vital statistics among its members to be found anywhere in the colonies. We are indebted to this day to the excellent Quaker records for much of our best genealogical information of that period.
Government in those days had few functions; means of carrying out instructions of the Lords Proprietors, collecting quit-rents and taxes on tobacco, issuing grants of land to new arrivals who qualified, and providing courts for adjudicating differences between settlers or punishing criminals. Unlike Virginia, there was no connection between church and state. The people were happiest with the least of government; and this characteristic of Carolina attracted many from Virginia smarting under the strict rule of the ageing and now irascible Governor Sir William Berkeley. There was in the Albemarle an independence somewhat like that which characterized our western frontier later. The atmosphere of the new settlement encouraged rugged individualism, where every man felt himself the equal of the next; and the directness of the Quaker faith and practice added to the leveling influence. The condition of affairs may help us understand why the settlers took their government for granted, and gave to the governor and other officials little more respect than that accorded the least. Realization of this attitude will explain much of the history of the next fifty years.
Pasquotank was the scene in December 1677 of what some historians have called the first blow struck for American independence. In the previous year Thomas Miller, "an apothecary of Pasquotank" as he was then called, had distinguished himself as a man of careless and indiscreet garrulity when in his cups. He had been arrested for insulting remarks about the King's brother, James Duke of York, and had been sent to Virginia for trial under charges of treason. But he was not without his adherents in Pasquotank; he belonged to the Biggs faction which was in opposition to the Durant faction. Acquitted by Governor Berkeley he made his way to England. Here he was joined by Mr. George Eastchurch who was speaker of the Assembly and a man of temperance and prominence in Albemarle—another instance where politics makes strange bedfellows Mr. Eastchurch was an anti-Durant man; he was a kinsman of the Lord Treasurer Clifford; and in his appearance before the Lords Proprietors to whom he made report of conditions in Carolina he made so excellent an impression that he was appointed governor of the province to fill the existing vacancy. For his companion Miller, he obtained appointments of secretary of the council, a deputy, and collector of the King's revenue. With this notable success, the two gentlemen then embarked upon several months enjoyment of the gayety of London's attractions. Meanwhile, Mr. George Durant of Perquimans, an early settler and perhaps the most affluent citizen of the Albemarle, arrived in London in the summer of 1677 and protested to the Lords Proprietors over the appointments of Eastchurch and Miller. The official record shows that he used vehement language and indulged in threats; but he went away empty-handed. About this time Eastchurch and Miller returned to America using a devious route. Their ship touched at the island of Nevis in the West Indies which then was a popular resort. Here Governor Eastchurch met a rich and charming lady and set himself up to win her hand, sending Secretary Miller on to Carolina with his instructions to assume presidency of the council (an authority beyond his legal power), which in effect would make Miller acting governor. Mr. Miller who had left Pasquotank in chains a year before under charges of treason now returned armed with indisputable commissions for three offices and claim for the acting governorship, all of which functions he entered upon with confidence bordering arrogance. At first he was accepted with outward complacency, and in some of his offices he was effective. In others he was so aggressive that he became generally obnoxious; but the people bided their time to allow events to determine the issue. This was not long in coming. In December there arrived at Crawfords Landing (later Relfe's Point, Cobb's Point, the Winslow home) the armed ship "CAROLINA", Captain Zack Gilliam, master, bringing the sort of supplies from England always eagerly awaited by the settlers. As soon as Gilliam was rowed ashore, he was met by Miller who placed him under arrest charged with having evaded paying tax on a previous cargo. Arrival of ships of these New England traders was always heralded as they beat their way slowly up Pasquotank River. Planters living along the river ceased work, saddled a horse, and rode to the landing for news, supplies, gossip, or any of the other reasons common to an unusual occasion. Gilliam was an experienced hand in intrigue and recognized in the crowd assembled an opportunity to take advantage of any unrest. He protested his innocence of any past wrong-doing, and was so outraged at such a reception when he was on a good-will mission that he threatened to sail away immediately, taking his goods with him. He won the crowd; they beseeched him to stay and unload his cargo, promising to protect him against the unpopular collector who had usurped and abused the office of governor. Miller withdrew; but learning that Mr. Durant, leader of the hated opposition, was on board Gilliam's ship a passenger returning from his unfruitful trip, he went back late the same night, boarded the ship, and arrested Durant at pistol point charging him with treason. This was the crisis—the occasion for which the restless had been waiting. The revolt broke the following morning; armed men with John Culpeper the leader and many of the most influential citizens in support seized Miller and his principal assistants, and placed them in log prisons removed from one another incommunicado. The insurgents then set up a new government to their own liking and controlled affairs in Albemarle without opposition. Meanwhile Governor Eastchurch having won his bride and finally thinking of his office, arrived in Virginia. The news which met him was most discouraging; he was warned by the rebels not to enter Carolina; he sought military aid from the new Governor of Virginia but received only token sympathy; within a few weeks of frustration, he saddened and died. This uprising was characterized by its noble purpose of supplanting tyranny, its forthright and prompt seizure of all offices within the province, singleness in purpose, adroit planning and execution, and formation of an effective government without delay. There is no doubt that it was both political and partisan, not without selfishness and excesses; but by standards of the day, it met a need and had the support of the majority of the leading men. It was known as the Culpeper Rebellion and was distinguished by its bloodlessness and complete success. When Culpeper was tried for treason in England later, he was acquitted with Lord Shaftesbury acting as his defense.
Whether the people were overly critical, or their governors were unequal to their office, is a moot question. Certainly not one of a long list of appointees immortalized himself as either brilliant or benign. It may well be that the settlers were selfish, opinionated, contentious; it seems that there were always two or more factions pulling against each other in an atmosphere where there should have been harmony. Relations with the neighbor colony of Virginia were in a state of armed truce. Economically, the Virginans made it impossible for Carolinians to ship their tobacco; in religion, no suasion other than the established church was tolerated in Virginia. These and other matters caused people of the Albemarle to turn to Boston for commercial intercourse. Trade brought New Englanders to Carolina, settlers like the Baileys, Nicholsons, Charles, Winslows, Hathaways, Fearings, and others. Families came in from Virginia and Maryland, too, but mostly due to dissatisfaction with former conditions. About 1703 the Church of England had awakened to religious needs on the frontier and began sending out missionaries sponsored by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, or the S.P.G. by its short name. The first of these was Mr. Blair who arrived in 1704. He found many children to be baptised, more than a hundred; but he performed no marriages because, as he wrote, that was then a prerogative of the magistrates! He complained of the long distances separating the scattered residents, the atrocious roads, and the utter futility of one man making any progress. He returned to England the same year. Not until 1708 did Rev. James Adams arrive, who had Currituck Precinct as well as Pasquotank for his charge. His reports to the Society show the Quakers were dominant and inimical to the Church, often interfering in the government. He confirmed the lack of harmony among settlers.
The writings of John Lawson who became Surveyor-general of the province show that the principal inlet from the ocean in 1701 was Roanoke Inlet which gave ten feet of water over the bar. This was located at latitude 35° 50" near the north end of Roanoke Island and was the channel commonly used by ships from London or Boston. Lawson spoke in high terms of Nature's bounty to the planters, and was more flattering in his general estimate of the people and their manner of life than were the clerics. The population of Pasquotank in 1700 seems to have numbered about 1200, having about the same as Perquimans. Currituck and Chowan were the thinnest settled, but there was a noticeable gravitation of the center of population towards the southwestward. Accordingly, the periodic meetings of the government and the general court were being held more often in Perquimans than in Pasquotank as formerly.
By 1728 the Crown was dissatisfied with the administration of the province by the lords proprietors who had ruled their holding through absentee methods, only one ever visiting Carolina. It purchased the rights of all but one of the proprietors and set up a royal colony. Each precinct was made a county, the seat of Pasquotank being established at the mouth of Newbegun Creek where there was a ferry across Pasquotank River. This location, just below the present Naval Air Facility, was one of the two crossings for travelers using the trails leading from Virginia to Charleston. Site of the county seat in days when there were no settlements, neither churches nor schools, no public buildings, determined the focal point of public gatherings whenever there was a reason for the people coming together. Its location at a river crossing served two purposes and ordinarily should have encouraged some sort of settlement. The river was so wide, however, that crossing except in perfect weather was both difficult and dangerous. So BROOMFIELD, as the place was called, was doomed. It was superceded in 1756 when a ferry crossing was established at RELFES POINT, site of the outbreak of the Culpeper Rebellion eighty years before, and the county seat moved accordingly, name of the new location being WINDFIELD. From here, the road to Chowan and southward ran across the peninsula to HALLS CREEK, passing the point where the first general assembly had been held in 1665, thence across LITTLE RIVER into Perquimans. It is uncertain whether the old Relfe house, which had been built in 1670, was used as the court house or a new structure built. In any event, one room of the building still exists and has been incorporated into the home of the Winslow family, the ancient brickwork now being incased in wood frame like the remainder of the home. As at Broomfield, no settlement sprang up at Windfield; people came and went to court meetings, but the site did not attract business or homes.
Towns apparently originate and grow by chance rather than reason. The first settlement in Pasquotank was on Little River about a mile from Halls Creek, on land owned by Zachariah Nixon. Some shipping had sprung up here and attracted residents. At first it was called OLD TOWN and sought a charter as early as 1753. Mr. Nixon provided a tract of 162 acres, fifty of which were divided into streets and lots. The county seat was moved from Windfield to this new location in 1785 and the name changed to NIXONTON. By 1789 there were twenty homes and seventy persons living here. Landings and warehouses were built along the river with great expectation. But the Revolution had brought changes. In 1779 a new ferry crossing had been established at a point just above the Narrows by Gideon Lamb, at a location where the river was narrow and favorable to crossing in any sort of weather. That portion of Pasquotank County north of the river had been used for forming Camden County in 1777, and the seat of Camden was established at JONESBORO as it then was called which was less than a mile from Lambs Ferry. Highway traffic between the county seats of Camden and Pasquotank now used the new ferry and passed a landing at the Narrows popular for the storage and shipping of shingles taken from the juniper swamps. Here a tavern, one of the few in the area, was operated by the family of Adam Tooley; and it became a convenient stopping place for travelers, mariners, shippers, and buyers. A settlement sprang up, a house here and there, and the early stagecoach route from Princess Anne to Chowan changed horses here. Its importance grew so that it offered competition with Nixonton. In 1793 a charter was granted by the General Assembly sitting at Fayetteville for a town at the Narrows of Pasquotank River to be known as REDING. Fifty acres were purchased from Adam Tooley and his wife Elizabeth which were divided into streets and lots, the latter being sold as items the location of which was determined by a drawing after all had been sold. The three principal streets were to be 66 feet wide; others half that width; and lots were to be ½ acre each, two to the block except those located on the river which were to be 1/4 acre in area. The principal street was named CENTER and extended from the river westward to what is now DYER Street. Three other streets ran parallel to CENTER so that the north limit of the town was POINDEXTER Creek; the south, TIBER CREEK (now GRICE Street). Cross streets were numbered from the river, FIRST Street being 66 feet wide, later called Front and now named WATER STREET; all the other cross streets running north and south were 33 feet in width. The present names came later, some of which have been changed from time to time and losing historical significance accordingly. (Note: The Pasquotank Historical Society has a project for permanently naming all streets after persons related to history of the town, therby eliminating such meaningless names as MAIN, ROAD, CHURCH, BROAD, LOCUST, while perpetuating the individuality of the place. Such a change could be made only by town officials, and its realization would be spread over a period of years for practical reasons).
The name of REDING which was derived from one of the early families was not to survive. In the following year, 1794, the legislature changed the name to ELIZABETH TOWN; and the new settlement thrived and grew so that in 1799 it was designated as the county seat. A site for the court house was purchased on the acre block the north side of CENTER Street between FIFTH and SIXTH streets, now POOL and ELLIOTT, respectively. A building of wood was built with broad stairs on the front exterior leading to the court room on the second floor. It was burned in 1862 when the town was captured by the Union Army. Soon after the seat was moved from Nixonton to Elizabeth Town confusion arose because the county seat of Tyrrell, which had been formed from a part of Pasquotank, also was named Elizabeth Town. 1n 1801 the legislature passed an act changing the names to ELIZABETH CITY for the Pasquotank county seat, and to COLUMBIA for the seat of Tyrrell. It has never been established whether Elizabeth City was named after Mrs. Elizabeth Tooley or after Elizabeth City County on Hampton Roads in neighboring Virginia. Nixonton was slightly larger than Elizabeth Town in 1800, the Federal census of that year showing a population of 103 white and 104 slaves in the former, and 70 white and 58 slaves in the latter. Henceforth, however, Nixonton fell behind and now has fewer than twenty families although it is the most beautiful location in the county and ideal for homes. The only incorporated town in the county at present is Elizabeth City which serves as the commercial center of the area and is the largest town in the Albemarle with a population in 1950 of 12,685. The population of Pasquotank County was: in 1800, 5,145; in 1850, 8,950; in 1900, 13,660; and in 1950, 24,347. Its growth has been conservative and steady, characteristic of an old frontier which was one of the cradles of the nation, and which sent out pioneers to other locations westward as new areas were opened.
The only war which physically scarred the county was that Between the States 1861-1865. In the Revolution Pasquotank furnished one brigadier general and two or more colonels besides those of lesser rank, but there were no local engagements; similarly, the War of 1812 left no imprint here; but the Civil War placed its unforgettable mark. Pasquotank furnished the distinguished General James Green Martin, his brother Colonel William F. Martin, Colonel Stephen Decatur Pool, Colonel James Hinton, and many others less known but by no means less immortal for their contribution. In 1862 the Federal forces under General Burnside sent ships up the Pasquotank River from Roanoke Island and captured the town. There was no local garrison in Elizabeth City and the batteries commanding the water approach had been silenced. The civil population consisted of old men, women and children, set fire to their homes and fled. It is related that the roads leading to the south and west were crowded with refugees taking with them whatever they could carry. At the approach of the Union ships, Rev. E. M. Forbes, Rector of Christ Church, put on his vestments and went to the waterfront to meet the invading force and to negotiate a surrender under the most favorable terms. As the fire was spreading one of the citizens more farsighted than the others took upon himself to save the county records which extended back to the year 1700 while it was only one of the four precincts of Albemarle. This man, subsequently known as "Colonel" Arthur Jones although he was not a military man, took a wagon and team to the court house, loaded the invaluable documents and drove hastily to Parkville at the upper reaches of Little River where he hid them in a barn. Here they remained until the end of hostilities in 1865. A back road led through the swamp and Gates County to Suffolk. It was headquarters of the resistance movement which followed the occupation by Union forces; it operated a blockade over back roads to bring in supplies for the "guerillas" as the resistance force was called, from Confederate headquarters near Suffolk.
The Union commander told Mr. Forbes that his troops would put out the fires, and that peaceful citizens would not be molested if they returned to their homes. Many of the finest homes, most of the stores, and the court house were destroyed before the fires could be extinguished. Most families returned although many of the more affluent sent their women, children, and slaves to towns to the west, some as far as Oxford and Chapel Hill, to stay until the end of war. General Burnside naturally did not leave his best combat troops to occupy a captured town. Unfortunately, organizations of troops of no combat usefulness and little discipline were placed in charge; excesses followed. Residents chose to either remain neutral or to join sides, those in the resistance movement being known as "guerrillas" and those collaborating with the occupation, or the enemy, were known as "buffalos". No love was lost between the partisans, and each side well knew who was on the other. There were raids at night followed by reprisals involving the military the following day. "Buffaloes" were shot under cover of darkness by their irate neighbors; soldiers of the occupation known to have committed crimes against civilians were shot on sight. Confederate soldiers clandestinely visiting their families were captured and hanged by the military even though not even suspected of having been party to any raid. It was a cruel and gruesome time which brought the horrows of war into the homes of innocent persons; and here was engendered much of the hate which accompanied the aftermath of fighting. After peace was restored in 1865, the worst was yet to come. The era of "Reconstruction" made its blight on Pasquotank and lasted for years. The county, however, suffered little from the "carpet-bag" administration which afflicted other parts of the state. One of this species appeared, an opportunist of color from New England who presumed to run for a county office. On the day that he was declared the loser, it is said that he was given until sundown to leave the state; that he left for South Carolina never to return.
One of Pasquotank's distinguished citizens is credited with having broken the back of the corrupt and cruel carpet-bag rule. In 1870 leading citizens of Alamance and Caswell counties were imprisoned without charges, solely because they had supported the Confederacy. When orders of the state courts were disregarded in contempt by the military government, it fell to the lot of Judge George W. Brooks of Elizabeth City to issue a Federal writ of habeas corpus requiring the military to produce its prisoners. This it sought to defy by appealing to President Grant; but the latter declared he would not interfere with the judiciary. Forced to honor Federal injunction, the rights of individuals were restored to legal status, and innocent men no longer were subjected to illicit persecution by a discredited governor and martial law.
Following the War Between the States, Pasquotank began healing its wounds and building for the future. Several former Union soldiers returned to marry, and settled here for life—one paradoxically, becoming an officer of the local Confederate post. Other Northerners came to the county bringing their capital and talents to make their future. They married locally and have with their descendants become leaders of the community. Pasquotank people have ever been hospitable to strangers within the gates and welcome those who come to settle and join in making the county a better place to live and raise families.
Earlier, the lack of friendliness and intercourse between Pasquotank and neighbor counties of Virginia was apparent. This disappeared of course, with the common bond which sprang from the Revolution. One of the barriers had been physical—lack of any watercourse connecting the areas before roads were built. Construction of the Dismal Swamp Canal which began about 1790 and admitted craft of light draft about 1815 was continued until there was a channel suitable for commercial shipping by 1825. This water link between Elizabeth City and Norfolk served to cement relations so closely that the Albemarle all but forsook its association with the rest of Carolina. The land area between Albemarle Sound, the Chowan and Nansemond rivers, Hampton Roads, and the ocean became an island entity belonging neither to Carolina nor Virginia, and largely disregarded by both states. This was due principally to water barriers. It was not until the construction of highway bridges over Albemarle Sound that Pasquotank returned to the orbit of influence of its native state; and even now, its closest intercourse is, by convenience and migration of families, with Norfolk although its sentimental bond is steadfast with its own state.
There was no rail connection between Albemarle and the outside world until 1881 when the Elizabeth City & Norfolk Rail Road was completed. It is interesting that labor in those days could be hired at seventy-five cents per day, according to press notices. Thursday May 26, 1881 was a momentous day for Elizabeth City. The time announced for arrival of the first passenger train was 11:30. All morning people prepared for the grand occasion, crowds coming in from the country and neighboring places. At 11:40 the space about the depot on Pennsylvania Avenue was crowded, everybody in holiday spirit; then with whistles blowing, cannon firing and with stirring music by Cook's Elizabeth City Brass Band, the gaily decorated locomotive hove into sight with its whistle wide open. The train and its distinguished passengers which included the president of the road and other officials were welcomed with cheers from the multitude, according to Creecy's Economist; and the party repaired to the Albemarle House for a banquet and speeches. A river excursion followed; and in the evening, President Phillips of the railroad was host at another banquet. Construction of the road had been under way for years and not without impatience and some friction over local financing. Violent discontent and protest followed the ensuing year when extension of the road to Hertford and Edenton suggested a change in the name of the road to the Norfolk & Southern, appropriate enough but bitterly fought by the locals who despaired at dropping the name "Elizabeth City". The depot was at dockside so that passengers merely crossed the tracks to go on board ship for New Bern, Edenton, or Murfreesboro whence they might make connections to Fayetteville, Charleston, and other points. This amphibious travel grew and prospered until the end of the century, by which time ferries and bridges over Albemarle Sound permitted more direct connections with Raleigh and points westward. Another railroad, the Suffolk & Carolina, was built into Elizabeth City about 1904, having its terminal at Lawrence and Water streets. It was absorbed by the Norfolk & Southern in later years and eventually was discontinued when highways and motor transportation made Gates County accessible. When the railroads were thriving, waterborne transportation massed ships at the docks of Elizabeth City three or more deep and provided regular scheduled sailings with river points throughout the Albemarle. The advent of the automobile has changed this scene significantly.
Elizabeth City has had its shipyards for over a century. News items of 1849 show that the yards of C. M. Laverty, Captain T. Hunter, and of Burgess & Lamb, were building ships for the West Indies trade. Commercial shipping, however, lately has fallen into disuse locally, in spite of which our shipyards are kept thriving by the yachting and racing types which still frequent the Inland Waterway route connecting New York with Florida.
Commencing about 1880, a new wave of prosperity swept over Pasquotank and except for the depression years of 1930-35 has continued. Blooded livestock made its appearance soon after 1900; then came new crops like soy beans and lespedeza and finally, hybrid corn. Variety and rotation displaced the old standard of "cotton and corn"; beef production and dairying was added to hog and sheep raising. The scarcity of good labor after the depression years led to machine methods in farming which revolutionized agriculture in the county. Now, concrete grain elevators are common sights along the countryside, and this area has begun to compete with the Middle West in grain production. Farming is one of the most profitable activities.
The elimination of distances and differences by the automobile, paved highways, telephone, radio, and television has brought changes to be sure; but basically, Pasquotank County and its people are little changed from their forefathers and their inherited traditions. The machine age and the energy which accompanies it have not destroyed an atmosphere of leisurely courtesy and friendliness which ever characterized Elizabeth City and Pasquotank County in making visitors welcome and encouraging their return.
Source: YEAR BOOK – VOLUME 1 – Pasquotank Historical Society – Elizabeth City, North Carolina. (1955)


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Obviously, WoW is pretty much nothing like real life. We dont run around killing dragons and fighting off hordes of undead zombies. However, it is very interesting to think of specific people as roles that you may find in WoW. The first part of this little series is going to deal with tanks (naturally). This is not to be taken seriously in any way, shape, or form.
What do tanks do? They cause a lot of threat, take the hits for their team mates, and are very resilient. Who do you consider to be real life tanks?
1) The Wingman: when you go out to the club, you bring your Wingman along. This is a buddy who is trying to help you score with the lucky (or perhaps unlucky) lady of your choice. How is the Wingman a tank? This is really an easy one. You are going after the hot chick (purpz). Standing in the way of your loot? The big fat friend (Raid Boss). The Wingman swoops in and gets aggro with his witty humor and plate full of chicken wings. He takes one for the team....just like the tank.
2) Supermarket Kid: You know who I am talking about. If you dont, YOUR KID IS SUPERMARKET KID!!!! Supermarket kid it the one who is throwing a major tantrum because they did not get the fruity cereal they desired. Supermarket kids are perhaps the best AOE tanks in the game (world). Not only do they have a 500x embarassment modifier applied to their parents, but they also have everyone in a two aisle radius thinking about punching them in the face. Unfortunately, they are a squishy tank and easily distracted.
3) High School Nerd: High School Nerds are an all around tank apparently. Not only are they very good at holding aggro against bullies with such trademark moves as wedgie and trash canned, they also have a mass fear ability that effects all women in the area. They are also one of the most resilient tanks out there. No matter how many corpse runs they have to make back to their self esteem, they will probably end up winning the encounter with Life over the bullies.
Anyone else have any examples? I would be happy to add them to my post. If I dont get to post again before Saturday, Happy 4th.


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I'm not meaning to offend anyone (certainly not the creators of Stack Overflow), but is it really a good idea to have the general community choose its own moderators?
It would seem to have the same potential weakness that having the asker of a question choose the accepted answer may have—that is the decision is being made by potentially the least qualified person (or people, in this case) to do so.
The current moderators seem well chosen, but has the rapid growth of Stack Overflow made this a more risky endeavor that perhaps it was in the past?
For the record, I have not and will not nominate myself. I know that I don't have the temperament for it.
EDIT: Perhaps this is the way it was from the start, but now I see that only the users with the top 30 reputation scores are being included as nominees.
I think this is an excellent idea. Again, perhaps is was there all along and I just missed it. There are some great lower-rep users, but I think that overall it is for the best.
Here's an example of my concern:
Vote Rook for evil!
As a campaign promise I will hand out harsh punishments for minor infractions. Everyone is a criminal and retribution is my duty.
This nomination was received this comment:
if this is not a serious nomination, it is harmful -- it blocks one of the 30 slots available to serious nominees. – Jeff Atwood♦ 11 hours ago
...which was then followed by a comment from the nominee:
@Jeff Atwood♦ or perhaps you dislike dissent. – Rook 10 hours ago
...and Rook's nomination remains. I feel bad for the sincere would be nominee at number 31.
Sometimes the most juvenile posts get the most votes. It'll be interesting to see what happens.


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Totalitarianism towered over the 20th century — a leader-focused, oppressive form of rule in which the individual was crushed. Now it seems to have receded as an ideal. But will it be back? We asked the expert, Zbigniew Brzezinski.
Brzezinski is best known for having been the National Security Advisor in the Carter Administration, and for helping to dismantle the Ford Administration's policy of detente towards the Soviet Union. But in the 1950s, he was one of the main scholars developing the theory of totalitarianism, and helping to spread the idea that both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union represented examples of this type of system. He's currently Robert E. Osgood Professor of American foreign policy at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies and a scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
So when we were wondering if totalitarianism was discredited for good, or if it might still stage a resurgence, we could think of no better person to ask than Brzezinski. Here's what he said, via email.
You helped pioneer the idea of totalitarianism as a system of government. Do you think totalitarianism has been discredited as a form of government in the past couple of decades?
Totalitarianism has been discredited during the past several decades, but that does not mean that it cannot reoccur. However, the discerning aspect of totalitarianism is not simply that it is "totally" in control of society, but that it tries to change society according to a dogmatic blueprint, the latter usually being described as "ideology." For the time being, there is no total ideology of change being advocated by any serious political grouping.
Does the rise of surveillance technology like ubiquitous video cameras and wiretapping make the rise of a new form of totalitarianism more likely? Could we see a new form of electronic totalitarianism for the 21st century?
If a new doctrine of total change arises, abetted and advocated by fanatics, then we might have another case of totalitarianism, one that will then benefit from the highly technological advanced forms of social control available to dictatorships.
On the other hand, do you think that the ability of people to share information anonymously online would make it impossible to suppress dissent as thoroughly as former totalitarian regimes such as the USSR once did?
It is more difficult to isolate societies from outside influences because of modern means of communication - but a truly fanatical regime, armed with the most advanced technology, could probably maintain such isolation for awhile. Nonetheless, the key issue is whether a new doctrine of total social change is likely to appear in the foreseeable future, and for that there is no categorical answer.


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